INS Arihant (ATV) News and Discussion -2

ravip · Post by **ravip** » 29 Aug 2014 12:20

prasannasimha wrote:
ramana wrote:Bobilli is a historical place in Andhra Pradesh history. Good choice.
Bobilli is indeed a historical place but how would that be relevant to selection as a submarine harbour ?
Prasanna

No bobilli is only for air base but they are constructing the submarine base at rambilli. Check through Google maps the navy has already completed the peripheral compound and certain buildings at rambilli.

rohitvats · Post by **rohitvats** » 29 Aug 2014 14:30

The only airfield like structure with crossing runways I could find on GE is due east from Ramabhadrapuram. The Ramabhadrapuram - Razam road passes right through it! And Bobbili is due north of Ramabhadrapuram.

OK. A bit more research tells me that indeed, this is the WW2 airfield being talked about. The TOI report has more accurate description of the location. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city ... 344686.cms

Location of airstrip:https://www.google.co.in/maps/place/Bad ... 360fd59fe8

Wikipedia on Badangi airstrip:

There is a historic Airstrip near Badangi village. It was used as command base for Royal Air Force in British India.[3] The construction was started in 1942 and completed in 1943. It was constructed by Mackenzie company and was the second biggest RAF base after the one at Lahore. It was built on 221-acres of land and consisted of two runways in a cross formation. It had control-tower overlooking both the runways, a separate underground armament depot that housed the 250-pound torpedo bombs, many underground bunkers, hangars, staff quarters and a natural pond for the fire-fighting.

The RAF squadron at Badangi comprised Supermarine Spitfire fighters, Hawker Hurricane fighters, Avro Lancaster bombers, Vickers Wellington bombers, Bristol Beaufighter bombers and B-57 Canberra reconnaissance and transport aircraft.

It was closed in 1946, as the war was over. Today, the huge seven-inch thick solid concrete runway that is being used by the local farmers for threshing the grains. All the other structures have been demolished.

deejay · Post by **deejay** » 29 Aug 2014 14:52

OT but of interest: I have found that the sheer number of WWII air strips (mostly) disused in North, Central, South and of course North East is amazing. And each has an interesting story.

Hobbes · Post by **Hobbes** » 30 Aug 2014 09:27

rohitvats wrote:The only airfield like structure with crossing runways I could find on GE is due east from Ramabhadrapuram. The Ramabhadrapuram - Razam road passes right through it! And Bobbili is due north of Ramabhadrapuram.

.......

Wikipedia on Badangi airstrip:

There is a historic Airstrip near Badangi village. It was used as command base for Royal Air Force in British India.[3] The construction was started in 1942 and completed in 1943. It was constructed by Mackenzie company and was the second biggest RAF base after the one at Lahore. It was built on 221-acres of land and consisted of two runways in a cross formation. It had control-tower overlooking both the runways, a separate underground armament depot that housed the 250-pound torpedo bombs, many underground bunkers, hangars, staff quarters and a natural pond for the fire-fighting.

The RAF squadron at Badangi comprised Supermarine Spitfire fighters, Hawker Hurricane fighters, Avro Lancaster bombers, Vickers Wellington bombers, Bristol Beaufighter bombers and B-57 Canberra reconnaissance and transport aircraft.

It was closed in 1946, as the war was over. Today, the huge seven-inch thick solid concrete runway that is being used by the local farmers for threshing the grains. All the other structures have been demolished.

Some DDMitis in the Wikipedia entry; Canberras in 1943?

Lalmohan · Post by **Lalmohan** » 30 Aug 2014 12:03

not to mention B-57!??!?

Kersi D · Post by **Kersi D** » 30 Aug 2014 15:13

jcrocks wrote: Thanks for the interesting post, sir.
Hi all, can anyone suggest some books (fiction or true stories) based on Navy/Warships/Submarines etc. Fascinated by the challenging life of a sailor in blue waters and want to know more.
Thanks for the help.
jc

[/quote]

You can start with 'The Hunt fro Red october' by Tom Clancy. Kersi

Yagnasri · Post by **Yagnasri** » 30 Aug 2014 21:44

When is Aridaman (is it the name of second SSBN? ) coming up? I have seen nothing in press.

saip · Post by **saip** » 30 Aug 2014 22:26

221 acres? Must be tiny airstrip. Dont the modern jets need longer airstrips? Means they would need more land around the airstrip.

member_28108 · Post by **member_28108** » 31 Aug 2014 08:14

No bobilli is only for air base but they are constructing the submarine base at rambilli. Check through Google maps the navy has already completed the peripheral compound and certain buildings at rambilli.

Couldnt see anthing on Google maps.Only sone buildings there.

Neshant · Post by **Neshant** » 31 Aug 2014 08:44

Thanks for the interesting post, sir.
Hi all, can anyone suggest some books (fiction or true stories) based on Navy/Warships/Submarines etc. Fascinated by the challenging life of a sailor in blue waters and want to know more.
Thanks for the help.
jc

Das Boot is a good movie on it. Its in German but with English subtitles. Watch it if you're really interested.

Manish_Sharma · Post by **Manish_Sharma** » 31 Aug 2014 10:37

'K-19 the widowmaker' is a complete-perfect submarine movie. From problems of production and timeline + those amazing tests when they take the sub to limit depthtest and then bring backup fast hitting thick ice-sheet break it and come up, then do radar test and missile is tested. Amazing footage both when submarine comes up breaking ice sheet and missile is launched its fire melting the snow!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0267626/

ravip · Post by **ravip** » 31 Aug 2014 12:03

Neshant wrote:

Thanks for the interesting post, sir.
Hi all, can anyone suggest some books (fiction or true stories) based on Navy/Warships/Submarines etc. Fascinated by the challenging life of a sailor in blue waters and want to know more.
Thanks for the help.
jc
Das Boot is a good movie on it. Its in German but with English subtitles. Watch it if you're really interested.

See carefully you can see the peripheral compound. There were agitation wen it was being constructed search Google for it.

partha · Post by **partha** » 31 Aug 2014 12:09

+1 for Das Boot. Must watch for people interested in subs. Awesome sound effects.

member_28305 · Post by **member_28305** » 31 Aug 2014 14:51

rohitvats wrote:The only airfield like structure with crossing runways I could find on GE is due east from Ramabhadrapuram. The Ramabhadrapuram - Razam road passes right through it! And Bobbili is due north of Ramabhadrapuram.

OK. A bit more research tells me that indeed, this is the WW2 airfield being talked about. The TOI report has more accurate description of the location. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city ... 344686.cms

Location of airstrip:https://www.google.co.in/maps/place/Bad ... 360fd59fe8

Wikipedia on Badangi airstrip:

-OT-
Looks like a Highway is going right through the Runway..

Are we planning an under pass for the high way? if so, is it secure??

member_28108 · Post by **member_28108** » 31 Aug 2014 20:30

Thanks for the Google Earth pictures.

ravip · Post by **ravip** » 31 Aug 2014 22:08

prasannasimha wrote:Thanks for the Google Earth pictures.

See it through GE you can notice the tunnel being constructed on four sides with camouflaged conceret on it and the earth removed is being put behind the buildings.

dinesha · Post by **dinesha** » 01 Sep 2014 13:03

^^^^ Someone had posted this elevation profile in the other forum

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 01 Sep 2014 14:13

so millions of tons of rock and soil will surely be excavated to create the caverns and tunnels necessary.

it has been done on smaller scale in india. there is a rock cavern liquid natural gas storage facility somewhere near vizag made by LT.
http://www.ctta.org/FileUpload/ita/2008 ... df/105.PDF
cavern size was 20m x 19m x 160m

for SSBN parking jettys, moving out area, roof height needed for cranes to move in with SLBM tubes....atleast 30m high perhaps above waterline....20m below waterline....50m high x 500m wide x 1km long ought to be a good number.

ManuJ · Post by **ManuJ** » 02 Sep 2014 04:01

Thanks for the GE references.
Gladdens the heart to see the massive size of the base.
Great location with natural defenses and barriers to keep prying eyes away.

A real eye-opener is the fact that a lot of work has already been completed,
with most of it happening at a good pace over the last 3 years.

Kersi D · Post by **Kersi D** » 02 Sep 2014 11:09

deejay wrote:OT but of interest: I have found that the sheer number of WWII air strips (mostly) disused in North, Central, South and of course North East is amazing. And each has an interesting story.

Can you send me their location by PM or on k e r s i k d o t i w a l l a at r e d i f f m a i l d o t com ?

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 02 Sep 2014 11:31

but problem is many are taken over as farmland by settlers or the state/NHAI people used the already good alignment and leveling to make the runway alignment the highway roadbed.

jcrocks · Post by **jcrocks** » 02 Sep 2014 21:29

Kersi D wrote:
jcrocks wrote: Thanks for the interesting post, sir.
Hi all, can anyone suggest some books (fiction or true stories) based on Navy/Warships/Submarines etc. Fascinated by the challenging life of a sailor in blue waters and want to know more.
Thanks for the help.
jc

You can start with 'The Hunt fro Red october' by Tom Clancy. Kersi[/quote]

Thanks...ordered the n book on Amazon today. Later, the bluray.

rajkumar · Post by **rajkumar** » 03 Sep 2014 13:10

jcrocks wrote:Thanks...ordered the n book on Amazon today. Later, the bluray.

[/quote]

Read the book before the blueray. I found the book to be far superior to the movie.

jcrocks · Post by **jcrocks** » 03 Sep 2014 15:40

rajkumar wrote:
jcrocks wrote:Thanks...ordered the n book on Amazon today. Later, the bluray.

Read the book before the blueray. I found the book to be far superior to the movie.[/quote]

Thanks.
Das Boot is available on youtube, not sure it has english subtitles. Yet to see this though.
Got the "K19 widowmaker" from the local library to watch but kept it for the weekend to watch with kids.

Pratyush · Post by **Pratyush** » 03 Sep 2014 16:49

K 19 has some scenes that show male nudity. If the copy is not rated PG. You might want to consider that.

Shrinivasan · Post by **Shrinivasan** » 07 Sep 2014 21:29

gentlemen, we are straying of topic... But DasBoot is available on Netflix.. With subtitiles.

Yagnasri · Post by **Yagnasri** » 07 Sep 2014 21:37

Why do you want to purchase gurus. I have the softcopy. I guess you people know my gmail id.

Kersi D · Post by **Kersi D** » 08 Sep 2014 14:38

Narayana Rao wrote:Why do you want to purchase gurus. I have the softcopy. I guess you people know my gmail id.

Can you let me hv your list ? I am on k e r s i k d o t i w a l l a at r e d i f f m a i l d o t c o m.

can you e-mail copies of yr books ?

Regards
Kersi

Kersi D · Post by **Kersi D** » 08 Sep 2014 14:40

Narayana Rao wrote:Why do you want to purchase gurus. I have the softcopy. I guess you people know my gmail id.

I had a soft copy of the book regarding downing the KAL 747 from US to Seoul. I lost it in a crashed hard disk. Can you send me a copy ? I had downloaded from Venik's aviation site

Kersi

jcrocks · Post by **jcrocks** » 08 Sep 2014 15:09

Pratyush wrote:K 19 has some scenes that show male nudity. If the copy is not rated PG. You might want to consider that.

Thanks for the alert. Felt they were apt for the situation and with teen boys at home, it was chuckles allover as the movie progressed to next frame.

Btw, got the Red october book and reading it rather slowly, in that process understanding the basic terminology like aft, astern, bow etc etc.

Das Boot - keeping for next weekend. Traveling to Del this week.

Philip · Post by **Philip** » 10 Sep 2014 05:57

There was a Top Gear programme,where the 3 hosts of the show visited/drove their cars through a former Soviet nuclear sub base (in the UKR I think),through the underground tunnels,caverns,etc.Interestingly,the channels for the subs curved gently and there were multiple entrances/exits from the sea. It gives a v. good idea of what a poss.In N-sub base would look like.We have huge experience in tunneling,UG caverns for hydel power stations,mining,metro rail,etc. The facilities to house the N-tipped missiles would require special facilities for foolproof storage,maintenance,etc.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 10 Sep 2014 07:28

that must be the old soviet base in balaclava, crimea.
the chinese base in hainan is the only the second in world of that type.

Yagnasri · Post by **Yagnasri** » 10 Sep 2014 08:22

Kersi sir, I sent a test mail.

Snehashis · Post by **Snehashis** » 13 Sep 2014 03:08

X-Posting cfrom the Naval thread

Snehashis wrote:James Fisher Defence wins Indian Navy submarine rescue contract

Rahul Bedi, New Delhi and James Hardy, London - IHS Jane's Navy International
10 September 2014

The Indian Navy (IN) has shortlisted the UK's James Fisher Defence (JFD) to supply it with two 30-ton deep submergence rescue vehicles (DSRVs) for about INR4 billion (USD66.66 million).

IN officials told IHS Jane's on 9 September that a DSRV offered by JFD was recently selected over a Russian vessel after emerging as L1, or the lowest bidder, after user evaluation and trials. They said the Ministry of Defence would sign a contract over the next 6-8 months following price negotiations with JFD.

The IN operates only one diving support vessel - INS Nireekshak - that also doubles as a submarine rescue vessel and has been seeking two DSRVs for nearly 17 years. Its initial attempt to acquire them in 2005 was called off following corruption allegations and the requirement was re-tendered in 2010.

As an interim measure, in 1997 the IN signed a USD734,443 contract with the US Navy for its "global submarine rescue fly-away kit" service.

Acquiring DSRV capability gained impetus after INS Sinshurakshak , a Russian 'Kilo'-class submarine, exploded in the Naval Dockyard in Mumbai in August 2014, killing all 18 IN personnel on board.

JFD has previously sold DSRVs of a similar class to the Indian requirement to Singapore and South Korea. In December 2008 the Republic of Korea Navy's DSRV II - based on JFD's deep search-and-rescue (DSAR) 500-class submersible - achieved a depth of 507 m during sea acceptance tests, the deepest recorded dive in the navy's history.

http://jfdefence.com/documents/SubRes_DSAR_lowres.pdf

http://jfdefence.com/products/dsar/index.php

Austin · Post by **Austin** » 24 Sep 2014 10:02

Vanquisher of enemies - INS Arihant

member_23370 · Post by **member_23370** » 24 Sep 2014 11:47

Isn't that article pure speculation??

member_20453 · Post by **member_20453** » 24 Sep 2014 12:07

^^^^

Indeed, clearly the guy has little idea of the true effectiveness of K-15 and K-4, both being hybrid missiles with low altitude cruising at hypersonic speeds and terminal kill maneuvers. There are no defences against such missiles.

Shrinivasan · Post by **Shrinivasan** » 25 Sep 2014 10:39

Austin wrote:Vanquisher of enemies - INS Arihant

His comparison of Kilos and Arihant and a theory that Arihant is just an Extended Kilo seems to be a motivated rant...
what do you guys think?

member_23370 · Post by **member_23370** » 25 Sep 2014 11:16

Its a farticle with no substance. The SONARS are India USHUS and Pachendriya not the russian ones.

Yagnasri · Post by **Yagnasri** » 25 Sep 2014 15:25

Where are other boats. No news on the second one.