Possible Indian Military Scenarios - Part II

Singha
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Post by Singha »

whew 10:49PM...beat the midnight deadline.

March4, 2008 Midnight
Location 141km east of 10 degree channel,
Andaman and Nicobar islands

Rain squalls had started three hours ago and showed no signs of
abating. The sea which was normally calm pending arrival of monsoons
in early June had been disturbed by a cyclonic system east of
malaysia and a steady rows of 15-20 ft high swells marched up
from the south.

captain N.Shetty commanding INS Brahmaputra finished his cup of
coffee and after giving the nights orders to the young helsman
and XO , prepared to turn in for the night. The bridge wing doors
were open on both sides letting in the dank air and spray from outside.
Two sailors in raincoats were on the left wing fixing the signalling
lamp that broke earlier in the evening. A bad time to replace a
fused bulb but it was a vital piece of equipment.

Lights completely out, the slim shape of the Brahmputra cut steadily
through the water in a north easterly heading. The bows heaved up 20 ft
as each roller hit her, a huge burst of spray drenching the foredeck, the
the weight and speed of the ship won and she ploughed on. Her orders were to
patrol a certain area east of the 10 degree channel and try to detect
signs of enemy submarine activity. Australian, british and american
submarines were sure to be snooping around the hotbed of naval activity
in the andamans since the 3 task forces had appeared in the area...
..but his main quarry were the PLAN and PN subs.

A old man at 45, skin scoured and leathered by years of harsh weather,
he many things to worry about. The Elt STAR air/surface search
radar systems motor controller assembly had blown out earlier in the day, the
nearest place it could be fixed was port blair, parts were being flown
from vizag but orders were to stay on patrol. His two helicopter
fleet was down to one as the Sea King needed some urgent
downtime to replace leaky gearbox seals and shaft vibrations that could
be rectified on land only, that left the Dhruv which was
right now battling the elememts 25km ahead, doing a search pattern with
dipping sonar. It would have to come back soon, its endurance was 2 hrs.

with the surface search radar gone, he was essentially depending on
charts, a low power navigation radar for steering and unable to pick
out anything on the surface farther than a few kilometers. Plans to fit
a high quality thermal camera on his class of three ships were stuck
in the inevitable "just needs CCS clearance" stage. He wondered bitterly
if the decision would come after his ship was retired?

The old style steam turbines were being worked hard these days..the whine of
heavy machinery echoing fainly up the mesh of ladders and corridors. As he
walked down the corridor and turned into the modest captain's cabin he
allowed himself the luxury of some pleasant thoughts about his native
mandya as sleep slowly claimed his tired mind.

***************

In a place far to the north west a conference had just ended in PA's
secure GHQ bunker somewhere in the wooded hills near rawalpindi and
the airwaves soon crackled with certain communications at the highest
grade of 1024 bit AES encryption on Thales supplied communications gear.

Two reports had been received from west bengal based spies via coded STD to
dubai about unusual air activity in kalaikunda, guwahati and panagarh.
after the debacle in the air over bangladesh, highest attention had been paid to streamlining
the C3I setup..within minutes the air defence bases near Dhaka were on
full alert, heavily armed Su27s at the ready. A balance beam AEW newly
flown into the theater immediately took off with 2 fighter escort and assumed
a orbit over dhaka..her Phased array radar scanning territory right upto the
meghalaya hills.

The General had convened his inner circle. After a cup of tea and some short
discussion they finally decided to activate Plan Sulaiman. The time had
come, they had discussed everything in depth many days prior. soon ...the
world would know the true power of pakistan....

The airwaves crackled in short bursts, then grew silent.


***************

PNS Khalid had arrived in the area two days ago. Using her long submerged
endurance (Mesma retrofit in 2007) and taking a route well off the indian coast
and the ASW screens off Mumbai, Goa and Kochi she had a unremarkable
voyage around Sri lanka, keeping off any known sealane, surfacing at night
only briefly at certain times to get fresh orders if any and generally
remaining invisible to the stray indian Bears that sometimes swept the western
bay of bengal more in hope than a realistic chance of success.

She had the finest crew in the PN, a full load of Exocet and Ecan F17 mod2 torpedoes
and finally a experienced commander Captain Zia Mahmud, a instructor level officer
who was the natural choice for skipper when Khalid was launched. He had
earlier distinguished himself in a older Agosta..exploits like tailing
a Kashin class for a day without the latter knowing, sneaking up to 5km off
mumbai harbour to gather propeller noise signatures of a delhi class..he had
done a lot. obviously a competent and apolitical officer would not be expected
to rise too far in Pak's inbred hierarchy, but long ago he had decided not to
care for the mediterranean villas in clifton seafront the more corrupt naval
admirals had purloined for themselves.

As per standing orders Khalid made no active transmission and neither did she
attack two unsuspecting IN CG ships and a fleet oiler sailing out from chennai
to the islands...as the sword arm Khalid was only to be used on high value
targets.

He wanted the viraat in his sights. As he slept fitfully in the tiny
captains cabin he was dreaming how it would feel like to give the firing
order and see on the Subtics display the green blobs of his advanced torpedoes
speeding like winged messengers towards the big hated IN ship. Yes it would
feel good. he wouldnt mind going down in exchange for that moment of victory.
But he was confident the Agosta had the sprint speed and stealth to evade
even a tail chase from a IN frigate. He had full knowledge of the british
sonar kit on Sea Kings since the PN operated the same thing, he knew its limitations
and how to exploit these loopholes.

At 12:20AM per a preset timetable Khalid came to periscope depth and poked her
communication antennae out of the disturbed green water, huge waves rolled by
above..below it was calmer but the khalid still felt the push of the surface waves
from 10 meters below.

The airwaves crackled near rawalpindi and split second later the khalids computer
was already decrypting and processing the message.

Zia spoke to the XO, "we have clearance to initiate full combat operations against
indian units. you know what this means dont you?"

"Yes sir, war"

"where are your wife and kids Imtiaz?"

"mothers village near hyderabad sir"

"Good"

"helsman, take us down to 30m below the first saline boundary, slow down to 5 knots
and begin ladder search pattern with a leg length of 2km. nav officer plot pattern
turnoff points and supply helsman as needed...I want to run it for 100km towards
the north from where we are"

"yes sir" (nav officer gets busy on his computerized maptable cum course plotting
screen, coming up with course headings in seconds via the highly automated
interface)

"sonar on passive, maximum gain, look for any screw noises that match known
indian signatures"

"torpedo room load exocets in tubes1 and 2, torpedoes in tubes 3 and 4, flood
tube3" ..he wanted a quick shot ready if ambushed by someone.

acknowledgement came in from torpedo room after hydraulic loading system smoothly
shoved in the huge 18ft long black painted projectiles into tubes3 and 4.

The hunt had began.

23 minutes later the passive sonar identified the screw noises of INS Brahmaputra
roughly 20 km away to the north-west. A minute later the noises of the Dhruv's
rotors and dipping sonar were detected a bare 5km away.

Zia felt cold sweat on his neck. "Quiet ship, 1 knot to main steerage control,
maintain heading"

Few minutes later the Dhruv's icon started moving eastward in the screen as
unable to detect anything, she shifted to another fishing perch farther north.

"Bear course 120' to NW, speed 1 knot"

"XO plot firing solution for all tubes, keep updating"

The ship icon moved perpendicular to khalid heading east at a reduced speed of
15 knots. Zia knew they had slowed down to avoid a battering to the hull. even
better.

********

CIC INS brahmaputra:
HUMSA was set into passive mode as usual and didnt see anything below the first
salinity boundary.
The towed array had been reeled in to avoid storm damage.

Unaware of the outbreak of war the Brahmaputra ploughed her lonely furrow
through the black waters.

********

"Flood tubes 1, 2, 4"

"Passive homing, quiet swimout, initial speed 5 knots, Fire tube 3"

electronic signals raced down the wires into the torpedo's heart , her
systems leapt into life, navigational computers got their update, BITE
passed, A flush of seawater ejected the device into the sea wherein her
motor quietly spun to life and she commenced a stealthy 5 knot attack
upon her quarry 16km ahead and closing.

Few seconds later the second torpedo joining its sibling and took another
heading , first heading north, then west to approach from the front quadrant.

guidance signals continued to be exchanged periodically through the long spool
of guiding wire.

Using the saline boundary for shelter they swam like barracadus below the
layer to mask the approach upto the extent possible.

At 7km out the HUMSA finally spotted the cavitation noises and blared a
insistent alarm, the duty officer took one look and pressed the red button
for action stations. He instructed bridge to increase speed to max possible
without waiting for captain Shetty to appear.

*********

"Sir I am detecting increasing prop revolutions and machinery noises" the young
sonarman was on his first mission and this history, he could feel his own heart
throbbing like a two stroke engine.

"very well, set to active homing, max speed, cut wires"

The two barracudas finally free of their leash and eye blinders leapt like
hungry predators to the kill, rapidly accelerating to 39 knots and closing
the remaining 7km distance like it didnt exist, active homing heads now primed
and interleaving with the passive homing for double checking position fixes.

"Take us to missile firing depth" helsman pointed the sub up, the vessel driving
like a powerful whale upto 30m and levelled off within a few seconds.

"Fire tubes 1 and 2"

The Exocet SM39 canisters erupted from the water and released their cargo, the
deadly missiles igniting solid rocket motors and taking off north west, active
radars easily making out the lone target in the area.

"Dive to 150m, 19 knots speed, heading 230' SE"

Few seconds later the Khalid was speeding away from the scene.

*********

The blaring alarm bell awakened captain Shetty, the display panel atop his
bed showing the type of alarm raised. Hurriedly putting his shirt on he
ran up the corridor towards the CIC.

Unlike the later ships like Delhis the Brahmaputra CIC wasnt as modern and
integrated, more like a collection of independent subsystems that needed human
skills to work in concert...also more precious time than a seamless sensor fused
suite.

"Radio room, alert fleet on emergency channel we are under attack by two torpedoes"

The low res navigation radar failed to make out the exocets but the EL/M-2221
set that had been hurriedly activated yelped its urgent alarm on spotting to
inbounds boring in from the south.

"switch barak module to full auto"

control signals again raced down the ships network. 12 of the 24 barak cells
finished BITE within milisecs and reached hot standby state, the remainder
twelve trailing by 2 seconds.

"deploy passive and active countermeasures"

Two alenia whitehead torpedo decoys were ejected forcefully from their tubes
in the fantail hitting the water hard and sinking into the ships boiling wake.
while one focussed on active white noise jamming , the other mimiced the brahmaputras
screw noises and presented itself as a target 100 meters behind the real ship.

"alert airborne-1 to target vector due south east 15km"

The Dhruv turned steeply and raced to the estimated source of the attack, trying
valiantly to protect its mother.

*********

21 km away

"helsman bear course 0' due west, silent ship, passive sonar, speed slow down to
5 knots"

he knew the brahmaputras 10km range ASW torps couldnt catch him now even if the
ship survived his salvo. time to lie low and watch out for the dhruv....

*********

The Baraks FCS brain cycled into full auto and became a living entity of its
own, faster and more precise than human intervention. Two tube doors opened and
a pair of sleek black missiles hot launched immediately, tipping over hard to
reach sea skimming level and meet the attack.

One second later, another pair of missiles lanced out into the darkness.

The first barak managed to explode a few meters above the Exocet-1,the supersonic
crossing speed between attacker and defender stretching the shipboard FCS to its
limit, the second Barak exploded around 20m behind the Exocet-2, too late to
damage its crossing target.

The third and fourth Baraks each programmed to go after one exocet closed the
gap rapidly, the third missile scored a resounding 'hit' on the still exploding
debris cloud of the exocet-1. the fourth missile unfortunately suffered a failure
from the shock and vibration and went astray, splashing into the sea..disintegrating
on impact.

Two of the Brahmaputra's AK630's had been removed but the two amidships had been
retained. The lone guardian on the starboard side spooled its multi-barrel assembly
and spat out its hate and rage at the enemy with a cloud of heavy tungsten slugs
aimed at the Exocet-2s estimated path, but the lack of a closed loop radar to
correct the outgoing stream of shots hampered it against the terminal evasive
manouvering by the clever exocet.

Under the sea, the torpedo attacking from the rear on starboard beam got fooled
by the decoy and exploded 100 meters behind, smashing both decoys to bits.

Its partner suddenly cleared its headache from the jamming and slightly adjusted
its course and speed, taking a final path 180' from its target it swam below
the hull and exploded 2m below the keel nearly amidships, the huge 230kg of
high grade explosive creating a blast and pressure wave that broke the ships
back, blasted away a 10msq hole below the vessel and flooded the engineering
spaces with tons of sea water in a few moments.

Exocet-2, rocket motor section damaged by tungsten slugs but warhead and guidance
intact completed its journey and smacked amidships into the torpedo tube section.
The explosion of its own warhead and the loaded torpedo warheads destroying much
of the above deck superstructure, starting unstoppable fires, cooking off the barak
vls, stowed ammo, the helicopter aviation fuel tank and pouring poisonous black
smoke into the stricken ships surviving spaces.

INS brahmaputra, the first of its family sank in twelve minutes. Only fifteen
survivors were found the next morning by CG vessels and rescue helicopters.

Airborne-1 the valiant Dhruv - squadron leader saxena and his crew of
five were also presumed lost at sea, they had just enough fuel
to cover the 155kms back to the islands. A garbled distress call was received but
a search of the area provided no debris or life rafts. The shark infested waters
and stormy weather kept their own secrets. It was assumed they had chosen to stay in the area looking for survivors rather than save their own lives until their fuel gave out.

Searches later that night by a Bear diverted from duties farther up north proved
futile, whoever the attacker was had made good his escape. The Bear was also short
of sonobuoys - a problem increasingly showing up because these being disposable
needed constant refills. the russian factory in vladivostok was unable to deliver
bulk emergency shipments due to labour problems and a domestic replacement that
was better but needed some money for completion had been shot down on the verge
of completion in 2004 by a smear campaign in the media against that particular
DRDO lab.

************

Next: Agneya: "good morning Mr.Murtaza"
Last edited by Singha on 15 Jun 2005 00:36, edited 1 time in total.
ManuJ
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Post by ManuJ »

Revenge! Revenge!
Singha
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Post by Singha »

there will be a piece named "INS Chola" after the next to deal with naval issues again. who or what is ins chola will be revealed only then.
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Post by JTull »

It's not necessary to win every battle to win the war. Revenge will come and will be sweeter than you can imagine.
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Post by Jay »

I can hear Dharm Paaji's dialouges frm Brites. Kutte, kaminee, Maa kasam badla loonga. Maa ka doodh piya to paani ke neeche se nahi paani ke ooper aah.... :twisted:
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Post by parikh »

More Pls and Fast.Jingos have been deprived too long
SuryaP
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Post by SuryaP »

Atlast....
Thanks, :D
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Post by Swaroop »

aaaaaaah!
druggies need their fix less than we jingos need ours :D
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Post by HarshS »

Hey,

That was neat. For two reasons:
1) The description of how and why Brahmaputra was sunk was realistic--equipment problems, design problem, human problems.

2) It is also realistic to expect losses--so far the thread had Indian wins, but here, you've shown a failure too--and that for the Navy, which is usually considered way to superior to the Pakistan Navy. Good, just like the loss of Khukri, this too is a wakeup call.

One crib. Why would Khalid's CO fire both torpedos and missiles at Brahmaputra--isn't that a waste--he should have fired either torpedoes or missiles. Saved the rest for Viraat.

In fact, I think he shouldn't have fired at all, but saved it when he had two to three ships in sight--and emptied all his tubes. Now he will become the hunted, and all for one frigate! Wrong choice.
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Post by Singha »

he cant be 300% sure of coming across Viraat - the ocean is a big place.
his orders were to keep a low profile but attack high value targets which a brahmaputra certainly qualifies as. he needs to sink his fangs in at every oppotunity and strike fear into the isolated convoys criss crossing the sea
to the mainland.

I thought firing both the missiles and torpedoes were a good idea to make
sure of the thing, if the torpedoes were decoyed the brah would chase right after him and release its own torpedoes, so even slight damage from a ASM should give him enough time to sprint for a more secure location.

[deleted on request]
Last edited by Singha on 17 Jun 2005 13:22, edited 1 time in total.
SuryaP
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Post by SuryaP »

deleted as deleted above
No No No......

Please don't give anything away outside the story. We (atleast I) want to read these things in the regular narrative.
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Post by Anshul »

Get INS Jarawa into the picture and get the Car Nicobar based SU-30s in air.I want the KAMOV-31s up and deployed.We need to home on this piece of s**t .Until then i am marooned.
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Post by daulat »

Crewman found on remote atoll

Port Blair (NSN) - Able Seaman Kumaramangalam, part of the illfated crew of Airborne-I from the lost INS Brahmaputra was discovered earlier today on a remote island in the Nicobar chain. Weak and dehydrated, he had floated onto the shore after the Dhruv helicopter from the Brahmaputra had come down a few miles from land.

Kumaramangalam is reported to have said that all hands made it into the water safely once the Dhruv ditched, including three survivors from the Brahmaputra which Sqdn Ldr Saxena had picked up, but the heavy seas and shark attacks claimed most of them during the night. The injured men in particular stood little chance in the heavy swell. He praised the Sqdn Ldr for his courage and devotion to duty, even though their fuel had almost run out.

Three bodies were found washed up on shore near Kumaramangalam, who had been located thanks to his GPS emergency locater, recently made standard issue for all aircrew. Next of kin will be informed once the bodies have been identified. Kumaramangalam is recuperating in Port Blair Base Hospital and is said to be stable.

Meanwhile, the hunt for the Brahmaputra's assassin goes on relentlessly. Port Blair and Car Nicobar bases are on high alert and there is a great deal of aerial activity.
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Post by Shankar »

IC621 from kolkata to port blair took off on schedule at 0540 hrs and settled down on its cruising altitude of 32000 ft after about 20 minutes into the flight.It was a clear day with little cloud and unlimited visibility.Capt Ajay sing was in command and Capt Nirmala Deshpadey the newly inducted first officer . As breakfast was served on board the young eyes of Ms Nirmala picked out the tale tale wake of Pak sub about 100 kms off the coast of Paradip . Ms Nirmal an avid enthusiast of all thing military and regualr visitor to defense forums like BR alerted her commander about a possible sub sighting . Commander Singh an ex airforce Il-76 was aware of recent hostile developments in bay of bengal even if not of the fresh incident involving INS Brahamputra. After a closer look at the wake shape he decided to have a quick closer look. The requisite permission over open VHF from Kolkata ATC took 5 minutes who also simultaneously alerted eastern air and naval command . The passengers who have just started to open the braekfast wrapper were told to starp on as the A320 initiated an emergency decent to 5 000 ft with a vertical speed meter touching nearly 6000ft/min. Apolite explanation was aired over the aircraft PA system about a possible clear air turbulance and nothing to worry about.
Within 7 minutes the IA 320 was over the paki sub already half submerged
but the identification was firmed up when IN confirmed no indian sub was in the vicinity and the reports from dhruvas survivor have already confirmed the sub attack details . The preliminary sub location was marked 100 km off indian coast almost due east of paradip port and a kill box of 200 km by 200 kms was put in place .

The hunt for khalid has begun .
INS Mumbai with INS Shivalik and INS Khanjar kicked off the hunt from
Vizag base and soon will be joined by another Delhi class and half a dozen frigates and Helicopters . Two Bears took off from INS Hansa enroute to Bhubaneswar within 2 hours using almost the entire length of 10000ft Dabolim runway loaded up with sonobyous and torpedoes followed by two IL 76 on loan to navy from IAF similarly loaded with sonoboys and aircraft spares including two spare engines . Every one knew it is going to be long hunt . Around mid afternoon Asingle IL-78 took off from Agra on its way to kolkata and Bhubaneswar.
Unknown to the the brave if some what over enthusistic sailors of khalid their days of sea faring have become numbered . No way they could expect to get out alive -it was just a matter of time and time was swiftly running out.
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Post by Singha »

about 100kms off Paradip, the crew of the british nuclear submarine HMS Astute went about their daily duties unaware of the storm that had ignited overhead. Their job was to monitor indian naval movements unobtrusively
and keep out of any fighting, this they had done nicely so far. This morning a hydraulic assembly attached to the front diving fin had developed an issue that forced her to surface for 15 mins. for fear of alerting indian ESM units they had not used her active radar on the surface.

200km of Chennai port, PNS Khalid now safe from any pursuers leisurely
cruised at 200m and 3 knots using her AIP. Captain had left the bridge in
charge of the XO and went for a well earned nap , last night they had tailed
a convoy from port blair going to chennai, plan was to attack in early dawn.
but the sudden arrival of a ASW corvette from out of chennai to convoy escort had made him change his mind. 8 weapons were left, sinking a 10000t cargo ship wouldnt bother the indians.

He wanted to get under their skin and play with their mind. ideas came thick and fast into his fertile brain.
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Post by Anshul »

Yummy... :D
I will end the meal with floatsam and dead bodies fished out straight from the Bay of Bengal.Hey I could do with something fished just off INS Kadamba.Anything with TSP markings... :twisted:+ A huge oil slick.

.....Waiting 4 the next course.....

Some target practise on HMS Astute and then PNS Khalid is Tandoori..
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Post by daulat »

Command Deck HMS Astute:

Lieutenant Barton: "Picking up a lot of surface activity captain..."

Captain Effyngham-Smythe: "Steady as she goes number one, we need to keep our heads down, our little pop-up earlier probably got someone interested... Signals? Anything from Command?" Effyngham-Smythe cursed the budget cutbacks that had made the Astute a mere shadow of the potent warmachine she really was, bloody civil service bureaucrats!

Midshipman Dugdale: "Something coming in sir... crikey!"

Captain E-Smythe: "Dugdale? Speak up"

Midshipman Dugdale:"Sir... seems that an Indian surface combatant has gone down... all hands lost... just south of the Nicobars"

Lieutenant Barton: "Sodding hell, there goes our shore trip in Qatar!"

Effyngham-Smythe looked coldly at Barton, these new officers coming through the system had absolutely no class. No stiff upper lip. This was not how Trafalgar was won, or Scapa Flow, or the Bismarck... or even the Belgrano, he chuckled. He remembered his own first voyage in a sub. "Now then Number One, what happened to that Agosta we had been tracking a little while ago? Been a busy little Abdul has he?"

Barton looked darkly towards the sensor screens, his appointment with that cold glass of beer in Qatar was looking more and more distant.
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Post by Shankar »

The captain of HMS Astute the first of three nuclear powered but conventionally armed attack sub was triffle worried about events braeaking around his ship. He was under strict instructions from admirality not to disclose his position or get involved into any hostilities withot direct clearence from first sea lord .His mission in Bay of Bengal was strictly intel gathering and though he was armed with 18 spearfish 533 mm torpedoes and 18 Tomahawk block 3 surface attack missiles -to use them even in so called self defense may cause him to loose his command since that might be construed as a violation of rules of engagement since India was almost an ally and an important trading partner.
Simply put to fight out of the ASW screen being formed around him was not an option though he was sure if it comes to a fire fight he was well capable of sinking frigate may be even a destryer before being bracketed by the helos and the bears of indian navy and possibly meeting a deep and crushing watery depth far from the misty shores of scotland.

At the moment his Marconi Alenia combat management system showed 2 delhi class destroyers at 270 and 210 degree 100 + km to south and a possible Kilo about 50 km to west . The contacts were designated siera 1 -siera 2 and siera 3 . Till none of the contacts have made any positive hostile move like dropping sono buoys or active pinging from their bow mounted sonars but that could change any time He also ordered torpedo tube 1thru 6 loaded but stopped short of flooding the doors since all these preparations were for the unlikely event of an unavoidable shoot out -the sub captain was about to try a stupidly simple way out of th situation

*** A single Tu-142 F sr no IN 317 turned at the end of runway under command of Sujit Chatterjee and first officer Ghatge Patil was into the first 12 hour sortie of the day trying to locate the inidentified sub reported by indian airlines pilot some time back . They knew almost 8 hrs have passed from that sighting and the the sub could be anywhere wihtin a circle of 200 mile dia from the point of sighting in case she has decided to break for it -alternatively it may have just gone deep and cruising at min steerage power hoping to slip out once the hunt is called off .They had no idea about HMS Astute but even if they knew - nothing much would have changed after all russian bears were made with the express purpose of hunting down us boomers under the freezing watre of atlantic and barents sea.

- Tower IN 317 request permission for take off
- IN 317 cleared for immediate take off ,climb to 15000 ft and turn right 90 degree ,maintain own navigation ,good hunting .
- cleared for take off IN 317
Captain sujit nodded at his xo smoothly pushed put the combined throttle lever to full power ,stood on the brake for a few seconds as the four massive NK-12MV turbo props generating more than 15000 shaft horse power came into being ,a last glance at the tach meters and oil pressure guages and took off his leg from the brake . The huge aircraft pulled forward by the massive eight bladed contra rotating reversible pitch propellers started off slowly but then smoothly accelerated to its take off speed of 140 knots over the 8000 ft runway. The indian Bear was carrying 8 torpedoes and a dozen depth charges along with a single air launched Brahmos just for contingency .The sonobuyos were an even mix of RGB 75 /RGB 55A and a larger numbe rof RGB 15 . The albatroos like aircraft used up almost 85% of the active runway before the captain deci decided to rotate and she cleared the bamboo jungle at the end of the runway withabout 50 ft to spare.
First time in the history of indian navy the Bears have been called to battle order and the indian naval strike capability about to be put to test .
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Post by Singha »

seeing as how everyone is all worked up and eager for a fistfight, I am going to change tack and make the next part a naval one , rather than completing the land mission. it just has to involve the Viraat and the northern task force(biggest one) , the junta and fate demands it.

meantime you boys can have some fun giving the hapless brit sub a harrowing time.
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Post by Johann »

Two hours before;

Admiral Sir Nigel Fotheringay GCB DSC ADC, was not having a good finish to a very long day at the Ministry of Defence in London. He was repeating himself, losing momentum, and he knew it. He leaned harder on the clenched fist supporting his weight against his massive oaken desk that served as his bridge these days. He felt his left hand involuntarily squeezing harder around the secure's telephone receiver as he listened to the maddeningly cheerful voice issuing forth.

"...but the Astute is state of the art, seems unlikely to me that the Indians could find it" Despite an ingrained deference to his civilian masters that had paved his way to the dizzy heights of Chief of Defence Staff, Sir Nigel had great difficulty maintaining a professional demeanour when dealing with the Right Honourable George Cockburn MP, and Secretary of Defence. He was aware that his boss was better known as That Cunt Cockburn, or simply TCC to a disturbingly large number of serving and retired members of the services. He could not bring himself to ever call him that aloud even in private, but on the other hand he would not deny that the thought of his retirement in a eighteen months was a blessed relief.

Of course retirement would be no consolation at all if it came indelibly stained with disaster. "Sir, you saw the DCMO briefing that outlined the limited choices available to the government. Cheltenham says it sounds like the entire Indian navy is bearing down on Astute. If she were entirely in the pink we wouldnt even be in the situation we are now, so there should be no question of taking additional risks. We must move now to let the Indians know that its our boat they are hunting, and that she had nothing to do with the sinking of their ship."

The sound of the Secretary's chair shifting slightly on the other end was unmistakeable. "I dont see why the captain couldnt very well do it himself - if the PM had to get involved, it will almost certainly get in to the papers, and given how much we have spent on the Astute Class, and the sensitivity of the operations underaken they will have a field..."

Sir Nigel interrupted, feeling a sharp throbbing at his temple and at the base of his skull. "She's gone deep sir- it could be as much as a full day before she attempts to contact us again as I said earlier. Captain Blythe is a Perisher sir and will not allow embarassment to HMG, except as a last resort. But he is also counting on us, his superiors who have the larger picture to not put his crew at any more risk than is necessary. The longer we delay, the more likely it is that a terrible mistake might take place. I can bloody well guarantee it will be in the papers then, as well as the fact is that he and his crew ought to have been home three months ago and Astute in refit."

The Secretary continued serenly, barely acknowledging the interruption "As you say, Captain, Captain...Blythe is a fine professional, and I have absolute faith in his and the Royal Navy's ability to rise to the challenges of an unpredictable new era, as it always has." Sensing rather than hearing the strangled response making its way out of the Admiral's throat he pressed on, his voice which though rising an octave higher also acquired a tone of finality missing earlier "...and now I really must carry on. I have to see the Prime Minister first thing tommorrow morning- you know what an early riser he is. If it hasnt all been sorted out by then I shall of course press him to accept the armed forces' advice. Good night." The sound of a firm click.

Feeling so physically ill that he was not aware of his own actions Sir Nigel mechanically returned the handset back to its cradle. Yet his mind was already working with a kind of furious clarity. Balls to TCC, balls to the FCO, and balls to anyone who thought he was going to sit back and watch one hundred and eight British servicemen and one of the country's most valuable defence assets be carelessly squandered, pissed away in someone else's bloody war. The Pakistani sub had used its SATCOM to report its kill. The interception and DF had been more a matter of chance than anything else, but it was something that would convince the Indians very quickly they were on the wrong track. It would really be too bad for the Pakistani sailors, but in the end it wouldnt really change the situation even if the Indians did sink them, they usually did anyway. No, the more he thought about it, no one would say a bloody thing if it worked, and why they, at least until it didnt really matter any more. If it didnt work then at least he would be able to hold his head high when the inevitable Royal Commission was unleashed and say that he did the best he could for his men. They could try to take his pension for it, but the chiefs would back him all the way on this one. Yes, Joe Leith should be able to keep it mostly in his domain. How long would it take to get everything to the attache in Delhi, and then to their navy? No, no time to waste at all. He picked up the telephone and urgently punched in the number for the Chief of Defence Intelligence. A very good fellow Joe, despite being RAF.
Last edited by Johann on 22 Jun 2005 11:02, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Shankar »

The massive albatross like Tu-142 leveled off at 15000 ft and the throaty hum of the four massive turbo prop engines changed to a smooth purr as the power was cut off to 70 percent max for most economic cruise speed of 280 knots as Sujit chat reduced throttle setting and started formulating a possible search plan with his xo Patil as the VHF encrypted channel crackeled to life
- IN 319 you are cleared to initiate search for hostile sub possibly Agosta 90B - possibility of neutral British and US sub in the area -positive identification required -you are not weapons free repeat you are not weapons free.Pl confirm
- to initiate grid search for hostile sub -possible agosta 90B -weapons not free
- positive ident only -roger and out.
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Post by Singha »

Shankar old chap that british conversation was very well done indeed.
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Post by SuryaP »

Shankar wrote:- IN 319 you are cleared to initiate search for hostile sub possibly Agosta 90B
Couple of nitpicks, otherwise an excellent job...

It was IN317 in the previous post.

I think you assign a call sign instead of a number like that.
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Post by Johann »

Singha wrote:Shankar old chap that british conversation was very well done indeed.
Surely you mean Daulat? :P Or perhaps even that other Brit chap who posts occasionally? :D
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Post by Shankar »

As the massive Tu 142 netered the search area control of the tactical part of the sub hunt went automatically to the Bear commander and the two seakings from INS Mumbai came under his operational command for the duration of the hunt . It took a few minutes for the secured datalinks to be established between the two sea kings and the Tu 142 thru INS Mumbai and commodore NK Rao on the bridge took on the role of of an actice spectator . The tactical net so formed was also patched onto the overall command net vide navys dedicated transponder on on INSAT 4C orbitting 36000 kms over earth and the net ressults was on the bridge of all surface combatants on the area as well as the operationa room of eastern naval command and naval headquarteres had a direct real time view of the digital sonar image generated on the aircraft -choppers and the ships closing in on the suspected hostile sub.

At the sametime for ease of identification on tac net random call signs were generated and assigned to the three aircraft and destroyer taking part in the actual hunt . Tu-142 got a somewhat funny call sign of Peacock 1 and the two seakings were summarily called sparrow 1 and sparrow 2 respectively .

Capt Sujit quickly put on his operational planning on the net . Since identification was of paramount importance the detection will be entirely by passive sonobyos followed by magnetic anamoly detection run by the Bear to pinpoint the location and final attack also by Bear with recently inducted NSTL made aerial heavy weight torps . Everyone on the tac net concurred and the search was on .

The search grid at that moment was a roughly a rectangle 200 km by 300 km s off the coast of paradip Bhubaneswar . The east- west side of the rectangle was kept longer since that was the direction of most likely escape. North- south side was smaller by 100 km because beyond that The INS Mumbai with its companions were kept in a goal keeper role which means any sub escaping the aerial drag net will run straight into the wating arms of the destroyer .

INS Sindhuvir was 50 kms off the east west side of the vitual hunting rectangle has just come in the net during her periodic surface transmission sorties and quitely told to stay deep and and stay quite . Catain Arun Prakash immediately dived to 200 mtrs reduced power to 3 knots and waited . Kilos by any standard is a quite ship on battery power and in quite mode - it truely became a hole in the ocean.

- Sparrow 1 and Sparrow 2 commence search
the first operational comand went out to the two seakings by in position just over the designated target area .The two Sea kings immediately went down to 50 ft and started deploying their dunking or dipping sonar s into the turbulant waters of Bay of Bengal both over and under the thermcline
known to exist at 185 ft below mean sea level . In all likelihood the sub would be below the thermocline whree sonar pufermance from passive air dropped sonobyous were poor and sometime s erratic but some clever sub captian may just reverse think this logic and escape close to surface quitely.
This was a tedious process every 1000 mtrs the helos would stop -dip the non directional dipping passive sonoboys and recover and repeat the process till a positive submerged accoustic signature was recieved . The attack computer would then first sort out rhe rubbish like mating whales .wave on rock and dispaly only those whose frequency band was interest ina green blue screen commonly called water fall dispaly . No one envied their job at this point of time

At the same time crew aboard Peacock 1 was checking out their MAD gear
housed in the extended tail boom of the Tu 142 Bear F . In essence it was just a highly sensitive magnetometer capable of reading the earths magnetic field and and any variation theron due to presence of a large ferrous metal mass -like a submarine hull .The earths mgnetic field does not run in a straight line from north to south and as such aliigning the MAD run with the earths magnetic lines of force was very crucial . Only when this is done ,the MAD operator can be sure his equipment will pick up the subs magnetic signature correctly against the constant background noise generated by earth . It took almost 30 minutes before the course potting was complete and the Tu 142 was ready to do the mad run.

On board HMS Astute things were tense to say the least. While lunch was served -cold cuts of corned beef and whole wheat bread with hot soup of indeterminate variety The captain was a worried man indeed.At a depth 300 meters and a speed of 5 knots he knew his ship was real quite if not as quite as the indian kilos .But the 350 MW pressurised water reactor which can propell his sub to 35 + knots have never been quitened down like the ohios so chances of detection was very real. His another worry was the magentic signature that his ship was generating even in ultra quite mode . He did the only thing possible -ordered the degaussing coils around the sub energised and waited .
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Post by Singha »

oops Sorree - I failed to realize it was you lurking 20 fathoms deep :roll:
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Post by daulat »

Captains Cabin, HMS Astute

a sharp knock on the door woke Capt. Effyngham-Smythe from his restless sleep. The only person on board accorded a separate room, the skipper was a figure of respect and awe.

Lt. Cmdr Siswick stepped into the small cabin and sat on the small desk as Effyngham-Smythe arose - "What's going on Paddy?"

Siswick smiled "You know skip, this whole situation is looking a little ragged... "

"A bit too bloody ragged if you ask me..."

"Yes skip... any orders from London?"

"No, bloody idiots. The chaps at the FO have got their heads firmly up their arses, bit like the MOD"

Paddy smiled, "You know skip, we could dive a little deeper and get out to the South West... you know, deeper than... say what an Agosta could go to..."

Effyngham-Smythe smiled back "You know Paddy, for an old Perisher, you're not a total idiot!"

five minutes later, the Astute had made an unauthorised course change, the log would show unspecified failures of various communications equipment and lost messages.

Effyngham-Smythe smiled as he settled down to sleep again. He had been on an exchange programme with the IN a few years back, he knew that by now the big Bears would be overhead, looking angrily to maul at anything that was lurking in the waters. Whilst he was confident he could stay out of reach, he knew that the IN boys like his own would be grimly determined to wreak revenge. It was perhaps wiser to be out of the firing line.

On the command deck, Lt. Barton nudged Lt. Cmdr Siswick "'ello 'ello, wot ave we ere then?" he mocked his home counties accented voice to cockney

Siswick peered intently at the sensor screen, the prop trace and cavitation signature were strangely familiar from a shadowing exercise they had run a few days before

"Does abdul know we're here?"

"No sir"

"Lovely jubbly... wonder if I should wake the skip up again?"

Meanwhile, in London, a senior RAF officer sat by the phone, thinking carefully of what message he should send to his opposite number in New Delhi in the Tri-Service Command.
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Post by Shankar »

**Not very far from the hunting zone off coast of Orissa ,about 60 kms due west of historic city of Vizianagaram - PNS Khalid the pride of pakistani navy had to surface to periscope depth since her liquid oxygen level was running low and the batteries badly needed to be charged up .While her methanol liquid oxygen based air independent propulsion system allowed her to extend the submergence duration by more than 3 times it did not enable her to totally do away with periodic surfacing requirement altogether .After shooting down the blessed Indian frigate and a quick submerged dash almost as far as Chennai - her skipper has turned back with the hope of bagging another Indian ship -possibly the much vaunted Delhi class destroyer which must be there somewhere off the coast of Vizag . The captain of Agosta was happy and confidant -he was at the top of the world . As he snorkeled at periscope depth the though of next 6700 ton kill kept flashing thru his mind. His torpedo and missile inventory was almost 65 % full. The EXOCET SM39 missile had an effective range of 50 kms+ and he was sure he could locate and sink eiether of indian delhi class in the area if lucky both and escape to Karachi without much trouble .

** The coast guard Dornier 228 took of from Vizag naval air station early in the morning as dawn was braeking up over the eastern horizon. 24 yr old S Rajendran was in command and by his side his 21 yr old XO Jagjit singh who have joined the coast guard 3 months back staight from Indira gandhi rasytriya uran accademy and basic conversio course at navys aviation training course at Dabolim. Since he did not have the NDA background no way he could have got into highly competitive naval aviation wing and so choose the next best alternative the Coast Guard -hoping some day some spectacular mission will help him fulfill his dream of becomming a sea harrier pilot or may be even a Mig 29k Pilot.

The dornier was on a routing anti-smuggling sortie which would take them at a distance of 25-50 kms off eastern coast line from vizag to vizianagaram to bhubaneswar -paradip and onwards to kolkata . They would do a reciprocal sortie the next day .

Before take off the commanding officer personally briefed them about the developments in the oceans around orissa with specific instructions not to switch off their IFF transponder under any circumstances and their pre assigned call sign seagull 1 . The same call sign and aircraft description was simultaneously passed on to eastern naval command on real time basis and passed on to bridge of INS Mumbai within about 3 minutes after nessecery verification at various checkpoints.

Unknown to the the very young pilots at controll of the dornier 228 - a destiny far larger and vivid than their wildest dreams was about to turn true over the turbulant coasts of Andhra Pradesh. But then this was still into future .

** Methanol or methyl alcohol is highly flammable .While this makes it an ideal fuel when burnt with pure oxygen also imposes on those dealing with it in close confines like that of submarine hull to be very very careful.
The liquid oxygen and methanol tanks aboard PNS Khalid are placed side by side witha light fire curtain between them . The maximum pressure that the double walled vacuum jacketed liquid oxygen tank could take before venting thru the safety relief valve was 20 bar or 20 time s atmospheric . During the prologed submergence in tropical watres and some detoriation of vacuum quality in the insulation space liquid oxygen pressure has already reached 18.5 bar . After a brief discussion with engineering officer the XO PN Khalid decided to vent off the excess oxygen pressure as soon as the batteries were fully charged up.

At the same time a small leak was observed in the metanol line to the combustor where the high pressure steam is generated by combustion of oxygen and methanol . The engineering officer on his own authority immediately ordered repair of the leak after inert gas purge .

The nitrogen gas bottle supposed to be loaded at karachi -was not there
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Post by Shankar »

The mesma air independent propulsion system installed in khalid was a direct outgrowth of french nuclear submarine development programme . The alternator to supply 200kw power was driven by a hot gas turbine utilising the combustion products of ethanol/methano and oxygen vaporised fron stored liquid oxygen at a pressure of 60 atmosphere .This allowed it to vent the exhaust carbon di oxide at any depth without problem . However the consumtion of liquid oxygen was high and the submerged run with AIP limited by the amount of liquid oxygen it can carry on board

* as able seaman mansoor ahmed on board khalid found out lack of compressed nitrogen boottle missing from workshop inventory and as only qualified welder on board it was his direct responsibilty to load the nitrogen cylinder -he did what any self respecting tecnician would do under similar circumastances - kept quite about it and started to weld the leak on alcohol pipe feeding combustor

At the in the adjoining compartment midshipman reza ali opend the vent valve of liquid oxygen tank seperated from the methanol tank by a fire wall .

It is said acciedents never happen by itself but is the ressult of a string of events joined together in space by thread of time

The moment mansoor ahmed strarted to weld the un inerted methanol pipe the acuumulated alcohol vapour in the pipe caught fire in a blinding flash and escaped up burning the gloves and helmet of mansoor and the hot escaping gas mixed with vented oxygen from the next compartment created a small fire ball within the sub using up all the breathable oxygen . The air scrubber could not keep up with the high carbon di oxide load suddenly generated due to combustion of oxygen with methanol and tripped. Though the fire was quickly brought under control before it could make the methanol or liquid oxygen tank explode inside iof the agosta was full of smoke from partly burnt rubber sound absorbing mats and electrical wiring and emergency breathing oxygen supply was used up at prodigal rate -left with no option the captain ordered sub surface and hatch open to let in the fresh sea air -knowing very well by this move so close to combat zone is like sighning your own death warrant . But he had no option.

** The coast guard dornier was lightly armed -the nose mounted 12.7 mm medium machine gun a single pod of 6 57 mm unguided rockets more suitable for intimadating roughneck illegal fishing trawlwres and smuggling boats than ships of war but then luck was today on their side

As the Do 228 came out of the cloud cover 20 kms east of fishing port of vizinagaram at 5000 ft and sighted the black smoke at a distance of 30 kms farther east on reflex the commander set a course 060 to have closer look and find out if he can be of help . The early morning sea haze didnot allow a positive ship type identification at such a distance .

Ofcourse he went by the book and reported the sighting to coast guard control at vizag and only then proceeded to have a closer look .

The signal was passed onwards to eastern naval command and then to task force commander who did not think much of it since rescuing a fishing boat in distress was not on his list of current priorities .
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Post by Babui »

Shankar - nice buildup of suspense. You sure have the gift. Actually - I'm surprised at the hidden talent of some of the folks on this forum who have contributed to this 'open ended' novel.......... :)
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Post by Ashwin »

I don’t know whether this would fit into the current sequence of events, but here’s the indo-pak version of the sniper battle inspired by Gerald Seymour in “holding the zero”….



Jammu and Kashmir was calm for the moment but the events that were about to unfold would cause wide spread concern.

“How far to the other side”, asked major shafeeq.
“Two more kilometers saab”, said another voice.

The major didn’t notice where the answer came from, much more was going on in his mind. He remembered the young shafeeq, the man who cared more about his country than himself, a patriot, a person whose love for his nation prompted him more than anything else to join the army. And what is he doing now? Is he serving his nation? In a way, yes. But to the master sniper from the Pakistani army, this was more of a personal agenda. He thought very little about the Kashmir cause, to him the mission was a good chance, a great opportunity. An opportunity to use the skills that once won him so much acclaim, He could hit a bull’s eye from extraordinary ranges, but he had never gotten a chance to do that in combat, not in 1999, not in wana, not anywhere else.
This was his chance, even if it meant putting on the attire of a jehadi, even if it meant infiltrating to the other side.

Crossing over wasn’t as easy as it used to be, but where there are routes that can’t be surveyed; there will be men who use them.

He was now in Indian territory, it was a new feeling, anxiety? Yes, but also excitement, the excitement of combat.

“Do they have thermal imagers here?” asked shafeeq.
“As far as I know saab”, said Ali”No.”
“But let us not take any risks, don’t make any sudden movements”, said shafeeq.
Shafeeq always believed that sniping was a mental art more than anything else and that’s what he used to teach other trainees. “Concentrate and then fire, then the bullet will obey your orders.”

He looked for a good place. Heavily camouflaged, comfortable, at a fair distance from the road. He found one almost on top of the hill. He lay down, and looked at his rifle, polished loaded and ready for use. He made himself comfortable on his stomach, his mind was free, the climate was perfect, and all he required was a target…….

To captain Ram Das Gupta, life had become suddenly boring, “Funny”, he thought,” I must be the only officer who finds Kashmir uneventful.”
But in Kashmir boredom isn’t too much of an irritant, the climate was perfect, riding in a jeep was really a pleasure. The jeep stopped, the men really enjoyed tea breaks during long road patrols.

He took his first sip when he heard a crack at a distance, but only his men could hear the thump……..
Then there was another crack and another thump, and another one.

THREE ARMY MEN KILLED IN DEADLY AMBUSH
From our correspondent in Srinagar.

DRASS, MAY 30
Three army men including a captain were killed in Drass sector in Jammu and Kashmir when their patrol was ambushed. This is the first incident this month where the army faced casualties due to a terrorist attack. The army is still combing the area in search of the perpetrators of this attack according to a press release.

“What happened”, asked general yogi.
“There was a cracking noise sir at a distance”, said captain amitabh, “and then he was dead, two more men went to attend him and then they met with the same fate. There was a gap of two to three seconds between the crack and the thump, so I am assuming that the sniper was on the hill”
“The hill”, said the general,” that’s quite a distance. Are you sure that there was a sniper and that too on the hill?”
“Pretty sure sir, the dead had a small inlet on their body from the bullet and a large outlet on the back from where it left, definitely a bullet fired from a sniper rifle.”
“Did you search the hill?”
“Yes sir we did, but they seemed to have planned their escape in advance, pretty uncharacteristic sir, usually they don’t do that….”

Shafeeq took a small bite of his dry bread, waiting for his next chance, this time it was a different hill, a different place, but the same objective.

“Patrol party Alpha calling camp tiger” said Lance yusuf.
“Go ahead Alpha”
“Reaching point 12 on the sigma route, nothing unusual”
“Good, divert to point 14”
“Yes sir I sha…..”
“Hello Alpha… Alpha…..”

NDTV news ticker- Kashmir: six army men killed in ambush near Drass in a fresh spurt of violence.

For shafeeq it was a new high -six men, this was bound to make front page news, crack and thump, crack and thump, he didn’t care if they were wearing bullet proof jackets, he didn’t care what they looked like, he had just killed six men and they didn’t know what had hit them. This gave him a childish pleasure; this was turning into an obsession, a really wild one.



Shafeeq had become a monster, a huge deadly shark, a shark who was tired of small meals, a shark who was hungry for the big fish…….”

To be continued:

Ps: to the powers that be, please delete the post if it isn’t in line with the scenario.

:wink:
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Post by Shankar »

On the bridge of PN Khalid the Dornier was spotted long back but from its speed and course data dismissed as a private civilian carrier and no spe cific military significance .Still the alert XO ordered some sailors topside with AK-47 s and requested CO for permission to post a sailor topside with a single stinger launcher available till the sub was on surface. the request was politely but firmly turned down since in view of much experience d commander a trigger happy sailor launching a surface to air missile at a civilian aircraft would irrevocably compromise his ships safety . The commander would have been right under normal circumstances but in this case his impromptu cautios decision was fataly wrong and sealed the fate of his beloved sub.

The situation quickly changed for worse as the Dornier chnaged course directly at the the submarine and simultaneously started loosing altitude in a shallow banking dive towards Khalid. The captain imediately sensed the threat of positive identification in hostile waters and quickly countermanded his earlier decision - a couple of sailors rushed thru still smoke filled passage to subs armoury to locate and make ready a stinger for launch . In the process they lost few very precious minutes .

Seagull 1 came out of scattered cloud cover slightly south west of still smoking sub of pakistani navy at a comfortable visual ident altitude of 2000 ft anticipating to see a friendly fishing vessel in distress . never in their wildest dreams did they expect to see the pride of pakistani navy on their gun sight .

-coatst guard command this is Seagull 1 - pakistani navy agosta 90 b in sight- repeat agosta 90 b in sight - small on board fire suspected - recieving small arms fire from deck -request weapons free and permission to engage target -over

As soon as the the visual sighting confirmation and grid co ordinated was recieved from the dornier 228 it was relayed to naval command ad task force commander on board one of the destryers with flash priority . As per established naval engagement of doctrine of Indian Navy the Do 228 immediately came under direct operational command of the navy.

-seagull 1 this is task force comander you are weapons free -repeat you are weapons free- suggest commence rocket attack immediately -it is imperative you prevent hostile contact from submerging at any cost -reinforcements on the way maintain visual contact -maintain present altitude- good luck and good hunting - over

- Peacock 1 set course 210 at max speed - you are weapons free and free to engage hostile target in specified attack grid by all means at disposal - do not go lower than 3000 ft - contact coast guard aircraft on this frequency prior to launching torpedo run -over

- Sparrow 1 immediately join Seagull one and assist in bracketing up the hostile target
- Sparrow 2 return to refuel and standby for further orders

- The Tu-142 Peacock 1 imediately switched off the magentic anamoly detector as the pilot pushed the collective throttle full foward .The four extar powerful turboprops quickly pushed the airspeed indicator past the 400 knots mark as indian bear set course southwards . At the same time the xo switched on the seface search radar at max range and marked the possible location of hostile contact as Karachi 1 .

- sparrow 1 you are weapons free on all subs in attack zone - stay below 1500 ft - establish visual contact with seagull 1 before commencing attack run -confirm
- staying below 1500 ft weapons free on all submarine contact in attack zone -establish visual contact with seagull 1 before comencing attack run -over - keeping this frequency open for further instructions -over

The large navy sea king helicopter pivoted in mid air and with its load of sono bouyas and single sea eagle anti ship missile set course for the doomed sub
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Post by AjithP »

:D :D :D :D :D :D
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Post by Shankar »

The tension on the air waves was electric
First time in the history of Indian coast guard - it was called to battle ,not an illigal fishing trawler nor a smuggling dhow but one of the worlds most advanced ships of war with more than 2 inch thick maraging steel pressure hull capable withstanding 40 times atmospheric pressure from outside and many times more from inside ,water tight compartment all along her lenght making it virtually unsinkale except by a direct hit from a heavy sub or ship launched torpedo ,with air independent propulsion system capable of keeping it under water for 3 times more than a normal diesel elctric sub .

But it had one weakness -it is not for nothing the advanced navies world over have grave reservations on air-independent propulsion systems particularly those based on stored volatile fuel like methanol and super cold liquid oxyge n at -183 deg c which can make even the toughest steel go brittle and crack . except stainless steel of particular variety and some high nickel content alloys and alminium all known metals will invariable fail when in contact with liquid oxygen .

This fact was not known to dornier crew but they had revenge of Brahmaputra in their minds as they started their rocket run

The 6 57 mm rockets shot of the pod in a salvo aimed at still partly opened hatch of Pakistani agosta -the first two hit the sub under water line and exploded shooting off impressive geysers of water but hardly a dent on the heavy duty hull.
The next pair hit the open deck killiong all sailors and the captain who was trying to direct defensive fire at the incomming coast guard aircraft

The 5 th rocket did not explode

It was the last rocket which hit the partly opened con tower hatch ,deflected inwards and exploded .

The effect of high explossive warhead going off in the close confines of pressure hull of the deep submerging sub was catastrophic to say the least . Those who were in the imediate vicinity and in the passage way first became deaf and then dies by severe overpressure created in fraction of a second . The sharpnels punctured the methanol tank which caught fire imediately and exploded sucking out all breathable oxygen and killing everyone on board by asphyxation . The torpedo warheads detonated next closely followed by rocket motors of the surface attack missiles and then the the missile warheads . The liquid oxygen tank exploded last being so far protected from the heat and fire by its outer vacuum jacket spilling all the 6000 ltrs of liquid oxygen on steel deck of mortally wounded agosta which cracked the cirferential welds at number of places and then the evaporated oxygen gas accelerated the combustion intensity inside the sub by a factor of five .

The designers nevers designed the sub for this kind of punishment . It started taking on water after about 1.5 minutes of the fateful rocket attack and was sunk in about 4 .

There were no survivors .

The last photograph of PN Khalid was taken by dornier xo as took an almost 30 degree list before going under the turbulant waters of bay of bengal . On the outer periphery of his nikkon view finder he could also se the vague trianglar shapes innumerable reef sharks closing in for the kill.

Strangely niether the commander or the xo of coast guard dornier felt elated at their epoch making victory -they felt very very sad .
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Post by Pennathur »

Shankar too pat - even if it is easier for me to pick holes than it is for you to write something after much thought.

How about the following?

1. The TSPN Captain identifies the ICG Dornier and gets his crack missle man on the deck to lock on it without any hesitation
2. The Chinese watchers monitoring the situation for TSPN warn the enemy of increased reco activity
3. The IN Bear gets bounced (I don't know how this would be possible 200 km from the Indian coast line)
4. USN decides to 'order' a ceasefire and asks IN to step down and "let bygones be bygones"
5. The South China Dimwit Post (aka The Hindu) drones on about likely "provocative action" taken by INS Brhampautra and warns against "unwarranted escalation" (which is what they termed the interception and kill of the PNS Atlantique that violated Indian airspace in 1998 prompting Commie spoilers in the Rajya Sabha to make attempts to constrain Indian forces action.
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Post by bhavani »

sir pennathur,

Answers for your holes

1)May be possible. But i dont think it is very easy to aim a stinger very accurately from a heaving and floating sub, and there is not even much space on the deck of a sub.
2) From where will the chinese watchers watch a incoming dornier of coast guard. they dont have any stations nearby.( just how will the chinese know of a single coast guard dornier, they cant even monitor EP-3's flying close to china. Monitoring capacity of chinki navy is quite limited till date and they dont have any kind of monitoring stations in Arabian sea. Unless there is a chinki sub in the area which is not part of the scenrio.)


3)who will bounce a bear. You need a fighter for bouncing a bear and pakis dont have such long range fighters. Infact intercepting a bear which has such long range and good high speed for a turboprop is not an easy thing without good radars and a well co-ordinated intercept.
4) USN is not indian government to give orders to IN or ICG.
5)I dont know what to write about what you wrote.
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Post by Pennathur »

Bhavani,

I am not knighted and have no intentions of accepting any Royal titles, so plain Pennathur will do.

1. True it isn't easy to aim a Stinger anywhere. IIANM didn't the IAF helo that was downed in Kargil in 1999 require quite a few shots? But with a well trained missileer and an unsuspecting INCG Dornier shdn't we be less cool about the possibilities?
2. Now if the PLAN has coordinated the action with TSPN would it be too much expecting them to provide a sat surveillance of maybe not the entire Bay but select sectors? Let's consider the pros and cons - long term planning by PLAN+TSPN; coordinated battle plan for the TSPNS Khalid; vs the cons of radar sat availability with the PLAN; realistic coverage frequency possible - not very easy for the PLAN to park a sat to watch specific sectors.
3. Agreed bouncing a Bear at the wider end of the Bay is hellishly complicated - may require a much bigger task force for that and only you know has that.
4. We all know USN ain't the government to give orders. But does India have unlimited room for action? I believe it must but seriously hasn't that been a problem in every war we have had to fight? Reminds me of the parrot that accompanied the honeymooners - "I've got to see how this works". A sub hunt goiung on inthe Bay and you think the USN won't bother to "watch" it?
5. Expect a tremendous amount of pressure thru the DDM and large scale attempts to sap the public will. Wars for India have a nasty habit of bringing us down into the real world and ridding us of our cherished notions. The Commies hate that because they cannot have anything replace their cherished "cause" of global dictatorship of the Proletariat. During the Kargil war in '98 the Ganashakti the CPIM mouthpiece out of Kolkata adopted a jingoistic stance, but the desi dorks at The Hindu (Sadanand Menon, Harish Khare) continued to look for devious ways to make light of the seriousness of the issue. India is not a banana republic and the Indian state does not take the hearts and minds of its employers - we the people - for granted.
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Post by Shankar »

It was time to honour the heroes and also to go over any mistakes in quickly formulated and implemented sub hunting action plan .

As a special gesture Nau sena medal was awarded to the pilot and xo of coast guard dornier and they were offered a chance to join sea harrier training programme .Both of them gleefully accepted the manna from heaven like offer and now undergoing basic jet training at hyderabad

Coast guard and Indian navy both ordered a dozen Dorniers each with upgraded engines and larger ground clearence so that it becomes easier for them to carry atleast a single sea eagle type anti ship missile during their recon missions .
Design options were also being studied to incorporate some basic self protecting chaff /flare dispensers on all CG Dorniers .

A detachment of 4 Tu 142 was permanently positioned at INS Rajali
-an equivalent number ordered from russia for immediate delivery . A cash strapped russian defense ministry did the need ful .

Manufacturing schedule of ADS was put on war footing and budgetary proposal for 2 more extended ADS was put upto finance ministry for approval . The approval was expected within one year but would actually take close to two.

6 jaguars from lohegaon was repostioned at vizag naval air station with immediate effect

For the first time in indian naval history the option of setting up an automated submerged accoustic /thermal/motion sensors along four axis

- goa to lakshawdeep
- across palk straits
- chennai to port blair
paradip to port blair

was put up for consideration to nations top decision makers . A prliminary cost estimated pegged the total project cost including a constellation of four dedicated geo stationary sattelite and signal recieving earth stations along with monitoring and and analysing station
at 2500 crores .

The cabinet sanctioned 500 crore for the first phase of the project named OATMS (Oceanic accoustic thermal motion sensing) system and work started right way under the guise of Tsunami early warning system
USN was first know the real objective but kept very quite about it .Most of the sensors were being anyway procured from US and secondly securing thios vital trade route was in their interest as well . Like a true ally Britain did not raise any objection eiether . Russians were not comfortable for a while but later on relented -after all no one fights their biggest customer - china did object but was quitely ignored .and they did not have the naval muscle to do anything about it .
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Post by Cybaru »

PN khalid lost too easily.. Keep him around.. Hunt him for a bit..
Kalki
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Post by Kalki »

Also, we need to have some fun with that HMS sub. they were in the wrong place at the wrong time.........gotta pay some price! :D
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