Navy Day is celebrated annually on 4 December to commemorate a famous Indian Naval (IN) victory, and to remind Indians of their forgotten maritime heritage. It was on this day in 1971, that a squadron of IN missile-boats stealthily approached Karachi harbour and unleashed a barrage of guided-missiles.
This audacious and unorthodox attack not only sank two Pakistani warships, and set alight a fuel storage facility, but also blockaded Karachi port. Thereafter, no unit of the Pakistan Navy ventured out, nor did any merchant shipping approach the harbour. In the Bay of Bengal, a task-force – led by the aircraft-carrier INS Vikrant – blocked seaward egress from East Pakistan, destroyed airfields, shipping and ports, thus expediting Pakistani surrender.
The Bangladesh War marked an important milestone for the Indian Navy, because the service, still smarting from the ignominy of (government imposed) inaction in 1965, had determined in advance, that it would play a pivotal role in the coming conflict.
This war should have brought home to our decision-makers, the immense potential of the navy as a potent instrument of state power. But, unfortunately, it did not. The persistent ‘sea-blindness’ of our decision-makers has forced the Indian Navy to make the best of consistently minuscule budgets.