Operation Dwarka

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Operation Dwarka was a naval operation commenced by the Pakistan Navy to attack the Indian coastal town of Dwarka on 7 September 1965. This was the first use of Pakistan Navy in any of the Indo-Pakistan Wars.[citation needed] It was one of the significant naval events of the 1965 Indo-Pak war, and Pakistan celebrates 8 September as Navy Day.[citation needed] Pakistan claimed a Psychological victory in Operation Dwarka.[1][2][3]

As the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 broke out between India and Pakistan over Kashmir, armies and air forces of both nations were involved in intense fighting in the Punjab region and in Kashmir. To relieve pressure on the southern front, Pakistan decided to use its navy in the war by launching a quick strike on Indian coast. The primary objective of the attack ostensibly was to destroy the radar station at Dwarka which Pakistani Naval intelligence believed had a Huff-Duff beacon to guide Indian bombers.[4] Pakistani high command also hoped to divert the operations of the Indian Air Force away from the north.

Objectives

The mission objectives of Pakistan Navy are listed below:[5]

  • To draw heavy enemy units out of Bombay for the submarine PNS Ghazi to attack.
  • To destroy the radar installation at Dwarka.
  • To lower Indian morale.
  • To divert Indian Air Force effort away from the north.

The naval attack

On the night of 7 September, the Pakistan Navy launched its assault on Western Indian shores. Dwarka was chosen for its proximity (200 km from Karachi Port), its lower defences and historical relevance. The plan called for a fleet of 7 naval vessels of Pakistan to bomb the tiny but significant town of Dwarka. It was aimed at luring the heavy ships anchored in Bombay into attacking the Pakistani ships. The intention was that the submarine PNS Ghazi lurking in the Arabian Sea would then engage and sink the Indian ships. Accordingly, a fleet of seven ships comprising PNS Babur, PNS Khaibar, PNS Badr, PNS Jahangir, PNS Alamgir, PNS Shah Jahan and PNS Tipu Sultan set sail for Dwarka and bombarded the town.

The warships harbored in Bombay were under refit and were unable to sortie, nor did PNS Ghazi encounter the active combatants on the West coast.[6] The objective to divert the Indian Air Force attacking Pakistan's southern front worked as the Indian Air Force raids on the city of Karachi ceased, presumed by Pakistani sources to be due to lack of availability of the radar guidance to the IAF fighter jets, which was damaged in the attack.[citation needed] The Pakistan Navy celebrates September 8 as Navy Day. A frigate INS Talwar was in nearby Okha port undergoing repairs and did not intervene.[7] Radio Pakistan also transmitted that Dwarka Listening Post was destroyed.

Naval command

The following is the list of commanding officers of the Operation Dwarka:[citation needed]

  • Commodore S.M. Anwar, OTC - Officer Commanding of Operation Dwarka
  • Captain M A K Lodhi - Officer commanding of PNS Babur, the cruiser.
  • Commander I H Malik - Commanding officer of PNS Badr, the frigate.
  • Captain A Hanif-Officer Commanding of PNS Khaibar, the destroyer.
  • Commander K M Hussain - Commanding officer of PNS Jahangir, the destroyer.
  • Commander Iqbal F. Quadir - Commanding officer of PNS Alamgir, the destroyer.
  • Commander SZ Shamsie - Commanding officer of PNS Shah Jahan, the destroyer.
  • Commander Amir Aslam - Commanding officer of PNS Tipu Sultan, the destroyer.
  • Commander Karamat Rahman Niazi - Commanding officer of PNS Ghazi, the submarine.
  • Captain R M Aziz- Commanding officer of PNS Dacca, the Tanker.

Aftermath

Operation Dwarka was a significant naval operation of the 1965 war,[5][8] considered by some as a nuisance raid or of little strategic value. [9][10][11] The Ministry of Defence had issued written instructions which ordered the Indian Navy "not to proceed two hundred miles beyond Bombay nor North of the parallel of Porbander".[12] The lack of response by the Indian Navy to the attack on Dwarka led to questions being asked in Indian parliament and was considered a humiliation by Indian citizens and Navy personnel and a challenge to be answered by others.[13][14][15] The Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral B.S. Soman was restrained from retaliation for the Dwarka raid by the Defence Minister.[12] Of the Indian Navy's 23 ships, ten were under refit in Bombay, including the Vikrant, the cruiser Delhi, three destroyers and two frigates.[7][16] An Indian source explained this by saying that the Indian Government did not want to get into a naval conflict with Pakistan, but wished to restrict the war to a land-based conflict.[17] The failure of INS Talwar to retaliate, then undergoing repairs to her condensers in Okha,[18] has been lamented by Indian Vice Admiral N. Krishnan who said that no Government would blame a warship going into action, if attacked.[14][19] PNS Ghazi continued to patrol Kachhh and Bombay coasts spotting aircraft positions when snorkeling.[20]

The Dwarka raid is considered by Pakistani sources as being a prime reason for the Indian Navy's subsequent post-war modernization and expansion, with an increase in budget from Rs. 35 crores to Rs. 115 crores.[14] The Dwarka raid, as per an Indian historian G. M Hiranandani, led to the procurement of missile boats by the Indian Navy from the Soviet Union for the Defense of Kutch. These were subsequently used by India in Operation Trident in the 1971 war.[21] However, he attributes the expansion of the Indian Navy in the period 1965 to 1975 to the post-1962 planned expansion of the Indian Navy with many ships being negotiated and purchased from the Soviet Union prior to the war.[22]

Popular culture

Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. In 1998, Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) financed and produced the dramatization of the operation named, "Operation Dwarka, 1965", which was based on this incident. The film was directed by Pakistani film director Qasim Jalali and it was written by Hameed Kashmiri.[citation needed]

See also

Bibliography

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References

  1. ↑ Defence Journal, Volume 14 s.n., 1988 - Military art and science
  2. ↑ http://www.laht.com/article.asp?CategoryId=13003&ArticleId=2395975
  3. ↑ https://books.google.com.pk/books?id=VY1nTMBQ9vQC&pg=PA1795&dq=operation+dwarka+victory&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CBoQ6AEwAGoVChMIqcGmvIvnxwIVCQQaCh0xbAvB#v=onepage&q=operation%20dwarka%20victory&f=false
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Hiranandani (2000), pp 34-35. "FOCIF sailed with his flagship, INS Mysore, and three escorts out of Bombay Harbour and remained on station without encountering any Pakistani naval vessels till 8 September when the Talwar, returning from Okha, joined her."
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Hiranandani (2000), pp 34-35.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. The authors were the Defence Minister of India and his Private Secretary from 1962-65 (see pg xiii).
  13. ↑ Hiranandani (2000), pg 52.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 Sardar FS Lodi, An Agosta Submarine for Pakistan
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Hiranandani (2000), pg 34. "Talwar encountering contamination of her boilers due to leakage of her condensors put in at Okha for temporary repairs."
  19. ↑ Roy (1995), pp 84-85. 'As Vice Admiral N. Krishnan is supposed to have said. "One of our frigates Talwar was at Okha. It is unfortunate that she could not sail forth and seek battle. Even if there was a mandate against the Navy participating in the war, no Government could blame a warship going into action, if attacked. An affront to our national honour is no joke and we cannot laugh it away by saying 'All the Pakistani's did was to kill a cow'. Let us at least create a memorial to the 'unknown cow' who died with her boots on in a battle against the Pakistan Navy."'
  20. ↑ Roy (1995), pp 83-85.
  21. ↑ Hiranandani (2000), pg 326.
  22. ↑ Hiranandani (2000), pp 8-11.


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