Contents Message From CNS 3 Editorial 5 Sea Harrier’s 30 Year Saga - The Beginning 6 Admiral Arun Prakash (Retd) 60 Years of Naval Aviation 10 2727 SOLO 12 Lieutenant Commander AbhilashTomy, KC The Bird and the Beast 15 Editor Rear Admiral R Gaikwad Shirley Ramsay On a beach by INS Hansa 18 Commander N. Lobo (Retd) My Close Ties with the Flybhais 19 Illustrations Captain Srikant B Kesnur V Adm G Mahadevan (Retd.) Aviation Cadets join the Navy 21 Commodore R K Dass (Retd.) We acknowledge yeoman support by The Qualification 24 V Adm P Murugesan, AVSM, VSM Commander Sareshtha Kumar (Retd.) Story of an Unscheduled Flight 26 Chief of Personnel Commander GVK Unnithan (Retd) and Naval Aviation’s Diamond Jubilee 27 V Adm HCS Bisht, AVSM Commodore Mukund Kunte (Retd.) Controller Personnel Services Vaghsheer - the Commissioning 29 Major General Subroto Kundu (Retd) Joy and Pride of Commissioning 31 Editorial Board A Ship/Shore Establishment Cmde Gangesh Kumar Rear Admiral JMS Sodhi (Retd) Cdr MA Makandar A Ship Named After India’s Holiest River 33 Commodore RPS Ravi (Retd) Published By Joys of Commissioning INS Nilgiri and 35 Directorate of Ex-Servicemen Affairs Pangs of Decommissioning INS Delhi Commander Rajnish (Retd) 6th Floor, Chanakya Bhawan, Pangs of Decommissioning – IN LCU L-34 38 Yashwant Palace, Commander T Rajasekhar Chanakya Puri, New Delhi - 110 021 Commissioning of the third Petya 40 Tele : 011 - 24121068/26880943 Commodore Mukund Kunte (Retd.) URL http://desanavy.wordpress.com Commissioning INS Amba 41 Commodore Subrata Bose (Retd) Email : [email protected] From Riga with Love 44 Captain N V Sarathy (Retd.) Production My Association with Commissioning and 47 Indu Cards & Graphics Decommissioning of INS Vikrant 9811419531 Mrs Veryam Kaur Trewn A Nostalgic Visit to the Nigerian 49 Contribution to QD may be sent to: Defence Academy The Editor, Quarterdeck, Captain Ravi Mehta ( Retd.) G-93, Jalvayu Vihar, Sector -25, Journey to Valsura (1942-1946) 51 Cdr MFB Ward, First Commanding Officer NOIDA -201 301, of MIS Valsura Email : [email protected] Commodore Sandeep Naithani Tele : 0120-2537251 15 Jul 2013: RIP “Indian Telegraphic Service” 54 Commodore BR Prakash 1 Core Values 57 Gunners too are Human 99 Commodore Yashwant Kumawat Commodore RPS Ravi (Retd) A Spirited Prime Minister, Circa 1979 60 Life As a Veteran - Contribution to Society 101 Vice Admiral MP Awati (Retd) Commander S Mohan (Retd) They Came Together Again 63 Willow on the Waves 103 …..After 41 Years Commodore Saleem M Anwer Commander RVK Rajan (Retd) Indomitable Admiral RL Pereira 105 Naval Nostalgia!! 66 Lieutenant Commander Deepak Sikand (Retd) Commodore Vijay Thapar (Retd) Goa Nostalgia 106 Salaam Petyas 68 Ms Anjali Majumdar Captain N V Sarathy (Retd) Marshal’s Story 107 “Son,You’ll Remember Your First Watch—-” 70 Commodore Lalit Kapur (Retd) Rear Admiral Sudarshan Shrikhande KD – An Admirable Admiral 108 Twenty Years of Backyard Birding 73 Commodore SM Sundaram (Retd) Mrs Padmaja Parulkar Kesnur Fond Memories of My First Innings 109 One Fateful Night . 75 Commander Malay Das (Retd) Admiral VS Shekhawat (Retd) Doc Tarun & the Navy Swimming Team 112 A Tribute 77 Commander Ashok Dewan (Retd) Lieutenant Commandar Nikhil Philipose Personal Tribute to Vice Admiral MK Roy 113 I want to live 78 Rear Admiral A P Revi (Retd) Mrs Dulcie Suresh Vice Admiral Mihir Kumar Roy–as I knew him114 Going Out 78 Surgeon Commodore Ranjit Das (Retd) Captain Satbir Bakshi (Retd) A Veteran of Simplicity 115 My Ordeal 79 Vice Admiral V L Koppikar (Retd) Commander Rajinder Dutta (Retd) Commander Neville Mullerworth – A Tribute 116 INS Khukri 1963 81 Vice Admiral H Johnson (Retd) Commodore Ravi Sharma (Retd) Commodore JS Brar- A Friend Indeed 116 Navlish, Anyone? 82 Commander Trilochan Singh Trewn (Retd) Commander PS Vombatkere Commodore CTD Nair, – A Tribute 118 Indian Navy ……..then. 86 Commodore I P Antony (Retd) Commodore HML Saxena (Retd) Commander (SDC) C K Antony -A Tribute 118 Some Memorable Farewell Speeches 88 Commodore J P Abraham (Retd) Vice Admiral A C Bhatia (Retd) Mrs Phylis Pereira – A Tribute 119 My Time in the Royal Indian Navy 90 Commodore BR Sen (Retd) Late Lieutenant B R Pasricha, RINVR Obituary 121 Victoria Falls 93 Italy Revisited 125 Mrs Anuradha Kunte (Mosi-o-Tunia) Commander Sati Taneja (Retd) Musical Bombay of the 60s 94 Trinidad & Tobago 128 Commodore Ravi Sharma (Retd) Commander Deepak Loomba (Retd) A Naval Wife 95 Guide In Cairo 131 Courtesy Navy Foundation, Pune Charter Commander Sanjiv Kulkarni (Retd) An Observant Physician 96 Storming The Summer of 2013 133 Commander Ashok Dewan (Retd) Commander Subimal Dutt (Retd) Playing through, on the Golf Course 96 Charter News 138 Commander Subimal Dutt (Retd) Western Naval Command 147 A Second Innings 97 Mrs Nandini Guha Eastern Naval Command 151 No Blame Game 98 Southern Naval Command 156 Commander V.K. Mohan (Retd) Opinions expressed are those of the authors. They do not reflect the views of IHQ, MoD (Navy), Navy Foundation or the Editor. 2 3 4 It gives me immense pleasure to present to you the 27th Edition of Quarterdeck. The year gone by was momentous in many ways. After 165 years, the curtain came down on the era of ‘Telegrams’ which had rendered yeoman service across the world, and were for a long time the fastest means of communication. Commodore BR Prakash has About the Cover presented a naval perspective on this means of communication. The year witnessed the completion of 151 days of non-stop solo circumnavigation of the globe under sails by Lt Cdr Abhilash Tomy aboard Mhadei. He became the first Indian and only 79th individual globally to undertake this challenging mission. On 6th April 2013, the President of India was present at the Gateway of India to welcome the national hero.We present to you a first-hand account of this unprecedented achievement by Lt Cdr Abhilash Tomy himself. The Diamond Jubilee of Indian Naval Aviation was celebrated with A Black Panther surveys befitting pomp and show at Goa on 11th May 2013.There could be no his future playground. better script for the jubilee year, when naval aviation was reinvigorated by the induction/commissioning of the MiG 29K Squadron, P8Is and Vikramaditya and Viraat – Vikramaditya. Readers would relish the linked reminiscences as embodiments of our recorded in this edition by some veteran aviators and their several ardent formidable Navy. fans. Our hearts go out to the families of all those who were tragically affected by the misfortune on Sindhurakshak. A most touching and emotional tribute penned by Lt Cdr Nikhil Phillipose is carried in this edition. In addition,we carry a dispassionate and forthright articulation by a pioneering and illustrious submariner who rose to the pinnacle, Admiral VS Shekhawat (Retd). I regret my inability to accommodate several contributions received either on themes or subjects not conforming to those approved by IHQ, MoD (Navy), or received late. But, I am truly thankful for the overwhelming response from the contributors, whom I would like to assure, that their contributions are safe and perhaps would find a place in the next edition. I would like to record my utmost gratefulness to Vice Admiral Ganesh Mahadevan (Retd) who continues to enrich Quarterdeck with caricatures, despite his several personal commitments. Lt Cdr Abhilash Tomy Most importantly, I wish to record my sincere gratitude to PDESA and triumphantly returns after his able Staff for all possible help to make this edition of Quarterdeck circumnavigating the globe. happen. Last, but not the least, I wish to thank all avid readers and admirers of Quarterdeck for their continued encouragement, inspiration, and assistance in many ways. I wish you all good health, cheer and happiness, always. 5 Sea Harrier’s 30 Year Saga - The Beginning Admiral Arun Prakash (Retd) The morning of 13th December 1983 dawned convenient. Of the three No.1 OFT pilots, Lt. cold, grey and misty, with the sun vainly Shekhar Sinha (currently CINC, West) had to struggling to brighten the Somerset sky. But on stay back for an instructional course; so it was this day, the typically gloomy British weather Lt Cdr Sanjoy Gupta, Mr. Taylor Scott (a BAe could not dampen my spirits because I had test pilot) and I, who would ferry the first lot of sunny Goa on my mind; yesterday’s Sea Harriers. calculations showed that it was a ‘mere’ 5427 miles away. Having arisen early that morning, as I packed some bare essentials in an aircrew-bag I A fortnight earlier, as the IN Detachment marveled at how the past 20 months had gone (INDET) at Yeovilton celebrated the successful by in a flash. For us this was to be the last leg completion of No.1 Sea Harrier Operational Flying Training (OFT) course, the first question that arose was: what was the fastest way of getting our ‘jump-jets’ home, where Mother (INS Vikrant) awaited her fighters anxiously. Options of sea- freight, air-freight and ferry-flight were furiously debated between the INDET, Naval Attaché, London, British Aerospace (BAe) and NHQ. We finally managed to persuade everyone that the ferry option would be the fastest, cheapest and most 6 of a journey that had, actually, commenced Three months later, Shekhar and I were when Shekhar and I arrived at Heathrow in the delighted as we graduated from the RAF spring of 1982 as the advance-guard of INAS Harrier Operational Conversion Unit, in RAF 300. For our brand new Sea Harriers, FRS Wittering. The grueling course had tested our Mk.1, it was to be the beginning of a new flying skills as well as mental toughness and journey in Indian colours. As I contemplated the airmanship in equal measure.