Indian Navy

For a large peninsular country like India, with a coastline of more than 4,660 miles (7,500 km) and ownership of some 1,280 islands, a substantial navy is to be expected. Instead, the Indian navy is the smallest of the three defense services. Its current strength is 53,000. It includes 5,000 in naval aviation, 2,000 marines, and 2,000 women. It accounts for 15 percent of the country’s defense budget.

India’s semiofficial nuclear doctrine envisaged a triad of land-based missiles, aircraft, and seaborne or submarine-launched missiles for retaliatory strikes. Arguably, submarine-based ballistic missiles are the most flexible and secure means of delivery. A more limited option is cruise missiles.

The navy’s major vessels are 26 principal surface combatants and 16 submarines. The carrier Viraat, the 7 destroyers (5 Rajput-Kashin, 2 Delhi), and the 4 larger frigates (1 Brahmaputra, 3 Godavari) are not grouped into squadrons.

The Indian navy has 79 aircraft (30 Sea Harrier attack planes, maritime reconnaissance planes including 8 IL-38, 11 Tu-142), 83 helicopters (antisubmarine warfare: 26 Chetak, 7 Ka-25, 18 Ka-28, 31 Sea King), and air-to-air, air-to-surface missiles (R-550 Magic I and II, Sea Eagle, Sea Skua). The indigenous short range ballistic missile (SRBM) Dhanush and the supersonic Indo-Russian short range cruise missile Brahmos are in developmental trials. The antimissile Barak and the antiship KH-35 were in service in 2003. The status of three other indigenous missiles, Koral, Lakshya, and Sagarika, is unclear. The Marine Commando Force (MCF) was created in 1987. The 2,000 man unit has participated in special operations in Sri Lanka, Maldives, and Kashmir.

History. In 1830 ships of the British East India Company were designated as the Indian navy. However, in 1863, it was disbanded when Britain’s Royal Navy took control of the Indian Ocean. About thirty years later, the few small Indian naval units were called the Royal Indian Marine (RIM). In the wake of World War I, Britain, exhausted in manpower and resources, opted for expansion of the RIM. Consequently, on 2 October 1934, the RIM was reincarnated as the Royal Indian Navy (RIN).

During World War II, the navy grew twentyfold to 27,650 sailors and 2,700 officers. This rapid expansion was marred by nine minor mutinies in 1942-1945. The stage was set for the “Great Mutiny” of 1946. Ratings onboard 74 of 84 ships and at 20 of 22 shore establishments across the country mutinied. The magnitude shook London and probably hastened Britain’s departure from India. The mutiny was defused by masterly intervention by the senior Congress Party leader Sardar V. Patel. Thereafter, the navy was swiftly halved to 49 ships. Doubts about the reliability of the navy were to persist into the 1960s. In 1947, India’s share was 33 ships, and Pakistan’s 16. Of 538 officers, captain was the senior-most rank held by Indians. Consequently, plans drawn up by the still-serving British officers were largely ignored in New Delhi. All the same, the navy was used in national integration by ferrying troops and securing the coast during the Junagadh state operations (October 1947). The 1950s were marked by annual Joint Exercises Trincoma-lee with other Commonwealth navies and by Britain’s begrudging sale of warships: London refused to sell modern submarines to India, and the aircraft carrier Vikrant was sold without the long-stroke catapult, thereby greatly reducing its capabilities. Nevertheless, during the liberation of Goa, the Indian navy, among other actions, sank the Portuguese frigate Afonso de Albuquerque.

The Indian loss in the Sino-Indian War (1962) was a further reverse for the navy, since in its wake funds were directed toward the army and the air force. The 1965 war, Indonesia’s threat to seize the Nicobar Islands, and the smaller Pakistan navy’s attack on the holy city of Dwarka all triggered naval expansion. Indigenous warship design and production and the acquisition of Soviet warships followed. The navy’s fortunes were greatly restored in 1971. After East Pakistan (Bangladesh) seceded, leading to civil war between Pakistan’s two wings, the Indian navy trained four task forces of riverine guerrillas. Those frogmen sank or damaged over 100,000 tons of shipping in four months and disrupted ports and inland waterways, the lifeline of the country. In December, after the war formally started, an imaginative, daring raid by Osa missile boats on Karachi harbor sank two warships, damaged others, and ignited oil storage facilities The Indian armed forces conducted amphibious landings for the first time toward the end of the war. The threat of U. S. naval intervention on behalf of Pakistan led to the Advanced Technology Vessel project to produce nuclear submarines in India. Further emphasis on aviation, technology, missiles, and submarines followed.

In the late 1980s, India’s regional assertion of power included the use of the navy in Sri Lanka (1987-1990) and in the Maldives (1988). In anticipation of adding a fleet of nuclear submarines, India leased a Charlie-I class nuclear submarine, the Chakra, from the Soviet Union. Plans changed. The submarine was returned to the Soviet Union. Indigenous warship design and production (destroyers, frigates, corvettes, and submarines) was also accelerated, partly due to the difficulty of obtaining spare parts from the successor states to the Soviet Union. In the 1990s, the navy was active under the United Nations in Somalia, escorting Indian ships in the Gulf, and repatriating Indian nationals from Kuwait. Exercises with other navies, especially the U. S. Navy, were initiated. During the Kargil War (1999), the aggressive posture adopted by the navy played a role in convincing Islamabad and Washington that a larger conflict loomed unless Pakistan withdrew from the heights. A year earlier, nuclear tests added another strategic dimension to the navy. Warming ties with Israel and the United States led to the acquisition of cutting-edge missiles and to joint patrolling of the Straits of Malacca.

The navy has about ten major training establishments. Most are located in Maharashtra, Cochin, Goa and Vishakhapatnum.