The Russian Admiral who helped build the Indian Navy

[dredger14]

http://i34.tinypic.com/1p9ohj.jpg
The news of the acquisition of the 45,400-ton Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov takes me back to the early sixties when the legendry Chief of the Soviet Navy, after whom it is named, first visited India soon after the arrival of the Soviet-built submarines at Vishakhapatnam. I was the liaison officer for the Soviet specialists lodged in a prestigious seaside hotel. A special bullet proof car was flown in from Hyderabad during the week-long visit. The leader of the specialists' team used to meet the Soviet Naval Chief every morning. On the second morning of the arrival of the Soviet team I was also asked to join the delegation at breakfast.

Admiral Gorshkov with his 70 medal ribbons stitched on his duck-white jacket looked resplendent. The VIPs seated on the table included the Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet Mediterranean fleet, the Far East fleet based at Vladivostok and the Black Sea fleet. They were to visit new sites for a modern repair yard. The Soviet Naval Chief, known for his hard work, efficiency and vision, was the first to start his breakfast. He finished it in 10 minutes while the rest were still having their first course. Suddenly he got up and said, "Gentlemen, let's go." Most of the rest, with their napkins falling beneath the table, got up with a jerk and joined the exit!

In the afternoon, Gorshkov used to prefer juice of whole unpeeled kinnows or maltas and fresh coconut water sipped through a straw stick. He was a good-humoured gentleman and talked about superiority of Soviet-built missile boats even in the presence of an American lady with two Siamese cats staying in the adjoining suite during those days of the Cold War. One evening, the two Siamese cats entered his bedroom and started chasing each other on his double bed. Gorshkov took the intrusion sportingly and even invited the American lady, one Mrs Simpson, for a cup of coffee and requested her to rein in her wild tigers.

I also saw Admiral Gorshkov when he visited India again in 1972 when he was briefed about the exceptionally successful role played by the Soviet missile boats during the bombardment of the Karachi harbour in 1971. A local state minister embarrassed us all by addressing Admiral Gorshkov as Marshal Grechko, confusing him for the Soviet Defence Minister. On his retirement, the Soviet government renamed their latest aircraft carrier 'Baku' as 'Admiral Gorshkov'. The imposing aircraft carrier is a symbol of our naval strength and traditional Indo-Soviet goodwill.

[dredger14]

New Delhi. Admiral Gorshkov is known as the name of the aircraft carrier that India is acquiring from Russia.
But the legendary Admiral on whom the ship is named, was responsible for transforming the Soviet Navy from a coastal defence force into the world’s second-largest Navy, and a formidable power to project the Soviet might against the US and NATO naval power at the height of the Cold War.
He was clear that the Soviet Union – or Russia – was a maritime nation, and that its future lay in its control of the seas.

The Admiral vigorously assisted the Indian Navy towards becoming a blue water force, and assets built during his time contributed to the success of the Indian Navy in blockading Karachi as well as in effective action against the Pakistani Navy during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War.
One of the Soviet Union’s, and Russia’s, greatest Admirals, he was a good friend of India in the good old days of Indo-Soviet relations, and visited India a few times.
In the late 1960s, the Indian Navy got what it asked for; Petya class ships, Project 641 (or Foxtrot) Submarines, a submarine tender INS Amba, Osa class missile boats, and a host of associated weapons and P 15 Styx missiles. He helped lay the foundations of the Indian Navy. It is this inventory of ships that helped the Indian Navy to carve out a glorious role for itself in the 1971 war.
Three times during his visits to India, this writer had the privilege of being associated with him, and knowing him first-hand as a warm, good-natured person who made sure that everyone around him was comfortable.
Gorshkov admired how ingeniously the Indian Navy employed the missile boats off Karachi on 4th December 1971.
(In fact, besides the Indian Navy, the Indian Army and Indian Air Force (IAF) also used the Soviet equipment in ways that the Russians themselves had never envisioned. For instance, during the 1971 war, IAF used AN 12 transport aircraft to bomb Pakistani concentrations when they were just about to launch an offensive into Jammu & Kashmir. The IAF surprised the Russians once again when Gp Capt Ashok Goel (later Air Marshal) landed an IL 76 on a small runway of 1700 metres (about 5500 feet) at Thoise (height 3500 metres or 11000 feet) in Jan 1987 to deliver Soviet-supplied BMPs for the Army).
Admiral Gorshkov also agreed to lease a Charlie class nuclear submarine K-43, to India. Named as INS Chakra by the Indian Navy, it arrived in India in 1987, two years after he had retired. The old timers in the Indian Navy still recognize him as the architect who laid the foundations of today’s powerful Indian Navy.
Sergey joined the Soviet Navy in 1931 at the age of 17, and in 1956 at the age of 42 he became its youngest Supreme Commander. It took him just 20 years to turn the Soviet Navy into a formidable around-the-world power, and by 1985 when he retired, the Soviet Union matched the US might with a nuclear missile for every nuclear missile on the other side.
Some CIA experts believed that the Foxtrot submarines that Moscow had deployed off Cuba during the Bay of Pigs crisis in April 1961 carried nuclear missiles, but there is no confirmation.
The Soviet submarines, long-range bombers like the Tu-95 Bear, and other assets kept track of various US Navy Task Forces 24 x 7. There were many close-quarter situations, and the two opponents occasionally nudged each other. Fortunately, no nuclear crisis erupted even after Moscow shot down a U-2 spy plane over the Soviet Union or when the US tried to send a secret force into Cuba in the so-called Bay of Pigs crisis.
India had taken a principled stand not to join either the US or Soviet camp, but concerned over the massive US and western military aid to Pakistan, it relied on the Soviet Union for defence equipment.
He supported the Indian Navy generously, and established close friendships with Indian Admirals of his time including Admiral S M Nanda, Vice Admiral N Krishnan and Rear Admiral S G Karmarkar who corresponded with him through demi-official letters to cut the bureaucratic red tape. The Soviets supplied equipment against easy credits.
Gorshkov wrote a thesis on Sea Power which was shared with Indian officers, and they read it with admiration.
As I had learnt the Russian language as a cadet at the National Defence Academy (NDA), I was attached as the Flag Lieutenant to Admiral Gorshkov when he visited Bombay (now Mumbai) in 1964. Rear Admiral Karmarkar, who had given me the assignment, asked me to make sure that the visiting dignitary was comfortable.
I remember I made small talk, remained close to Gorshkov throughout his visit carrying his brief case and occasionally offered him refreshments. Every time he met an Indian Admiral, I would say, Eta Admiral Pyot or Eta Admiral Kharasho Pyot, or Eta Admiral Nye Pyot.
Pyot in Russian means drinks, and this updated Gorshkov on the drinking inclinations of his host.
If his host did not drink, after I had told him “Eta Admiral Nye Pyot”, Gorshkov would accordingly ask for Frukti (fruit juice). If I had indicated that his host would drink, Gorshkov replied Krahashaov (very well). He observed the protocol to make his hosts comfortable either way.
Such was the warmth that the Indian Navy had been instructed to offer vodka to the visiting entourage at all times of the day during visits to ships and establishments, and to exchange toasts with “bottoms up” in small goblets as is customary in Russia.
During evening functions, when naval wives were present and the Admirals were out of uniform, I would whisper in Russian and remind him which Admiral he had met earlier and where, and point out which lady was whose wife.
He found it difficult to remember Indian names and distinguish Admirals out of uniform. He confided in me that most looked alike to him, specially the Sikh officers. Nonetheless, he made an effort, and the ladies were particularly impressed he addressed them by their names. Later, he proved that he could recall the faces and names of several Indian officers.
No wonder that when he came to India in 1969, he asked the Naval Headquarters for me by name, to be his Liaison Officer and affectionately called me Sturman, the Russian for a Navigator. He told me to navigate him in various official and social engagements.
This was when he met my newly-married wife, Praveena, who asked him to bring Mrs Gorshkov on his next visit. He agreed if she promised to look after Babushka (grandmother) personally.
So it was in 1976 that Admiral Gorshkov came to India on his third visit, and my name was down for his visit yet again as his escort all over India.
Indeed, he had Mrs Gorshkov with him. As chance had it, my wife became the Lady in Waiting for her as the escort Rear Admiral Narpati Datta’s wife was unable to accompany the delegation.
The Ministry of Defence inquired if Mrs Praveena Rai knew Russian. I honestly informed the then Deputy Chief, the late Rear Admiral Datta, that she did not know Russian. In Nelsonic style, he asked me if she could say Dobri Utro, or Good Morning, in Russian, I said, of course. So he confirmed to the MOD on file, for sanction to travel in the IAF VIP 748 aircraft that Mrs Rai speaks average Russian.
The visit of Admiral and Mrs Gorshkov went off well and he visited Khajuraho, Vishakapatnam, Cochin and Bombay.
There was warmth all through, and of course, more Russian ships, submarines and aircraft joined the Indian fleet in the years to come by.
On his last visit to India in 1984, he visited the Western Fleet off Bombay and witnessed a missile firing. Recognizing me during the event, he hugged me on board INS Rajput, a new Guided Missile ship built to the designs of the Soviet Kashin class Destroyer, and asked: Karahshaov pyot, Sturman?
Or, are you drinking well, Navigator?
The Indian Navy will long remember the Tovarish (Comrade) Admiral who gave India Druzba (Friendship) and introduced missile power into the Indian Navy.

[CaptMorgan68]

Interesting info. Thanx

[TheKiwi]

He most certainly contributed to the unusual culture of the modern Indian Navy. A mixture of British Royal Navy heritage combined with (mostly) modern Russian equipment.

Thanks for telling your story.

[dredger14]

Interesting info. Thanx

Dad of one of my friend's had the pleasure of meeting the Admiral when he visited the INS Viraat on which the former was stationed. He came down in 1972 to get debriefed on the Indian Navy's tactics in the Liberation War .He was greatly intrigued as to how the Indian navy used the "small"(by Soviet standards)A/C and used it as a case study to persuade the guys at the Kremlin to start on their own carrier project.
All the Russians that accompanied him loved coconut juice and drank copious amounts at all meals:) All of them returned badly tanned. In those turbulent days Russian hardware often came without English translations(Russian--> English is not easy), hence most IN officers trained in Russia(particularly the ones on the famous missile boats) spoke, read and could write Russian.

[CaptMorgan68]

Dad of one of my friend's had the pleasure of meeting the Admiral when he visited the INS Viraat on which the former was stationed. He came down in 1972 to get debriefed on the Indian Navy's tactics in the Liberation War .He was greatly intrigued as to how the Indian navy used the "small"(by Soviet standards)A/C and used it as a case study to persuade the guys at the Kremlin to start on their own carrier project.
All the Russians that accompanied him loved coconut juice and drank copious amounts at all meals:) All of them returned badly tanned. In those turbulent days Russian hardware often came without English translations(Russian--> English is not easy), hence most IN officers trained in Russia(particularly the ones on the famous missile boats) spoke, read and could write Russian.

Cool. Here's an interesting fact I found about the 1971 war:

"When Pakistan's defeat in the eastern sector seemed certain, Nixon ordered the USS Enterprise into the Bay of Bengal, a move which was a nuclear threat. The Enterprise arrived on station on 11 December 1971. On 6 December and 13 December, the Soviet Navy dispatched two groups of ships, armed with nuclear missiles, from Vladivostok; they trailed U.S. Task Force 74 into the Indian Ocean from 18 December 1971 until 7 January 1972. The Soviets also had a nuclear submarine to ward off the threat posed by USS Enterprise in the Indian Ocean"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-Pakistani_War_of_1971

[dredger14]

Cool. Here's an interesting fact I found about the 1971 war:

"When Pakistan's defeat in the eastern sector seemed certain, Nixon ordered the USS Enterprise into the Bay of Bengal, a move which was a nuclear threat. The Enterprise arrived on station on 11 December 1971. On 6 December and 13 December, the Soviet Navy dispatched two groups of ships, armed with nuclear missiles, from Vladivostok; they trailed U.S. Task Force 74 into the Indian Ocean from 18 December 1971 until 7 January 1972. The Soviets also had a nuclear submarine to ward off the threat posed by USS Enterprise in the Indian Ocean"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-Pakistani_War_of_1971

See if you get any stuff on the legendary suicide squadron... desperate times those were.

[deathil93]

thanks for the post man :)
one thing I can't understand is why the Indians are buying the Gorshkov if they're already planning to built the 2nd largest aircraft carrier fleet? (the first one will be commisioned in 2014), they can stay with the current one till than :S ALTHOUGH, the Gorshkov's upgrade does seem to look quite good, maybe its not such a best investment after all. Btw, is the Gorshokov on loan or was it bought?

[Sashko]

thanks for the post man :)
one thing I can't understand is why the Indians are buying the Gorshkov if they're already planning to built the 2nd largest aircraft carrier fleet? (the first one will be commisioned in 2014), they can stay with the current one till than :S ALTHOUGH, the Gorshkov's upgrade does seem to look quite good, maybe its not such a best investment after all. Btw, is the Gorshokov on loan or was it bought?


2 billion and change is a bad deal for a modernized carrier and state of the art airwing? Lots of misconceptions about that deal.

Just to put it in perspective - Aussies are getting new diesel subs at 3 bil each....

[dredger14]

thanks for the post man :)
one thing I can't understand is why the Indians are buying the Gorshkov if they're already planning to built the 2nd largest aircraft carrier fleet? (the first one will be commisioned in 2014), they can stay with the current one till than :S ALTHOUGH, the Gorshkov's upgrade does seem to look quite good, maybe its not such a best investment after all. Btw, is the Gorshokov on loan or was it bought?

The deal was passed in the late nineties when foreign relations with the West were in the dumps, the only A/C was a 15 yr old boat in a Russian yard.
And then there were those nice Mig-29's..
No one could have foreseen all those difficulties..

[deathil93]

The deal was passed in the late nineties when foreign relations with the West were in the dumps, the only A/C was a 15 yr old boat in a Russian yard.
And then there were those nice Mig-29's..
No one could have foreseen all those difficulties..
hehe, like they say, "what could possibly go wrong?" p-)