Mission Ghazi: An Unsolved Naval Mystery

The Indo-Pak war was not limited to land battles — it extended deep beneath the sea, shrouding itself in mysteries. Among these mysteries lies the unresolved story of the sinking of PNS Ghazi.

PNS Ghazi, Source: Wikipedia

We have all read about India's freedom struggle in schoolbooks, but India’s problems did not end after its independence from colonial rule. There were several struggles that India faced, leading to wins, losses, and even a few mysteries along the way. One such mystery is the sinking of Pakistan’s top-of-the-line diesel-electric submarine, PNS Ghazi, which was also the country’s first fast-attack submarine. The submarine was bought by the Pakistan Navy from the US Navy in 1975. The submarine was named USS Diablo (SS-479) and was later renamed by the Pakistan Navy as PNS/M Ghazi (S-130).

During the 1965 Indo-Pak war, PNS Ghazi emerged as one of Pakistan's strongest assets in underwater warfare. However, after the war, the submarine was slated for another mission by the Pakistani government. The mission was sparked when India deployed its premier aircraft carrier, INS Vikrant, to create a naval blockade isolating East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh) in the Bay of Bengal. With no alternative route available, the Pakistan government, led by Agha Muhammad Yahya Khan, grew increasingly frustrated and resolved to break the naval blockade. Enter PNS Ghazi.

Pakistan was well aware that Ghazi was approaching the end of its operational life, as it had previously served in the United States Navy from 1945 to 1963 and had also experienced frequent malfunctions. Nevertheless, the Pakistan government was determined to eliminate the naval blockade and destroy INS Vikrant, while also mining India's eastern seaboard.

The Pakistan Navy embarked on the perilous 4,800 km journey from Karachi to Vishakhapatnam on November 14, 1971, with 92 men aboard. Considering Ghazi's age and the limited maintenance facilities at Chittagong, the voyage was fraught with challenges. However, when they reached the Madras region, the Indian Navy got wind of the impending threat and promptly dispatched INS Vikrant to the Andaman Islands. Additionally, the Indian Navy tasked INS Rajput with safeguarding itself from Ghazi. By the time Ghazi arrived in Madras, ten days had elapsed, and with no sign of INS Vikrant, it began laying mines.

Meanwhile, INS Rajput prepared for the impending confrontation. The ship was fully fuelled and its navigational aids were completely muted. As Ghazi laid mines, it experienced a blackout and surfaced to re-establish its navigation. At that moment, Ghazi detected a powerful adversary and made a steep dive. It was war, and when INS Rajput heard the disturbance in the waters, it launched two depth charges.

The bridge windshield of PNS Ghazi, Source: Visit Vizag

According to the Indian Navy, these two depth charges struck Ghazi in the section where it stored torpedoes and mines, causing it to explode and sink to the seafloor. There's also speculation that Ghazi might have triggered one of its own active mines near its torpedo tube. However, the Pakistan Navy has a different narrative. From the beginning, they have refuted the Indian account, asserting that Ghazi's sinking was purely accidental and was perhaps the result of detonating its own mines or miscalculations during the blackout. Some even suggest that a build-up of hydrogen gas inside the submarine could have caused the explosion. On December 4, 1971, Ghazi, along with its 92 crew members, met its demise and was officially lost off the Indian coast.

In 2003, several decades after the incident, the Indian Navy discovered the remains of Ghazi, including backup tapes and war logs. After thorough investigations, the divers who found these remains proposed that Ghazi likely blew up internally due to mines and torpedoes. The mystery of how Ghazi sank remains unsolved, with various theories still debated to this day.