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In PHOTOS: INS Sindhurakshak in its FULL GLORY
India lost its frontline submarine on Wednesday in a blaze. Rediff.com presents some magnificent archival images of the vessel.
Indian Navy submarine INS Sindhurakshak submerged on Wednesday after it was gutted following an explosion and fire at the high-security naval dockyard in Mumbai. Eighteen on board are feared trapped as salvage operations continue.
The loss of the submarine comes as a huge blow for the Indian Navy.
It was only three months ago that India spent a whopping Rs 480 crore on upgrading the 16 year-old diesel electric vessel in Russia. With a high-tech warfare system, it was expected to serve the navy for another 10 years.
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INS Sindhurakshak in its FULL GLORY
The kilo class submarine was retrofitted in the Zvyozdochka shipyard in Severodvinsk, northwest Russia. The Indian Navy's fifth submarine, INS Sindurakshak was given a new lease of life there.
The submarine was designed for anti-submarine warfare and for combating enemy vessels, as well as protecting naval bases, coastal and maritime communications, and reconnaissance and patrol units.
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INS Sindhurakshak in its FULL GLORY
It was armed with the latest variant of a Russian-made submarine-specific cruise missile system capable of hitting targets more than 150 miles away, according to a report on news and encyclopedia update.
A typical kilo-class submarine has a displacement of 2,300 tonnes, length of 72.6 metres, a submerged speed of 19 knots (about 35 kilometres an hour), a test depth of 300 metres, a crew of 52 and endurance of 45 days. These submarines are armed with six 533 mm torpedo tubes.
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INS Sindhurakshak in its FULL GLORY
After its overhaul INS Sindurakshak departed from the White Sea to its home shores on January 29 and arrived in Mumbai on April 30.
Prior to that, it successfully underwent a series of tests in the White Sea, including missile and torpedo launches. According to Rossiyskaya Gazeta, both targets -- one at sea, the other on land -- were hit in the first attempt, the report said.
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INS Sindhurakshak in its FULL GLORY
India had bought the 2300-tonne submarine from Russia as part of an early 1980s deal and commissioned it in 1997.
It was the ninth of the 10 Sindhugosh class diesel-electric powered vessel that the navy has in its 16-vessel submarine fleet.
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INS Sindhurakshak in its FULL GLORY
In the last few years, there have been several mishaps involving naval vessels. In fact, in 2010, a sailor was killed when a fire broke out on the Sindhurakshak at Visakhapatnam port in Andhra Pradesh.
The fire was blamed on an explosion in the submarine's battery compartment.
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INS Sindhurakshak in its FULL GLORY
In 2008, another vessel of the Kilo class, INS Sindhugosh, collided with a merchant vessel off Mumbai while participating in a naval exercise.
In 2011, a surface warship INS Vindhyagiri caught fire when it collided with a merchant vessel near the Mumbai harbour while returning from a picnic with families of group of officers deployed on board.
On its way back, it hit another ship leaving the harbour. Nobody was injured but the warship was virtually ruined.
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