In Tribute to Kargil Vijay Diwas!

On this Vijay Diwas, the 25th Anniversary of the Kargil victory, the Nation pays tribute to the brave soldiers who exhibited extraordinary courage and resilience in extremely challenging conditions on the Kargil Sector. 

527 brave sons of Mother India made their supreme sacrifice for Her honor!  Hundreds were injured, many with permanently disabling injuries. I take this opportunity to pray for them, thank them for what they did for the Country and future generations, and salute them from the bottom of my heart.

 

The Kargil War Memorial, also known as Dras War Memorial, is a war memorial built by the Indian Army in the town of Dras, near Kargil city in Kargil district of Ladakh, India, commemorating the 1999 Kargil War between India and Pakistan. The memorial is located on the Srinagar-Leh National Highway 1D, about 5 km from the city center across the Tiger Hill, Kargil.

The central feature of the memorial is a pink sandstone wall bearing a brass plate engraved with names of the soldiers who died during Operation Vijay. Visible from the site are the Tololing Heights, Tiger Hill, and Point 4875 (Batra Top), where fighting took place during the conflict.

In tribute to these brave men and all the armed forces, here I have tried to write down my experience during my Naval days at the time of Kargil conflict.

1999 June - July days. It’s raining cats and dogs in southern parts of India… South-West monsoon lashing the Konkan shores with ferocious beating.

And in North-West of India, what’s raining are shells, bullets, bombs, rockets etc. Yes, let me invite you to one of those days of Kargil Conflict between India and Pak in 1999 May-July days.

I was in Navy, posted at Goa, Dabolim Naval Air Base called INS Hansa. All Naval Air Bases are named after some birds like Garuda in Kochi, Rajali in Arakkonam, Madras, etc. for obvious reasons.

I was Chief-in-charge of the Second line maintenance Unit for the Russian made KAMOV 25 Helo (Helicopter). Our primary job was to carry out second line maintenance of the aircraft and also support the Front line Air Squadrons and ship borne flights to ensure serviceability and operability of the ‘birds’. 

As you know, Kargil was a ‘localized’ conflict (battle) and not a full-fledged war. While Army and Air Force were in the upfront, Navy’s contribution was to ensure, there were no attacks through the Arabian Sea to the western parts like Gujarat and Mumbai.

For this purpose, the Navy had mobilized most of its fleet from western command based at Mumbai and some major destroyers from Eastern Fleet based at Vishakhapatnam on the Northern Arabian Sea. All the fighter aircraft and helos were onboard their respective ships.

With Monsoon at it’s peak, Arabian sea was at it’s roughest and sea state was generally ‘6’ (very rough with wave height generally 4-6 mtrs) and for a sailor, the toughest of time in the sea. Ships roll and pitch at the max amplitude causing even the toughest of sailors to succumb to sea sickness. It’s never easy to sail in these conditions, but that’s no excuse. Captains have no options to choose from. And they don’t look for them too!

We were on high alert and have to maintain all critical spares at all times and keep them ready for a short notice requirement. My men were reduced to bare minimum as many of them were assigned on other general duties. We were all discussing the daily happening at the front line and we were all fuming at some of the un-soldier like activities by Pak Army. Our daily meetings turned out to be blood boosters and we were all eager to be part of the action, somehow.

Thathaasthu! 

There we are….! 

I was called upstairs to the  O-I-C and he passed me a ‘signal’ (Signal is a Military telegram send through Morse coding) from the leading destroyer ship from R class, INS Rana. It says something like this… IN 574 Stbd (right side) Landing gear brace strut cracked (Pt No.. xyx-abc-etc). “INS Rana reaching goa port with the U/S helo. Request supports for repair and replacement”. 

OIC writes ‘na pls’ (necessary action, please) in the signal and hands it to me. We had around 8 hours for the preparations till the ship to reach Goa Mormugoa port in Vasco. Rana was sailing off-Mumbai and they would rush firing in all cylinders to Goa and by then we had to prepare the substitute for the cracked brace strut which connects the main landing gear wheels with shock absorber to the aircraft body.

The timeline between receiving the information and arriving at the jetty was not any cool and relaxing one. Time was very short, and we must ensure full preparation!

 

Initially, we set the team up! 

The team included Master Chief, Jawahar (Rest in Peace, Sir) Pawan Kumar, Jawahar Singh, Mahendra Shete (Rest in Peace Bro!), Asish Mall, Patil, Biju and few more! (Sincere apologies for not including all names here)

(Both Jawahar Sir and Shete, passed away recently due to critical health issues. I dearly miss them. We all enjoyed great mutual admiration and respect for each other, throughout our Naval days)

'Sharing history, Shaping the future'-Myself with Daughter Anamika

First of all, we must identify the correct required item (brace strut) and place a ‘demand’ to the Stores Department which is located at around 10 km from our Aviation Hangar. Realizing the gravity of the situation, Store guys raised up and helped to correctly locate the item quicker than expected. We took over the item and inspected properly for any transportation and storage defects. We also checked all related attachments, counted all nuts and bolts, washers and split pins etc.  Any goof up can land all of us in big soup! 

We thought everything was going very well.! That’s when, we discovered a critical issue: the bolt hole through which the attachment bolt needs to pass is actually smaller than the bolt diameter. This meant we had to enlarge the bolt hole by ‘reaming’ it so that the attachment bolt could fit through. Unfortunately, we did not have the necessary reaming tools and high-tensile drill bits available in our facility. 

We learned that the Air Engineering Department (AED) workshop on the other side of the runway has the required machine and tools to undertake this task. They were maintaining the more sophisticated and advance aircrafts like, sea harriers and we were dealing with the robust and reliable Russian made ones, mostly relying on the ‘jhugad ..kaam chalo’ type principles!! Getting this done in AED workshop required some high level ‘recommendations’ and telephone calls to the Senior AEO and so on…! 

The workshop in-charge was a civilian; I was asked to go and meet him. He received me with a wicked smile. I could not make out what’s he was muttering.  Rather, I didn’t attempt too! It may have been “these guys don’t even have a proper drilling machine in their own workshop?”. Or was he sympathetic to my pitiful face and humble pleas? 

Nevertheless, the Civilian workshop in charge did this job to perfection.  I double-checked—the bolt now passes through the attachment hole perfectly.! The team breathed a long sigh of relief! 

All set.  We took all the required tools (and also few ‘may require’ tackles), counted them, and moved to the MPT Jetty at Vasco on a three tonner 'Sakthiman' lorry..! We reached there well before time! INS Rana the mighty destroyer ship is already on the jetty side, waiting to be moored, for the final action sequence! 

It was an overcast evening.. slight windy, the sea is a bit rough, ship is continuously moving, even though it was tied down to the bollards! Seamen placed the gangway, and we all were welcomed onboard. The team landed on the deck, with the customary salutes; the aircrew on the deck, received us. The Commanding Officer (CO) and Executive Officer (ExO) of the ship were down on the quarter deck as well. I could sense obvious stress and tension on their faces, mirroring the overcast atmosphere in the background..! 

We went straight to the ship’s hangar… This is the compartment, just below the flight deck where the helicopter is lowered down through a lift and ‘parked’ with all its rotor blades folded to the back, wheels chocked. Helo will be tightly moored to the side walls and floor, without allowing any space to move, while the ship is sailing. While we were receiving the briefing from the AEO, I was looking around and actually sensing the toughest  life on the ship! There is hardly any space for movement and circulation, making it difficult to stretch your arms and legs without hitting an equipment or pipelines. You need to be extremely careful while moving around to avoid bumping into something, as there's a risk of hitting your head on overhead obstacles. Background noise of the equipment, combined with the smell of grease, oil, and the sea, can cause drowsiness and nausea for any newcomer on the ship. I was no exception. 

Silently thanking God for sparing me from facing these situations, and saluting the “Ship’s Company” for enduring them on a daily basis, (“Ships’ Company” is the term used for all Departments, sailors and officers in the Ship) I came back to my senses and reality. 

We took stock of the situation: the helo is supported on the hydraulic jacks, all three jacks placed under the jacking points to support and off-load the wheels! We got to get going to repair this helo and make it airworthy! A flying bird (helo, usually referred as) on a defense ship, increases its operational capacity manifolds!

The repair can be attempted in two ways. The first option, under normal circumstances and in peacetime, would be to lift the entire helicopter to the jetty using a large crane and attempt to replace the strut there. However, this option was deemed impractical for several reasons, such as the difficulty of arranging and setting up a crane on the jetty, the dangers of jacking up the helicopter outdoors in windy and rainy conditions, and most importantly, the fact that we were not facing usual circumstances. The country was in a warlike situation, and we had no time to waste! 

We went ahead with the other option, which had never been tried before: jacking up the helicopter inside the ship's hangar to replace the brace support. This option also had its own set of challenges. The helicopter hangar inside the ship is a small space, barely able to accommodate the helicopter. The sea state, even along the jetty, caused the ship to move constantly, even though it was tightly moored. Jacking up the helicopter to almost 1.5 meters to offload the wheels on a moving ship was highly risky. 

I have added a sample picture here from the Internet, thanks to Google, which illustrate the scenario, but in a land based hangar, somewhere in the world! This picture shows another KAMOV type helicopter being jacked up on the hydraulic jack for certain maintenance works! 

The repair part is fairly simple; we just need to remove the three connecting bolts from the ‘V’ shaped strut ends, remove the broken piece, connect the new -the one which we brought after machining-connect the bolts and tighten up the nuts – easier said than done! 

The team sprang into action, starting to lift the helo by pumping all three jacks simultaneously. As the helo begins to rise, the main landing gear shock absorber strut (piston) also starts extending outward. In this situation, we would need to lift the helo completely to make the wheels clear off the floor. This is not desirable when jacking up the helo within the ship’s hangar due to height restrictions and the fear that any sudden jerks or movements of the ship may cause the helo to come off the jacking points. To restrict the shock absorber extending, we connected the struct locks and ensured they are tightened as required. 

Jacking up is usually done in a meticulous manner on level ground, with no other simultaneous activities permitted. All three jacks must be lifted up evenly. As the jacks went up, the helo started going up. However, as we feared earlier, even with the strut locks in position, we could not unload the wheels to loosen up the attachments nuts and bolts! Though there was enough head room, we reached a limit where the jacks cannot be lifted up any higher! Both myself and Jawahar Sir, assessed that it was unsafe, we might end up causing more damages, and decided to stop jacking up any further! We tried to loosen up the bolt. Is not coming out! 

A brief discussion between the team came up with an idea! Salutes to Indian Jhugaad DNA! 

“Aircraft weight is already on the jacks, lets try to lift and hold the whole landing gear, manually for few minutes; keeping it lifted, replace the bolts” - That was the genius plan! We told the AEO the same! AEO was not impressed by our super brains! Probably he expected some ‘dimaakh’ wala type tricks! However, our little brain-storming was eavesdropped on by the ExO, who was literally on our back, asking the progress updates at each steps that we were taking.. “kya ho gaya Chief saab? Chop Chop… ! He was also updating the CO over the walkie talkie, now and then! 

“Sir, we need some help to lift the landing gear.. some ropes and few men” – our earnest request! For an ExO of a ship, both these requested commodities are in his pocket.. Within five minutes few hatta-katta sailor bhais lined up at the top of the hanger, looking down to us, with thick nylon ropes rolled on their shoulders! 

Pointing to the helo, they were like asking us loudly from the top, 

“kya bhai, isko udaana hein kya?”! ☹ 

We tied the rope center onto the landing gear and sent both the loose ends to the top to the ship’s mates and explained to them to take the load. “Like you do in the beginning of a tug of war match..!”  “slowly and carefully pull up!” (This comparison to tug of war was quickly understood, I guess!) 

The seamen got on to their job, under our direction. We could see some movement up and down, on the landing gear! 

Our expert technicians did the remaining job in pretty fast time. All bolts loosened up, the broken part was removed and the new one was installed in the reverse manner. 

Again Mr. Murphy interfered with the last bolt installation. Alas, the holes are not getting aligned to receive the last bolt. CO is screaming, Ex O is shouting, AEO is sweating... but the bolt is still not listening!! (is it called the Bolt from the Blue?!) 

There is nothing else that we could do, other than keep trying! Our team had the best of technicians! Ooper-neeche kar kar ke finally we managed to push through the last bolt, for everyone to scream with joy! 

No time wasted, I heard the CO, giving orders for casting off, on the walkie talkie – ‘Sea and Action’ – “SSD closeup”. “Prepare for Departure”! So on and so forth!!! 

The remaining works of tightening the bolts, removing the jacks etc., would be done by the ships’ air ‘johnnie’s’, the nick name for the air crew on board ships. It took us less than two hours for the whole task; Remarkably we, the team ensured that ‘Her Majesty INS Rana the Mighty Destroyer’ has been turned over within the shortest possible time! We received lots of ‘Bravo Zulu’ from the CO, EX O and others! 

We mustered all our tools, thanked everyone for their support, and de-boarded the ship, saluting and wishing all success for Her most important role along the Karachi- Gujarat Waters for the “Operation Talwar”! Of course, with a sense of pride in doing our bit in support of the Nation! 

While we were preparing to return, (thank God, Shathiman lorry took a self start – truly we didn’t have to push it), at the background we saw the gangway being lifted up, the mooring ropes being removed, the thick smoke coming off the ships’ engine exhaust funnels and also heard the engines revving up!

At the jetty, we patted on each other’s back as an appreciation, smiled and said,

 

“Let’s meet at SI (Sailor’s Institute.)” 

SI is the haven where sailors toast their successes-no matter how small- and celebrate happiness with loud cheers, and drown their sorrows,  usually with ‘Old Monk’ rum and boiled chana. On special occasions, they upgrade to boiled eggs and fish fries while fiercely competing to win 'full houzee' during the classic tambola games!" 

For us, initially the whole event was a success story! So, why not gulp few pegs down?! 

It was only later that we realized that our actions and success had remotely contributed to a moment of glory - Of a great Nation preserving Her pride! 

I dedicate this Commendation by the Flag officer Commnading in Chief, Western Naval Commnad received on my name, to the brave men who laid their lives during this battle and to my team, especially, 

• Master Chief Aircraft Artificer Jawahar, 
• Petty Officer Aircraft Fitter Mahendra Shete! 

Salutes and Jai Hind! 

 

 

Please read below article for more details about ‘Operation Talwar’, how Indian Navy chocked Pakistan with the increased number of ships on Northern Arabian Sea to an extend that the “then Prime Minister of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif had, on record, said that his country was left with just six days of fuel to sustain itself if a full-fledged war had broken out”.

 

Operation Talwar: How Indian Navy Silently Contributed to Kargil Win