PNS Ghazi

For the submarine named Ghazi, bought by the Pakistan Navy in 1975, see PNS Ghazi (S134).

The Tench-class submarine in the U.S. Navy's service as Diablo in 1964.
History
United States
NameUSS Diablo
BuilderPortsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine, United States[1]
Laid down11 August 1944[1]
Launched1 December 1944[1]
Commissioned31 March 1945[1]
Decommissioned1 June 1964[1]
Stricken4 December 1971[2]
IdentificationSS-479
FateTransferred to Pakistan on 1 June 1964[1]
Pakistan
NamePNS Ghazi
Cost$1.5 million USD (1968) (Refit and MLU cost)[3]
Acquired1 June 1964
Refit2 April 1970
HomeportKarachi Naval Base
IdentificationS-130
Honours and
awards
FateLost under unknown circumstances with 93 personnel onboard on 4/5 December 1971 in Bay of Bengal in East of Indian Ocean.[4][5][6][7][8]
General characteristics
Class and typeTench-class diesel-electric submarine[2]
Displacement
  • 1,570 long tons (1,595 t) surfaced[2]
  • 2,414 long tons (2,453 t) submerged[2]
Length311 ft 8 in (95.00 m)[2]
Beam27 ft 4 in (8.33 m)[2]
Draft17 ft (5.2 m) maximum[2]
Propulsion
Speed
  • 20.25 knots (37.50 km/h; 23.30 mph) surfaced[12]
  • 8.75 knots (16.21 km/h; 10.07 mph) submerged[12]
Range11,000 nautical miles (20,000 km; 13,000 mi) surfaced at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)[12]
Endurance
  • 48 hours at 2 knots (3.7 km/h; 2.3 mph) submerged[12]
  • 75 days on patrol
Test depth
Complement
Armament

PNS/M Ghazi (S–130)[14] (previously USS Diablo (SS-479); reporting name: Ghazi), SJ, was a Tench-class diesel-electric submarine, the first fast-attack submarine in the Pakistan Navy. She was leased from the United States Navy in 1963.[15]: 68 

She served in the United States Navy from 1945 to 1963 and was loaned to Pakistan under the Security Assistance Program (SAP) on a four-year lease after the Ayub administration successfully negotiated with the Kennedy administration for its procurement.[16] In 1964, she joined the Pakistan Navy and saw military action in the Indo-Pakistani theatres in the 1965 and, later in the 1971 wars.[3]

In 1968 Ghazi executed a submerged circumnavigation of Africa and southern parts of Europe through the Indian Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean, due to the closure of the Suez Canal, in order to be refitted and updated at Gölcük, Turkey. The submarine could be armed with up to 28 Mk.14 torpedoes and had the capability of mine-laying added as part of her refit.[3][6]

Starting as the only submarine in the Indo-Pakistani war of 1965, Ghazi remained the Pakistan Navy's flagship submarine until she sank under mysterious circumstances near India's eastern coast while conducting naval operations en route to the Bay of Bengal.[17] While the Indian Navy credits Ghazi's sinking to its destroyer INS Rajput,[18][19][20][21][22] the Pakistani military oversights and reviews stated that "the submarine sank due to either an internal explosion or accidental detonation of mines being laid by the submarine off the Visakhapatnam harbour".[23][24][25][26][27]

In 2010, it was revealed the Indian Navy destroyed all records of their investigations into this matter in 1980 after the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971.[7][28][29][30] Nonetheless, Indian historians consider the sinking of Ghazi to be a notable event; as they have described the sinking as one of the "last unsolved greatest mysteries of the 1971 war."[27][31][32]

  1. ^ a b c d e f Friedman, Norman (1995). U.S. Submarines Through 1945: An Illustrated Design History. Annapolis, Maryland: United States Naval Institute. pp. 285–304. ISBN 1-55750-263-3.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Bauer, K. Jack; Roberts, Stephen S. (1991). Register of Ships of the U.S. Navy, 1775–1990: Major Combatants. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. pp. 280–282. ISBN 0-313-26202-0.
  3. ^ a b c wwiiafterwwii (24 December 2015). "Last voyage of PNS Ghazi 1971". wwiiafterwwii. Archived from the original on 19 November 2016. Retrieved 18 November 2016.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Times of India, 2006 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Defence Journal, Azam was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference defencejournal.com was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ a b "Now no record of navy sinking Pakistani submarine in 1971". Times of India. Retrieved 12 May 2010.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference pakdef.org was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ a b c d e Bauer, K. Jack; Roberts, Stephen S. (1991). Register of Ships of the U.S. Navy, 1775–1990: Major Combatants. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. pp. 275–282. ISBN 978-0-313-26202-9.
  10. ^ U.S. Submarines Through 1945 pp. 261–263
  11. ^ U.S. Submarines Through 1945 pp. 305–311
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h U.S. Submarines Through 1945 pp. 305–311
  13. ^ "PNS/M Ghazi: Officers and Enlisted". pakdef.org. Archived from the original on 7 September 2018. Retrieved 7 September 2018.
  14. ^ Shabbir, Uman. "PNS/M Ghazi (S-130)". PakDef Military Consortium. Archived from the original on 7 September 2018. Retrieved 22 December 2018.
  15. ^ Karim, Afsir (1996). "The Early Years" (google books). Indo-Pak Relations: Viewpoints, 1989–1996. Lancer Publishers. ISBN 9781897829233. Retrieved 18 November 2016.
  16. ^ Hiranandani, G. M. (2000). "Pakistan Navy's Submarine Program" (google books). Transition to Triumph: History of the Indian Navy, 1965–1975. Lancer Publishers. ISBN 9781897829721. Retrieved 18 November 2016.
  17. ^ Till, Geoffrey (2004). Seapower: a guide for the twenty-first century. Great Britain: Frank Cast Publishers. p. 179. ISBN 0-7146-8436-8. Retrieved 28 May 2010.
  18. ^ "DAMAGE ASSESMENT [sic] - 1971 INDO-PAK NAVAL WAR" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 May 2010. Retrieved 20 June 2010.
  19. ^ "Rediff On The NeT: End of an era: INS Vikrant's final farewell". Rediff.com. Archived from the original on 7 January 2012. Retrieved 16 December 2011.
  20. ^ "The Sunday Tribune – Spectrum – Lead Article". Tribuneindia.com. Archived from the original on 16 January 2012. Retrieved 16 December 2011.
  21. ^ "Visakhapatnam: Sunk Pakistani submarine Ghazi is an enigma". 24 November 2015. Archived from the original on 18 February 2016. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
  22. ^ Bhattacharjee, Sumit (25 January 2016). "From a small outpost to a major command". The Hindu – via www.thehindu.com.
  23. ^ Seapower: A Guide for the Twenty-first Century By Geoffrey Till
  24. ^ Johnson, Ken. "PNS Ghazi" (PDF). Hooter Hilites (December 2007): 6. Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
  25. ^ Joseph, Josy (12 May 2010). "Now, no record of Navy sinking Pakistani submarine in 1971". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 11 August 2011. Retrieved 28 May 2010. Pakistani authorities say the submarine sank because of either an internal explosion or accidental blast of mines that the submarine itself was laying around Vizag harbour.
  26. ^ "The truth behind the Navy's 'sinking' of Ghazi". Sify News website. 25 May 2010. Archived from the original on 28 May 2010. Retrieved 29 May 2010. After the war, however, teams of divers confirmed that it was an internal explosion that sank the Ghazi.
  27. ^ a b Unnithan, Sandeep (26 January 2004). "New pictures of 1971 war Pak submarine Ghazi renew debate on cause behind blast on vessel". India Today, 2003. India Today. Archived from the original on 19 June 2017. Retrieved 18 November 2016.
  28. ^ Warriors of the waves - Express Tribune
  29. ^ Real story of submarine PNS Ghazi and the mystery behind its sinking - Economic Times
  30. ^ The Ghazi Attack: Why did India destroy records of one of its greatest naval victories - Indian Defence News
  31. ^ "What happened to the Pakistani submarine that inspired the movie 'The Ghazi Attack'?". Archived from the original on 27 January 2017. Retrieved 27 January 2017. Initially made in Telugu and later due to good box office performance this movie was dubbed in several other Indian languages.
  32. ^ Geoffrey Till (21 February 2013). Seapower: A Guide for the Twenty-First Century. Routledge. p. 171. ISBN 978-1-136-25555-7.