Indian Navy Frigate Captain Relieved Of Command

INS Talwar at the President’s Fleet Review on 20 Dec 2011
The Commanding Officer of the Indian Navy’s frontline missile frigate INS Talwar has been relieved of command to make way for an investigation into the death of a young officer out at sea just before New Year. Captain Rahul Parmar, a veteran with the navy’s work-up force, will stay off the ship and its command as a Board of Inquiry (BoI) looks into whether the death of Sub Lieutenant Vipin Kumar on December 29 was caused by negligence or unnecessary pressure.

It took that photograph of the Talwar on December 20 off Mumbai, nine days before the incident in question: a sea swimming survival drill in the Arabian Sea, which involved officers and sailors jumping from the ship and rapidly swimming 50-meters away, simulating a jump-ship in the event of a hit or other accident. Sub Lt Kumar jumped, but failed to surface (ironically, he was a seasoned swimmer, ex-NDA). Elaborate search operations were conducted but he couldn’t be found. First designated missing, he was later designated dead. On the ship’s return, Captain Parmar was relieved of command. The navy has, however, said that the CO has been asked to step aside only so that the investigation isn’t prejudiced.

The Talwar-class of ships are superb vessels, but this is the second time that a CO of one of these ships has lost command. On December 27, 2005, INS Trishul collided with a merchantman outside Mumbai harbour, an incident that first led to its commanding officer Captain Sunil Edwin David being relieved of command, but finally to his exit from service as well.

Photo of INS Talwar / Shiv Aroor

14 thoughts on “Indian Navy Frigate Captain Relieved Of Command”

  1. wats d mistake of the commander…he did wat he is supposed to do….soldier died and tats unfortunate but others came back…only he couldn't…whose fault is tat..m not blaming the departed soul but don't see captain's fault either…atleast in wat is being told

  2. I seriously doubt the capabilities of Indian navy ..they keep colliding their ships, subs and keep loosing them …now they r loosing men too..these incidents are never heard before …this is when they r operating during peacetime…god save us if there is war…we r already carrying the burden of khukri…

  3. @ Anon 3:37,

    These are the hazards at sea.All major navies have such incidents and incidents,including grounding, collisions,training accidents or even worse.The Indian Navy has the best record amongst all our services be it in the fight against Pakistan or in the induction of equipment.The ratio of kill vs loss in our last conflict with Pakistan in 1971 has been equaled by very few.The Pakis got such a drubbing by our Navy in 1971 that they will never forget till their dying day. Khukri reminds us of the valour and sacrifice of our men not otherwise.

  4. Captain Sanjay Pal

    Survival at Sea drills are conducted in calm sea with life jackets 'On' and divers standby in water. The CO is 100% guilty. It is a straight case of wrong person for a very professional job. Should be removed from service. Navy should introspect where they went wrong.

  5. he should be charged with murder without intention……survival drill without lifejacket…its a joke …it clearly shows the captain selection of navy needs a rethink …

  6. @ anon: 11: 36
    this is anon 3:37

    Sir, u might need to revisit the history ..because we lost khukri because of our own mistakes…it wasn't equipped properly and wasn't battle ready and we sent it to the war and we lost it…it commander did supreme sacrifice and showed un comparable valour is a different story..but from top to bottom..its a story of one of biggest failures in naval history….secondly had pakistani's had not lost Gazi owing to their own mistakes …history might have been too different for us…and anyway Vikrant didn't do much in tat war…and will u please tell me which navy bangs its own ships to its own subs more than once …and damages both..or looses its own ship by colliding them to commercial vessel…or have u forgot the shame tat INS Rajput brought to the nation which received some hard slamming from Pakistani ship..which country had done tat…and wat abt tat honey trapped navy officer story tat happened in Russia..fruits of which we r still reaping in terms of high pay out for Vikadi…Sir, their is no derth of such stories in Indian Navy…Indian Navy might be the most professional arm of our armed forces but then even army or air force are not tat clean either..they do have their fair share in bringing shame to the nation..I've not forgotten the Adarsh where chiefs had their names in or sukhna or egg scam or siachin dress scam and many other such stories…apart from fake encounters and mistakes in war…blind faith will make us just another Pakistan…we need to find out the culprits and punish them..keep system clean…and for tat matter a navy had a cadet who could not swim ..now which navy has such cadets..??? and if this is not the case why not Navy comes out clean and issues a complete statement…

  7. @anon 10:50,
    INS Khukri and the ships of its class were the available anti-submarine assets with us and they had to be deployed.In any war,there are casualties and it is remarkable that the Khukri is India's only ship loss in combat.It is typical Pakistani fantasy that the PNS Ghazi would have achieved some miracle against INS Vikrant.The fact is PNS Ghazi sank to the bottom of the sea.Whether a mine exploded on its own in Ghazi or whether it did when being harried by the Indian Navy is immaterial.INS Vikrant decimated and screwed the Pak navy in Dhaka with its Sea Alizes and PNS Ghazi ended up at the bottom of the sea.Are you aware that only 1 Pakistani ship , a gunboat PNS Rajshahi escaped destruction in East Pakistan,and that to by running away like the cowards they are to Indonesia. INS Rajput and slamming by Pak Navy ship?What is that incident?Are you referring to the INS Godavari incident?Some pak navy fool posted that incident on yu tube and later removed it,why?Because it showed the absolute foolish antics of the pak navy ship Babur.
    Do not compare the pakisatni fishing fleet to the Indian Navy.
    As for Naval accidents,just google Naval military accidents or US Navy collision or any similar term and a string of such incidents will come.

  8. @12:11

    Tats wat I said..we were lucky tat Gazhi managed to sink itself..and yeah tats INS rajput incident I was talking abt and no matter how foolsih it was on PNS Baburs part but it will always be more foolish on INS Godavri's part as it allowed a pakistani so close to itself and failed to outmanoeuvre babur and paid the price…if u know the art of war…at high seas ships r always in a battle ready state and if they commit such grave mistakes …its a shame…as far as Dhaka is concern Indian navy attacked unprotected harbours only and IAF took out the IAF and therefore it was like a cake walk for Vikrant to take out small size PN ships along with some merchant vessels…and tats y no one mentions IN's Dhaka raid..and don't forget PN's attack on Gujarat…and if PN amanged to reach Indonesia even then its a shame for IN coz why d hell we hav got andaman ???and therefore I believe PN's efficiency was higher compared to IN as they were a small navy acting against a much superior navy and In was acting against a much smaller navy and despite tat they lost their ship…its like Seychelles sinking Nimitz…and in all this plzz don't forget the larger issue m trying to raise i.e. professionalism within our armed forces…our current army chief is in d midst of an age row tat too at the end of his career..probable army chief is facing a fake encounter enquiry in which he got a gallantry award..tell me how many Amy Chiefs wud have faced such situation…why army chief didn't acted earlier may be at the start of his term as a chief…why he realised all this at the time wen he is abt to leave the office …may be i the hands of a person who won gallantry award in wat seems to be a fake encounter of a 60 yr old…yeah we r grt

  9. @Anon 9:04 let me persist.
    Ghazi was operating far from base and ultimately came under attack by the IN which contributed to its sinking.Now whether the Depth charges were set of due to Ghazi being harried by the IN or by the depth charging,the fact remains that Ghazi'z demise was consequent to Indian naval action. Pakistan attacked Dwarka, Gujarat in 1965. I do not recall any large scale pak attack in 1971.The pak Dwarka attack ended up nothing more than a PR show,since no target of significance or any ship was destroyed.Most pak shells simply overshot Dwarka. Interestingly,many of the Pak ships that took part in Dwarka were sunk by IN in 1971 by the IN.

    INS Godavari and PNS Babur were not operating in war conditions but in peacetime in International waters.Nothing happened to Gadavari save a a bent railing,while PNS Babur was shown to be the joker it was.INS Vikrant was crucial in blockading Dhaka to prevent any reinforcement to East Pakistan.Well PNS Shajahan was a small gunboat and it escaped like a water rat, and some rats do escape always!!

    The PN Navy lost many many time more ships and men than the IN.In any case War is not a football match where score are kept to determine the winner or show who is efficient .Paks defeat in 1971 was total and complete,certainly not a mark of efficiency!!
    All our army chiefs obey the orders of the Govt.They voice their issues and problems but if the govt removes or orders them,they will leave and obey without a word.Look at the Paki chiefs,their military coups while Indian forces have never ever dis-beyed their constitution.That is professionalism .Not of the pak army that bullies its own citizens,runs downhill and surrenders in the biggest numbers in 1971 since WW2 surrender .

  10. @anon:

    bro u won't leave the well..stop comparing ur army and army chief with Pakistan Army chief…in their case they need tat type of ppl…had it not been pervez musharraf Pakistan might have imploded by now…and if u look at it from tat perspective they r actually saving their nation …in a way is it not commendable tat they r giving a much larger and technologically superior army a run for its money..they operate their own business to fund their activities bcz they r a poorer country and if and when a war breaks it doesn't matter whether u obey ur govt or not..or u say something or not..wat matters is tat whether u win or not…and here we hav army chiefs and airforce chiefs who let alone nation are not able to save their own men…cadet r flying in cofens and they r not even able to bring new machinery for their own ppl..and how will they win a war if they don't have the machines…is it not the responsibility of a chief to ensure tat his men gets wat they want…in Pakistan tats not the case…Kayani's men will get wat they need…and wen we rant abt our superiority in 1971 why we forget tat Pak army was fighting against its own ppl and Indian army got huge support frm Bengali ppls which ensured Indian victory and as far as gazhi is concern ..it came so close to our harbour is itself a proof of its success …why our patrols failed to detect it …??? Pak army chief is not only a army chief but he is a CEO of an empire tat worths more than $20 bn and it is because of his grit tat Pakistan is able to see US in its eyes…can India do tat..no..wat we do is tat we go and vote against Iran…and remember had it not been Israel we won't have been able to stop infiltration in J&K..therefore it is better to take a holistic view…we won kargil but Kargil happened is a shame for Indian army..we had to loose our precious ives to get our own territory back s a shame and even after tat we did to pakistan..nothing…they scot free after killing so many Indian soldiers…we killed theirs..but they were on our soil..we lost our man on our soil..and tats shameful…whose responsibility is tat..and whose success is tat..can we do a kargil to pakistan…don't dare…..their is no use of having so much of force….why we lost to China …if we talks abt 71 then why forget 62..take tat into the account and in a way comparison to china is more realistic given our economic, geographical and population parity…Chief leaves quitely or not doesn't matter bcz u will see him as a governer somewhere in the country and except for JJ singh (who later became governer) which army chief in recent past had been uncontroversial…after Gen. Padmanabh which chief tell me…and now most probably we r going to hav a chief who won gallantry award for a fake encounter…wow…where does tat happens…if such ppl r becoming chiefs then how will they get courage to speak against govt…remember Deepak Kapoor…who was saved by army with great difficulty just bcz he was is an ex chief….man…read beyond wikipedia..Pakistans are not idiots…operating against a superior navy if they managed to close in on Dwarka tat itself is an achievement for them…if u hav tat guts then y didn't Indian navy did something similar against China?? and how those terrorists sneaked into Mumbai and why Marcos left the hotel and why MV Pavit came un detected ??..man there r so many skeletons in the closet tat Indian armed forces wud prefer to throw tat closet in arabian sea instead of opening it…Pakistanis are fighting a war on their own territory bcz of their own mistakes and tats an another issue but despite being at war for almost 10 years now they r proving a headache ofr Indian army…hows tat…hmmm so stop comparing..and never under estimate ur enemy or ur own mistakes and misdeeds…and tats d way to go…wat

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