The tipping of INS Betwa while undocking at the Naval Dockyard in Mumbai on Monday raises questions about the state of repair facility of the Indian Navy. But naval personnel have blamed it on negligence.
INS Betwa, which is an indigenously built Brahmaputra-class guided missile frigate of the Indian Navy, which was designed to escort ships in high seas, with effective anti-aircraft warfare component, has been rendered ineffective after it tipped over and fell due to a tilt. Almost 14 sailors were rescued and had suffered minor injuries, but two of them died due to the accident. This is the second mishap for the warship.
Preliminary findings have pointed fingers at the failure of the dock-block mechanism at the Naval Dock at that time. The incident took place at 1:50pm on Monday.
Named after the Betwa River in Madhya Pradesh, this 3,850 tonner warship is under "technical evaluation" to make it upright.
What is undocking process?
After the necessary refit is finished on the ship in the dry docks, it is taken out of the dock, where sea water is pumped into the dock in a controlled manner and the ship is allowed to float on her own. After the level of seawater in the dry dock reaches the same level as the sea outside, the dock gates are opened. Later the tug boats attach themselves to the ship via tug lines and pull it out of the dock. Once the ship is at a distance from the dry dock, tug boats get detached and propeller starts and moves the ship away.
What could have gone wrong?
India Today spoke to several naval officers who predicted that the possibility of dock slabs being wrongly placed or corrosion of those blocks. One retired officer noted the possibility of faulty weight calculations as one of the reasons for it to slip. The ship's stability is affected if they float first from the rear, he noted
Another suggested that since the naval boats are V-shaped, stability needs to be maintained at all cost.
"This has all the signs of a short cut taken or a negligence shown, especially from the ship's crew. You can keep saying that the civilian workforce does a shoddy job but that is precisely the reason why you are deployed - to effectively overlook matters and intervene when required," said a retired Rear Admiral to India Today.
What will the navy do?
Following the enquiry report on the incident and a thorough analysis navy might decide if the ship can be refurbished and set sail again or it has to be written off. Moreover the enquiry report will also give a verdict on the naval personnel on duty during the undocking process. If the naval staff are found to be negligent, the navy takes it seriously and sailors might face some serious consequences.
