[ruzbehxyz]

Dear SJM1214.

Your baby is very cute.
Congrats on a wonderful trip. It's actually a challenge taking such a small kid on a driving trip. However I think you managed it well. Keep traveling and posting. It's a nice read.

[SJM1214]

Originally Posted by ruzbehxyz

Dear SJM1214.

Your baby is very cute.
Congrats on a wonderful trip. It's actually a challenge taking such a small kid on a driving trip. However I think you managed it well. Keep traveling and posting. It's a nice read.

Thanks,ruzbehxyz.
Yes, at first it looked challenging but somehow all went well.

[skanchan95]

Great set of photos!!! Having lived in Veraval for so many years and having made innumerable trips to Diu, these photos bring back fond memories.

Originally Posted by SJM1214

INS Khukri Memorial is the memorial site of an Indian Naval Ship that sank during the Indo-Pak War of 1971. The submarine was destroyed on 9th December 1971 when torpedo shots were fired on it, sinking the ship 40 nautical miles off the coast of Diu. At the time of the sinking, there were 18 officers and 176 sailors on board. A memorial was set up to commemorate the brave martyrs in Diu comprising of a scaled model of INS Khukri enclosed in a glass case.

The INS Khukri was a Type 14 Blackwood Class anti-submarine Frigate, not a submarine.

The Khukri was torpedoed by Pakistani submarine PNS Hangor as she was searching for the same submarine along with her sister ship, INS Kirpan. PNS Hangor could only make its move at INS Khukri and Kirpan after an Indian Navy Sea King helicopter that was searching for the submarine in co-operation with the two ships had to leave the area as it was getting low on fuel.

Captain Mahendra Nath Mulla's selfless act of going down with the ship is the stuff of legends and the entire episode and Captain Mulla's bravery and personality has been beautifully described in Maj Gen Ian Cardozo's book- Sinking of the INS Khukri.

Capt Mulla simply could not have lived on with the fact that his crew, many of whom were trapped below deck and could not make it out as the ship started flooding after torpedoes hit the ship, were left to die and he chose to go down with the ship and crew in the highest traditions of Naval warfare. In fact he even passed on his own life jacket to a crew member and asked him to get away as far as he can from the sinking ship. There were survivors who were picked up the next morning by INS Kirpan and another Naval warship. Capt Mulla was posthumously awarded the Maha Vir Chakra, our second highest war time gallantry award.

[SJM1214]

Originally Posted by skanchan95

The INS Khukri was a Type 14 Blackwood Class anti-submarine Frigate, not a submarine.

Thanks skanchan95, for the information.
To be honest, I copied that write up from google. I should have checked it before posting it.

[skanchan95]

Originally Posted by SJM1214

Thanks skanchan95, for the information.
To be honest, I copied that write up from google. I should have checked it before posting it.

No worries, nothing wrong in that, happens to most of us.

It's just that I followed the story and the valour of the Khukri's brave crew right from the point when the memorial was built in Diu. To be honest, I did not know about the story before the memorial was built in 1999. I made it a point to visit the memorial every time I visited Diu, which was about 4-5 times in a year, when I used to live in Veraval. Visiting the memorial is a very sobering experience, especially when you look at the names of all those brave sailors on the plaque, who went down with the ship.


The general direction(as viewed from the memorial) of the permanent resting place of these brave men and their ship:




If you wish to read about what happened to the INS Khukri on that fateful night of December 09, 1971 just off the coast of Diu, this is a wonderful book to read: