The Pakistan Navy War College, Lahore, celebrated its 50th anniversary, last month. The Pakistan Navy War course conducted by this prestigious College is ten months long and includes a number of industrial visits, military exercises and a foreign tour. Approximately 70 students, majority of them from the Pakistan Navy and two each from the Pakistan Army and Air Force attend the course besides 10 officers from friendly countries. I followed the 24th course in 1995/96. The College was then located in Karachi and known as ‘Pakistan Navy Staff College’.

Foreign officers and their families were provided with accommodation. I was there with my family. My son was only three-years-old and he started attending Kindergarten while I was following the course.

Pakistan military personnel are very fond of their Sri Lankan counterparts. They always help us. Thanks to a generous stipend from Sri Lanka, we lived very comfortably in Karachi and I had the opportunity to take part in Inter-Staff College sports activities.

Out of the distinguished foreign alumni of the War College, eight officers commanded their navies during the last 50 years—Major General Rowland Leslie Makandu of Tanzania Navy in 1989, Staff Brigadier Khaflan Al Room UAE Navy in 1996, Major General Said Shusan Omary Tanzania Navy in 2006, Staff Major General M Al Muhammad Ahmed UAE Navy in 2005, First Admiral Dato Seri Pahlawan Haji Othman Bin Hj Suhaili Royal Brunei Navy in 2005, Rear Admiral Houssain Khamzadi Islamic Republic of Iran Navy in 2007 and Colonel Hishan Kharkiv Aljarrah Royal Jordanian in Navy 2013.  I became the Commander of the Navy of Sri Lanka in 2015. I am the only foreign alumnus to become a Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) of the Armed Forces. Further, I am the only recipient of the highest medal awarded by Pakistan – Nishan-e-Imtiyaz (Military) medal (Order of Excellence) from the Pakistan President at a special investiture Ceremony in February 2019 in Islamabad.

 I was invited to the celebrations as a guest of the Pakistan Navy Chief.

The Golden Jubilee celebrations commenced with the alumni dinner. The Chief Guest was Admiral Muhammad Amjad Khan Niazi, the Chief of Naval Staff, Pakistan. He has been the Commandant of PN War College.

Seated next to me was a tall, very smart elderly gentleman who introduced him self as “Vice Admiral Tasnim retired from the Pakistan Navy”. During our brief conversation at dinner, he mentioned that he was 86 years old and he  had undergone his basic naval training at Britannia Royal Naval College (BRNC), Dartmouth, UK with “Midshipman Asoka De Silva” in 1950!  I immediately recognised his class.

Old Royalist rugby player Asoka de Silva represented Navy Rugby team as full back. He has commanded ships and craft and served in high positions in Trincomalee, Jaffna and Naval Headquarters. When he was Chief of Staff of our Navy, he encouraged me to join them.

Admiral Asoka de Silva was the 9th Navy Commander of Sri Lanka from 1983 to 1986. His son, Sajith, was one year senior to me at  Royal, and we both were keen scouts. Vice Admiral Tasnim said he had been in PN Staff College serving as Directing Staff member (instructor) and later became the Commandant.

That night with the intention of finding more details about this veteran Pakistan Naval officer, I consulted Google Guru. I keyed in “Vice Admiral Tasnim of Pakistan Navy”. What a surprise!

He and his crew became heroes in the 1971 Indo-Pakistan War. He Commanded Pakistan Navy Submarine PNS Hangor and patrolled the Arabian Sea.

However, naval action was somewhat different. Indian Admirals towed three missile boats by bigger war ships and targeted the Karachi port and fuel tanks there; the port was in flames  for many days.

However, the action of Pakistan Navy Submarine PNS Hangor (S- 131) (nickname Shark) led to the sinking of Indian Navy ASW Frigate on 9 Dec 1971 off the Gujarat coast. It was the first time following the World War ll, a submarine was able to sink a warship!

The then Lt. Commander Ahmad Tasnim was the submarine Commander. It is very difficult for surface ships to detect submarines. Main sensor on surface-and-air warfare does not work underwater as electro-magnetic waves (radar) do not travel through water. Electro-magnetic waves move at the speed of light in air. Therefore, we use sound waves, which, however, have a very limited range.

INS Khukhri Sunk By Pakistan Navy’s  Submarine PNS Hangor

The speed of sound moving through water depends on three factors—pressure (which increases with depth), temperature and salinity. The greater the pressure, the higher the speed. The same is true of temperature and salinity. So, detecting a submarine by using equipment called SONAR is a very difficult task. There are two types of SONARs– active and passive. Active SONARs are the ones that transmit sound waves and enable us to listen to the echo of the target. Passive SONARs are just hydrophones that help us listen to under water sounds. (The present-day Bangladesh Navy Chief (Admiral Sheen Iqbal) and I were Anti Submarine Warfare (ASW) specialists, following the same course in 1989/90 at ASW school, Cochin, India.)

During the 1971 war, on 09 December Pakistan Submarine PNS Hangor targeted two Indian Frigates, INS Khukri and INS Kirpan . INS Khukri was sunk with two torpedoes whereas INS Kirpan survived the attack. The Captain of the sinking Indian Ship Khukri, Captain Mahendra Nath Mullar decided to go down with the ship following the tradition of seafarers. He was awarded with second highest gallantry medal of India, Maha Vir Chakra (MVC) posthumously. INS Khukri is the only ship Indian Navy has lost in battle to date. Eighteen officers and 176 sailors of Indian Navy died in this attack. Only 64 survived.

There is so much to learn from sea battles. The Sri Lanka Navy also should also build up a small submarine unit as Bangladesh and Myanmar have done.

Edited Version