As the Indian Navy
celebrates its "Year of Submarines", marking 50 years since it
started operating them first, NDTV got a rare first-hand look at the INS
Sindhukirti one of Navy's 13 diesel-electric submarines.
Here are 10 things to know about this submarine:
1. The INS Sindhukirti, among the oldest
operational submarines in the Navy, is Kilo-class submarine and can launch
torpedoes, missiles and even mines.
2. Acquired in 1990, the submarine the still forms
a part of the Navy's cutting edge as it's been refitted - virtually rebuilt
with modern sensors weapons and systems.
3. These systems make it "a hole in the
water", the Navy says, a submarine so quiet that detecting it in the
ocean's depths is almost impossible unless you exact exactly where to look at a
particular time.
4. Designed in an era when crew comfort was an
afterthought, the Sindhukirti is no luxury liner - every inch here is occupied
by machinery.
5. The submarine has one toilet for the nearly 70
people on board. There are no showers, and the crew wear light-blue coloured
gowns disposed once every three days.
6. In its battery pit, there are hundreds of
batteries on board - each weighing more than 900 kilos each.
7. The INS Sindhukirti, like other Kilo-class
submarines, is slower than nuclear submarines and cannot sail at more than 31
kilometres per hour underwater.
8. However, their main advantage over nuclear
submarines is their discreteness - operating far quieter.
9. Fully stocked, the submarine can embark on
missions that can last up to 40 days. But it has to ascend once every 24 hours
to what is known as snorkelling depth.
10. As it hovers just short of the surface of the
sea, fumes from its diesel engines are 'snorted' out and stale air on board the
submarine is replaced with fresh air from outside.
Source :- NDTV
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