INS Godavari- India’s Pride

1983, during the height of the Cold War, a warship which combined Soviet missiles and guns and western underwater weapons was commissioned in India. It was armed with Soviet P-20 long range surface to surface missiles, surface to air missiles and quick fire guns along with fire control radars. The same ship operated two Sea King helicopters in a small hull and carried western underwater weapons. This unthinkable feat was accomplished by INS Godavari, the first frigate fully designed and built in India. .

INS Godavari was decommissioned in a colorful ceremony in December last year after thirty two years of glorious service to the nation. Every C.O who had served on the ship over the years and key people who had designed and built the ship were invited to take part in the function. As the naval ensign was lowered for the last time at the sunset, a lump came to the throats of all those present and were witnessing the end of a great chapter in the Indian Navy.

As the project officer in charge of the design and later as a shipbuilder involved in the commissioning, I had devoted ten years of my life to the ship. I was invited by the Navy as a special guest and was interviewed by the press. I made a brief appearance on the clip explaining the background to the design of the ship. The decommissioning was captured vividly by Marathi TV news channels. 
URL <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxGkwkI7dl4> My eyes became wet when the buglers played the plaintive last post as we said goodbye to the good ship Godavari.

Godavari had averted a major coup in Maldives, took part in IPKF operations in Sri Lanka and carried out anti-piracy patrols in the gulf. She had sailed the seven seas and represented India at the centenary celebrations of Statue of Liberty in New York. She was featured in the cover of Time News magazine, a unique honor for a ship from a foreign Navy.

A piece of history

The Indian Navy took a daring decision to import missile systems and guns from the Soviet Union and incorporate Western underwater weapons in one hull in 1974, to save costs. The exercise of marrying Soviet origin weapons and western origin weapons in one warship had never been attempted earlier. Many a doubting Thomas felt that the Indian Naval designers were not capable of designing such a ship.

What the world did not know was the meagre resources which developed the design. I was nominated as the head of the design project group. My team consisted of just six officers, two each of construction, engineering and electrical and weapons disciplines. Our draftsmen were inexperienced and were mostly high school educated apprentices trained in house. We had a few experienced civilian design specialists who had also come up from the ranks. No other navy in the world would have dared to embark on a project of that magnitude with so few resources and such inexperienced personnel.

When we started the design, we had no data on Soviet weapons and systems. It would take a while before the Navy could finalize an agreement with the Soviets and obtain the data. I started the weapon layouts, scaling up dimensions from the small photographs of Soviet frigates and missile ships from the well-known military publication “Jane’s Fighting Ships”! From a photo of about six inches or so length, we scaled up space requirements and clearances for sophisticated missiles and guns. Necessity is the mother of invention, says the old adage. It was never truer than the way Indian navy went about this project.

We had a great time designing the ship. Each day threw up fresh challenges and problems with exciting solutions. The team worked as an inspired group. When the situation demanded we worked sixteen-hours, days on end continuously. The designers were inexperienced but were incredibly committed. The group worked in a fever pitch of self-actualization. The mood was akin to a jugalbandi of Ravi Shankar and Ali Akbar khan or a tabla duo performance of Allah Rakha and Zakhir Hussain or an inspired Miles Davies improvising during a jazz jam session.

I made a serendipitous discovery that we could use the same steam power plant as in the earlier Giri class but achieve higher speed on the larger ship, saving huge investment in machinery development and imports. This along with the lower cost Soviet weapon systems produced a ship at a fraction of the cost compared to other navies. I later joined Mazagon Docks who built the ship and was present during acceptance trials in 1983.

Farewell good ship Godavari. You lived up to your motto “Alert, Aware, Fearless”. You made our nation proud.