Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

Mohan Narayan Rao Samant, MVC (1930 – 20 March 2019) was an officer of the Indian Navy, who was awarded with the Maha Vir Chakra, India's second-highest war-time gallantry award. Samant played an important role in the

covert operation A covert operation is a military operation intended to conceal the identity of (or allow plausible deniability by) the party that instigated the operation. Covert operations should not be confused with clandestine operations, which are performe ...

called Naval Commando Operation X, which was instituted in 1971 during the

Bangladesh Liberation War The Bangladesh Liberation War ( bn, মুক্তিযুদ্ধ, , also known as the Bangladesh War of Independence, or simply the Liberation War in Bangladesh) was a revolution and War, armed conflict sparked by the rise of the Benga ...

. Samant had also served as the first

commanding officer The commanding officer (CO) or sometimes, if the incumbent is a general officer, commanding general (CG), is the officer in command of a military unit. The commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually given wide latitu ...

of the

submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...

INS ''Karanj'' after being appointed to that post in 1969. After the 1971 war ended, he became the first temporary Chief of Naval Staff of the newly-created Bangladesh Navy.

Early life

Samant was born in 1930. His domicile was Pune,

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

Career

In 1969, Samant was appointed by the Indian Navy as the commissioning Commanding Officer of the submarine '' INS Karanj''. In 1971, he became an officer attached to the

Eastern Naval Command The Eastern Naval Command is one of the three command-level formations of the Indian Navy. It is headquartered in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. The command is responsible for the all naval forces in the Bay of Bengal and parts of the Indian Ocea ...

of the Indian Navy. During this tenure, his involvement in covert operations started. In April 1971, before the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 started, the Naval Commando Operations (X) began training more than 400 Bengali college students and eight submariners as marine-warfare soldiers to carry out covert operations inside the erstwhile East Pakistan. The soldiers trained to swim with

limpet mine A limpet mine is a type of naval mine attached to a target by magnets. It is so named because of its superficial similarity to the shape of the limpet, a type of sea snail that clings tightly to rocks or other hard surfaces. A swimmer or diver m ...

s and use them to destroy Pakistani shipping. Samant was involved in this training process, being the Staff Officer, G1 of the Naval Commando Operations (X).

Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971

Operation X

Operation X was a covert operation run by the Indian Navy during the

of 1971. It involved attacking the vulnerable maritime shipping associated with East Pakistan to cutoff logistics and supplies to Pakistani forces in East Pakistan, thereby easing the advance of the Indian Army. The operation involved the marine-warfare soldiers trained by Samant and his colleagues preceding the War. Only three Naval officers and the Indian Prime Minister had the full knowledge of the operation. Commander Samant (who later became a Captain) was one of them and was responsible for the field execution of Operation X. The other two officers were Admiral

SM Nanda Admiral Sardarilal Mathradas 'Charles' Nanda (Punjabi: ), PVSM, AVSM (10 October 1915 – 11 May 2009) was an Indian Navy admiral who served as the 7th Chief of the Naval Staff from 1 March 1970 until 28 February 1973. He led the Indian Na ...

, then chief of the Indian Navy, and Captain M. K. Roy, then director of India's Naval Intelligence. Damage or complete destruction was inflicted on about 60,000 tonnes of shipping during Operation Jackpot, which was executed by 176 soldiers under the leadership of Samant. Overall, the operation resulted in around 100,000 tonnes of logistical and supply shipping being sunk or damaged; the operation emerged as the largest covert maritime operation in history, being bigger than those which were undertaken during the Vietnam War and World War II.

Other engagements

Captain Samant led an attack involving three gunboats on Pakistani ships on the Pussur River during the period between 7–10 December 1971. Two of the boats were lost to friendly fire from the

Indian Air Force The Indian Air Force (IAF) is the air arm of the Indian Armed Forces. Its complement of personnel and aircraft assets ranks third amongst the air forces of the world. Its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial w ...

. Samant rescued survivors and continued the attack.

First Chief of Bangladesh Navy

Samant subsequently became the first temporary Chief of Naval Staff of the newly created Bangladesh Navy and was awarded the 'Friend of Liberation war' honour. He remained chief till early 1972 when he was succeeded by Nurul Huq.

Later life and death

Samant retired on 22 July 1974. He died after a cardiac arrest at the age of 89 on 20 March 2019 at 11.53 AM in the Arogya Nidhi Hospital located in the suburbs of Mumbai. He was accorded a military funeral.

Maha Vir Chakra

Samant was awarded the Maha Vir Chakra, India's second-highest gallantry award, in 1971. The citation for the Maha Vir Chakra reads as follows:

Books

Samant has co-authored the book '' Operation X: The Untold Story of India's Covert Naval War in East Pakistan'' with Sandeep Unnithan.

References

{{Authority control 1930 births 2019 deaths People from Kangra district People of the Bangladesh Liberation War Recipients of the Maha Vir Chakra Indian Navy officers