PNS/M ''Hangor'' (S-131) (nicknamed: "Shark") was a diesel-electric submarine that served in the Pakistan Navy from 1969 until its

decommissioning Decommissioning is a general term for a formal process to remove something from an active status, and may refer to: Infrastructure * Decommissioned offshore * Decommissioned highway * Greenfield status of former industrial sites * Nuclear decommi ...

in 2006. It is the first submarine to sink an enemy ship after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. ''Hangor'' (S131) was the

lead ship The lead ship, name ship, or class leader is the first of a series or class of ships all constructed according to the same general design. The term is applicable to naval ships and large civilian vessels. Large ships are very complex and may ...

of her class, designed and constructed by France after a long and complicated negotiation which started in 1966. In 1969, ''Hangor'' was commissioned in the Submarine Command (SUBCOM) when she reported back to her home base in Karachi from Paris. ''Hangor'', under the command of Commander Ahmed Tasnim, sank the

Indian Navy The Indian Navy is the maritime branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. The Chief of Naval Staff, a four-star admiral, commands the navy. As a blue-water navy, it operates si ...

's , an anti-submarine frigate, with one

homing torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, su ...

on 9 December 1971 during the western front of the third war with India in 1971. This was the only recorded submarine kill after

until the Falklands War, when the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

's nuclear submarine sank the Argentine Navy cruiser . The strategic impact was even more significant as the Indian navy cancelled "Operation Triumph", the third missile attack, which was to be launched on 10 December.

Acquisition and initial deployment

After the second war with Pakistan in 1965, the

underwent a rapid modernization and expansion, causing the Pakistan Navy's focus to shift towards strengthening their existing Submarine Command (COMSUBS) due to being unable to acquire fighter jets from the

Air Force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an ...

. In 1966, the Ayub administration began the development and acquisition of the from France. France renamed these submarines according to the Pakistan Navy's standards. ''Hangor'' was the

of her class, which included and , all commissioned in 1970. Training of the crew took place in 1968. Notably, ''Hangor''s

officers An officer is a person who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization. The term derives from Old French ''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," f ...

that served in 1971 included: * Commander Ahmed Tasnim, the commanding officer. *

Lieutenant-Commander Lieutenant commander (also hyphenated lieutenant-commander and abbreviated Lt Cdr, LtCdr. or LCDR) is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. The rank is superior to a lieutenant and subordinate to a commander. The corresponding rank i ...

A. U. Khan, second-in-command and the navigation officer *Lieutenant-Commander R. A. Kadri, the electrical officer. *

Lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often ...

Fasih Bokhari Admiral Fasih Bokhari (; 8 March 1942 – 24 November 2020) was a Pakistani admiral who served as the Chief of Naval Staff from 1997 to 1999. He was a well-known pacifist and a prominent political figure as the Chief of Naval Staff from 1997 ...

, the navigation officer. The ship's first war-time deployment was in August 1971, gathering intelligence on the Indian Navy and clearing the

Manora Island Manora ( sd, منهوڙو, ur, ) is a small peninsula that forms a protective barrier between Karachi Harbour to the north and the Arabian Sea to the south. Manora, having a total population of 4,273 local residents (as per 2017 census), was f ...

and Ormara Bay in the coastal areas of Pakistan. ''Hangor'' reported back to base in September 1971 but was again deployed in November 1971. As Indian covert involvement in the

East Pakistan East Pakistan was a Pakistani province established in 1955 by the One Unit Policy, renaming the province as such from East Bengal, which, in modern times, is split between India and Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India and Myanmar, wi ...

grew, the Navy NHQ in

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former c ...

deployed its only (albeit aging) long-range submarine, , under the command of Z.M. Khan, to pick up intelligence and track the aircraft carrier off the

Bay of Bengal The Bay of Bengal is the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean, bounded on the west and northwest by India, on the north by Bangladesh, and on the east by Myanmar and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India. Its southern limit is a line betwee ...

in November 1971. According to Rear-Admiral R. A. Kadri in 1999, the assigned mission was considered quite difficult and dangerous, with the submarine squadron sailing under the assumption that the dangerous nature of this mission meant a great mortal risk to the submarine and her crew.

Service with Pakistan Navy

Western Front of Indo-Pakistani war of 1971

On the midnight of 26 November 1971, ''Hangor'' sailed from its base with a load of

torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, s ...

es to patrol the

Bombay Harbour Mumbai Harbour (also English language, English; Bombay Harbour or Front Bay, Marathi language, Marathi''Mumba'ī bandar''), is a natural deep-water harbour in the southern portion of the Ulhas River estuary. The narrower, northern part of the es ...

. Soon after deployment, defects were noted in the ship's computers but were soon repaired as the patrol continued. Initially, there were two contacts that were picked up by the computers and were identified as warships, ranging . The ship could not pursue its targets due to the warships' speed and the distance between them. ''Hangor''s crew did, however, manage to predict the warships' movements. At midnight of 2/3 December 1971, ''Hangor'', remaining submerged in a northerly direction, investigated radio transmissions intercepted from the warships belonging to the

Western Naval Command The Western Naval Command is one of the three command–level formations of the Indian Navy. It is headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. As the senior–most of the three formations, the command is responsible for the all naval forces in the A ...

of the Indian Navy that would launch a first missile attack on Karachi. ''Hangor'' was passed over by the large

Squadron Squadron may refer to: * Squadron (army), a military unit of cavalry, tanks, or equivalent subdivided into troops or tank companies * Squadron (aviation), a military unit that consists of three or four flights with a total of 12 to 24 aircraft, ...

of the

Western fleet The Red Sea Fleet Command or officially Western Fleet (WF), also called ''" West Coast Fleet ",'' is a regional naval fleet and one of the two main formations of the Saudi Arabian Navy, with headquarters at Royal Naval Base at Jeddah, Western Pr ...

of the Indian Navy. The cruiser passed directly over the submarine. All transmissions and computers were shut down to avoid the detection by the Indian fleet, and once passed over Cmdr. Tasnim broke the radio silence and communicated with the Navy NHQ to warn of the attack, but this message was intercepted. On 3 December 1971, the Indian Navy dispatched two ASW frigates, and , under the command of Captain M. N. Mulla. On 4 December 1971, Navy NHQ communicated with ''Hangor'', giving her war codes to attack the Indian Navy's armada. On 9/10 December 1971, at 19:00, ''Hangor'' detected the possible signature of the two Indian frigates dispatched in response to the intercepted communications. Later, around midnight, Cdr. Tasnim ordered ''Hangor'' to dive deep to carry out a blind (sonar only) approach as the torpedo team concentrated on tracking the two targets as they gradually came within firing range. At 19:57, the submarine fired a down-the-throat shot with a

at ''Kirpan'' from a depth of . The torpedo was tracked, but no explosion was heard. It was then speculated that the torpedo had missed its target, and the moment ''Kirpan'' sensed the torpedo, the captain of ''Kirpan'' realized that the ship was under attack turned away at maximum speed from the scene. ''Hangor'' had struck first, but had failed to hit hard. As ''Kirpan'' fled the battle, ''Khukri'', to its south, knowing the direction from which the torpedo had come, increased speed and came straight for an attack on ''Hangor''. As ''Khukri'' came in for an attack, ''Hangor''s attack team shifted targeting to ''Khukri'', quickly firing a second torpedo. The second torpedo was fired at the approaching ''Khukri'' and was followed by a heavy and loud explosion as the torpedo struck the magazine of ''Khukri''. Shortly before the impact, ''Hangor'' detected the direct orders of Captain Mulla ordering evasive manoeuvres. INS ''Kirpan'' moved into the scene, hoping to engage ''Hangor'' with a hasty dropping of the depth charge, but a third torpedo locked onto ''Kirpan''s tail, followed by a loud explosion. ''Kirpan'' was not sunk but there was a substantial amount of physical damage that led ''Kirpan'' to flee the battle scene by turning west towards deep waters. ''Hangor'' moved into searching for survivors in a hope to rescue but ''Khukri'' sank in matter of two minutes before ''Hangor'' could reach it. The casualty roster listed 18 officers and 176 sailors aboard ''Khukri'' and it remains as the Indian Navy's most costly wartime casualty in terms of lives lost. ''Kirpan'' returned to the scene next day to execute the rescue operation along with INS ''Katchal'' but left without success. After this incident, there was a massive

search and destroy Search and destroy, seek and destroy, or simply S&D is a military strategy best known for its employment in the Malayan Emergency and the Vietnam War. The strategy consists of inserting ground forces into hostile territory, ''search''ing out ...

mission led by the Western Fleet, indiscriminately dropping depth charges hoping to sink ''Hangor''. Cdr. Tasnim had ''Hangor'' submerged for almost a week, returning to its base with depleted lead batteries during the night of 13 December 1971. According to his personal admission in 2001, Tasnim maintained: "''An extensive air search combined with surface ships made our life miserable but with the intelligent evasive action we managed to survive these attacks and arrived in Karachi safely after the ceasefire''."

Legacy

Decommissioning and preservation

Over the successive years, it served in the Navy with distinction until decommissioning in 2006. In a ceremony on 2 January 2006, ''Hangor'' was decommissioned from the Pakistan Navy; it was soon converted to serve as a museum ship at

Pakistan Maritime Museum Pakistan Maritime Museum ( ur, پاک بحریہ عجائب گھر ) is a maritime museum and park situated near PNS Karsaz on Habib Ibrahim Rehmatullah Road (Karsaz Road) in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. The main museum building is located ...

. In its memory, Pakistan remembers and celebrates 9 December as Hangor Day.

Honors and awards

In recognition of her service, ''Hangor'' was decorated with multiple gallantry and wartime awards and honors. She is regarded in the Navy as having the highest number of operational gallantry awards given to a single warship of Pakistan Navy.

In popular culture

''Hangor'' has been featured in a number of Pakistani dramas and films. An example of this is the film '' Hangor S-131''.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hangor (S131) 1968 ships Ships built in France Hangor-class submarines (Daphné-class) Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 Museum ships in Pakistan