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

Mohan Narayan Rao Samant, MVC (1930 – 20 March 2019) was an officer of the

Indian Navy The Indian Navy (IN) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Navy, maritime and Amphibious warfare, amphibious branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. The Chief of the Naval Staff (India), Chief ...

, who was awarded the

Maha Vir Chakra The Maha Vir Chakra (MVC) () is the second highest military decoration in India, after the Param Vir Chakra, and is awarded for acts of conspicuous gallantry in the presence of the enemy, whether on land, at sea or in the air. It replaced the B ...

, India's second-highest war-time gallantry award. Samant played an important role in the

covert operation A covert operation or undercover operation is a military or police operation involving a covert agent or troops acting under an assumed cover to conceal the identity of the party responsible. US law Under US law, the Central Intelligence A ...

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

Bangladesh Liberation War The Bangladesh Liberation War (, ), also known as the Bangladesh War of Independence, was an War, armed conflict sparked by the rise of the Bengali nationalism, Bengali nationalist and self-determination movement in East Pakistan, which res ...

. Samant had also served as the first

commanding officer The commanding officer (CO) or commander, 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 give ...

of the

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

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 The Bangladesh Navy () is the naval warfare branch of the Bangladesh Armed Forces, responsible for the defence of Bangladesh's of maritime territorial area from any external threat, the security of sea ports and exclusive economic zones of Ban ...

Early life

Samant was born in 1930. His domicile was

Pune Pune ( ; , ISO 15919, ISO: ), previously spelled in English as Poona (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1978), is a city in the state of Maharashtra in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau in Western ...

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

Career

In 1969, Samant was appointed by the

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

. 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 East Pakistan was the eastern province of Pakistan between 1955 and 1971, restructured and renamed from the province of East Bengal and covering the territory of the modern country of Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India and Burma, wit ...

. 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

to cutoff logistics and supplies to Pakistani forces in East Pakistan, thereby easing the advance of the

Indian Army The Indian Army (IA) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Land warfare, land-based branch and largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Commander-in-Chief, Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head ...

. 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, then chief of the Indian Navy, and Captain M. K. Roy, then director of India's

Naval Intelligence Military intelligence is a military discipline that uses information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to assist commanders in their decisions. This aim is achieved by providing an assessment of data from a ...

. Damage or complete destruction was inflicted on about 60,000 tonnes of shipping during

Operation Jackpot Operation Jackpot () was a codename for three operations undertaken by the Mukti Bahini in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) against Pakistan forces at the climax of the Bangladesh War of Independence. After the Pakistani Army drove the Bengal ...

, 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 The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

and

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

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) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the air force, air arm of the Indian Armed Forces. Its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial warfare during armed conflicts. It was officially established on 8 Octob ...

. 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

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 Cardiac arrest (also known as sudden cardiac arrest CA is when the heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating. When the heart stops beating, blood cannot properly Circulatory system, circulate around the body and the blood flow to the ...

at the age of 89 on 20 March 2019 at 11.53 AM in the Arogya Nidhi Hospital located in the suburbs of

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

. He was accorded a military funeral.

Maha Vir Chakra

Samant was awarded the

, India's second-highest gallantry award, in 1971. The citation for the

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