Navy Chief Admiral Devendra Kumar Joshi resigns after third accident in seven months

NEW DELHI: Admiral DK Joshi stepped down from the helm of the Indian Navy hours after a submarine accident off the coast of Mumbai, in the backdrop of growing concerns about a series of mishaps involving warships.

The accident involving the Russian kilo-class submarine INS Sindhuratna Wednesday morning, in which seven sailors have been injured and two are missing, is the second major mishap involving this class of submarines in less than a year. In August last year, 18 sailors had been killed in an accident that sank INS Sindhurakshak. There have been a series of other, relatively minor, incidents involving India’s warships in recent months.

The defence ministry said in a statement that Admiral Joshi was stepping down taking moral responsibility for the “accidents and incidents” in recent months. Vice Admiral R.K. Dhowan will function as chief of naval staff till a replacement is named.

Ties between Admiral Joshi and the senior national security establishment, including the defence ministry, had reportedly soured in recent months over the spate of incidents. While the defence ministry had repeatedly pulled up the Navy over the recent incidents, it had not been pleased with the Navy’s stand that its safety record was not bad compared with other navies. Admiral Joshi himself said in December that Indian Navy’s safety record “was not that bad” compared with its international counterparts.

The defence ministry had taken a more serious stand on the matter publicly. At a conference of Naval commanders, defence minister AK Antony reminded the force of its responsibility to “optimally operate and maintain these assets and hardware” so that “national resources are optimally utilized and not frittered away”.

But the incidents kept occuring at regular intervals, culminating with Wednesday’s submarine incident. In the months between the tragic INS Sindhurakshak accident and Wednesday’s accident involving INS Sindhuratna, at least eight other incidents of varying severeity have been reported. Many of these involved vessels grazing the jetty or the ground, colliding with shipping boats, fire incidents or other material failure.

Admiral (retd) Arun Prakash, a former Chief of Naval Staff, said many of the accidents were being blown out of proportion. “It is unfortunate that so many accidents have happened recently. But if you look at them closely, only two have been serious—the ones involving submarines. The other mishaps are trivial. These things happen in any functioning navy and at any rate is no reflection on a Navy chief. He has set a fine example by resigning,” he said.