+ghostrider883 526 Posted September 24, 2008 (edited) Click As the survivors swam away from the sinking ship, some of them looked back and saw the ship going down, and the sea closing over the bridge. And they saw Captain M.N Mullah seated in the captain's chair on the bridge, as the ship went down. Keeping him company was Lt.Cmdr Joginder Krishen Suri. Captain Mahendra Nath Mullah, aged 45,in the highest tradition of the Navy, preferred to stand by his 18 officers and 176 sailors who went down with the Khukri. When Captain Mullah realized that the ship could not be saved, he gave orders to abandon ship and then directed his second in command, Lt.Cmdr Suri to cast life boats, rafts and buoys into the sea. Many of the younger sailors preferred the false security of the sturdy steel deck under their feet to the unknown dangers of the black sea. The Captain himself pushed them into safe waters, directing them to swim away. When one of them offered the Captain a lifejacket, he brushed him away with the words, “Go on, save yourself, do not worry about me." There was no confusion and no panic due to the Captain's calm transmitting itself to his men. Six officers and sixty-one sailors were the sole survivors left to tell his heroic story. There's a book written on the incident narrating what happened on that fateful day. Titled "Sinking of the INS Khukri : Survivors Stories". Very Touching. Its the story of a gallant crew & captain whose dedication and sense of duty put saving his men's life before his own. http://www.lancerpublishers.com/catalog/pr...products_id=189 Edited September 24, 2008 by ghostrider883 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MigBuster 2,884 Posted September 24, 2008 (edited) Nice one - thanks Never really been into the naval side of things but recently read this Didnt know anything about them really - other than they both got sunk - but it does have a good historical account of the battle and the chase after the Bismarck to stop it getting to France. Also details the expedition to find both wrecks 1 of the 3 survivors from HMS Hood was still alive at the time of writing and went along to find the Hoods remains. Edited September 24, 2008 by MigBuster Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
+Dave 2,322 Posted September 24, 2008 Ghost was telling me about this last night and I encouraged him to post it. A truly inspiring story of bravery. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
+ghostrider883 526 Posted September 25, 2008 (edited) A truly inspiring story of bravery. It truly is. Something from which we can all learn from. Some photographs that I took of the memorial dedicated to INS Khukri: http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/NAVY/Galleri...morials/Khukri/ The Khukri should not have been sunk. That fateful evening, an Indian Navy Sea King Mk.42 was supporting the two frigates in anti-sub operations. In the evening, the Sea King was running low on fuel and had to return to base. It was supposed to be replaced on station by another Sea King, which could not take off due to a technical malfunction. When the Sea King was around, the PN sub Hangor not even dared to attack.But when the Sea King left, that was the oppurtunity Hangor was looking for. Edited September 25, 2008 by ghostrider883 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
