On Friday, there were speculations about the cause of its sinking. One theory floating around in the naval circles was about the vessel’s seals on the two propeller shafts coming off.
These seals were on the exterior and interior points of the shafts leading from the engine room to ‘aft’ portion of the ship, through two pipes called ‘conduits.’ Their failure caused sea water of the Bay of Bengal entering the tail-end portion of vessel and causing it to first, ‘list’ or tilt on one side, and then begin sinking at about 6:30 PM.
Former fleet commander of the Western Naval Fleet, Vice Admiral Pradeep Chauhan endorses this line of thinking, with a cautionary note. He said: ‘The seals are made of rubber housed in metallic socket. They can come off.’ Despite saying that, he advised that the speculations should not take precedence and instead wait for the navy’s own Board of Inquiry.
Meanwhile, the navy launched a full scale Search and Rescue (SAR) operation for the four personnel reported missing as the boat sank 8:00 PM on Thursday evening. ‘Nine ships of the Eastern Fleet and a few aircraft including Boeing P8I, Dorniers, Sea King 42C and Chetak helicopters have been deployed through the night to search for the missing personnel,’ a navy hand-out meant for the media, stated.
While 29 persons were on board TRV 72 while sailing, after completion of an exercise, one sailor, Petty Officer Mechanical Engineer James Joseph lost his life during the rescue operation. And four other naval personnel (one officer and three sailors) are still reported missing. Twenty four crew and passengers have been rescued safely by the Search and Rescue (SAR) ships that included DRDO scientists and navy’s own. Indian navy had three ships of the same class. One of them has been decommissioned in 2004; just another is left now.
‘The TRV is an auxiliary vessel, which is used to recover practice torpedoes fired by fleet ships and submarines. The ship that sank was 23 metres long and 6.5 metres at the beam. It was built by Goa Shipyard Limited in 1983, and has served the navy for the last thirty one years,’ the press release stated.
These seals were on the exterior and interior points of the shafts leading from the engine room to ‘aft’ portion of the ship, through two pipes called ‘conduits.’ Their failure caused sea water of the Bay of Bengal entering the tail-end portion of vessel and causing it to first, ‘list’ or tilt on one side, and then begin sinking at about 6:30 PM.
Former fleet commander of the Western Naval Fleet, Vice Admiral Pradeep Chauhan endorses this line of thinking, with a cautionary note. He said: ‘The seals are made of rubber housed in metallic socket. They can come off.’ Despite saying that, he advised that the speculations should not take precedence and instead wait for the navy’s own Board of Inquiry.
Meanwhile, the navy launched a full scale Search and Rescue (SAR) operation for the four personnel reported missing as the boat sank 8:00 PM on Thursday evening. ‘Nine ships of the Eastern Fleet and a few aircraft including Boeing P8I, Dorniers, Sea King 42C and Chetak helicopters have been deployed through the night to search for the missing personnel,’ a navy hand-out meant for the media, stated.
While 29 persons were on board TRV 72 while sailing, after completion of an exercise, one sailor, Petty Officer Mechanical Engineer James Joseph lost his life during the rescue operation. And four other naval personnel (one officer and three sailors) are still reported missing. Twenty four crew and passengers have been rescued safely by the Search and Rescue (SAR) ships that included DRDO scientists and navy’s own. Indian navy had three ships of the same class. One of them has been decommissioned in 2004; just another is left now.
‘The TRV is an auxiliary vessel, which is used to recover practice torpedoes fired by fleet ships and submarines. The ship that sank was 23 metres long and 6.5 metres at the beam. It was built by Goa Shipyard Limited in 1983, and has served the navy for the last thirty one years,’ the press release stated.