SeaGull May 16 - July 161

Vol XX No 85May 2016 - July 2016

4

Letters to the Editor

5

Riding Two Horses At Once :

Wither The Indian Navy?

By

Geoffrey Till

7

The Frigate La Lune,

Historic treasure and a test lab

for submarine archaeology.

11

Memorial for INS Vikrant

9

United by Oceans – The

International Fleet Review 2016

By

Cmde Anil Jai Singh (Retd)

12

Annual Wreath Laying at

Seafarers' Memorial - Pune

By

Cdr Mukund Yeolekar (Retd)

13

“Maritime Co-Operation and

Building Bridges between Maritime

Neighbours and Partners”

By

Renfrew Christie

16

China Has Stolen a March Over

India in Naval Capability

By

The Shipping Observer Bureau

23

'Maritime Security and You'

A Talk by VAdm P Chauhan (Retd)

By

Cdr Sati Taneja (Retd)

24

Professor Diana L Eck speaks

on the Ganges, Vasant J Sheth

Memorial Lecture 2016

26

Intelligent Ship

By

The Watchkeeper

28

Indian Women Make History

International Women's Day 2016

B y

Vice Admiral MP Awati (Retd)

22

French Regiment is Back

in India After 232 years

21ndIMF's 22 Anniversary

By

Cmde Ajay Chitnis (Retd)

43

Nuclear Powered Submarine INS Chakra and Destroyer

INS Mumbai with MiG-29K aircraft, during the

International Fleet Review 2016.

18

Providing Sea Legs to

Prospective Naval Officers

By

Cmde KP Mathew (Retd)

30

Letter from London

By

Paul Ridgway

33

Friends and Foes

By

Cdr MN Yeolekar (Retd)

35

The Canal that Will Sink

Singapore's Maritime-trade

Dominance

By

Jonathan Lim

37

SIMA's Annual Exhibition

of Seascapes

By

Cmde R Vir

40

Saving Lives

By

Qaneez Sukhrani

42

Nato Strengthens its Anti-Submarine

Skills Exercise Dynamic Manta

By

Paul Ridgway

Mumbai Branch of IMFCommodore Ajay H. Chitnis (Retd)

Vice President, Indian Maritime FoundationH-403, Daffodil, Jalvayu Vihar,

Kharghar, Navi Mumbai - 410 210Mob: 98332 65913. e-mail : ajay.h.chitnis@gmail.com

Delhi Branch of IMFCommodore Anil Jai Singh (Retd)

Vice President, Indian Maritime FoundationH.No. 25, Arun Vihar, Sector 28, Noida – 201303, UP

Tel: 0120 – 4222254, Mob: 9560155188ajaisingh59@gmail.com

Chennai Branch of IMF Rear Admiral K R Srinivasan (Retd)

Vice President, Indian Maritime Foundation Tel.: 044 - 24616340 (indmarfcb@gmail.com)Sai Grace, 5th floor, No.6, Dr Manjund Rao Colony,

Mylapore, Chennai 600 004.

Honorary CorrespondentsAuckland,NZ : Mr S.AmirapuBangalore : Mr Ramesh NarayanHouston, USA : Mr Atul VirLondon : Mr Paul RidgwayMiami, USA : Mr Rahul VirNoida : Capt Satbir BakshiSingapore : Capt R ChoudhuriSydney, Australia : Mrs Jennifer KnoxTokyo : Major General Hiroshi Shimizu (Retd)Toulon, France : Rear Adm (Retd) Valere Ortoli

Website : www.indianmaritimefoundation.orge-mail : President: gitavir@gmail.comIMF : indmarfdn50@gmail.com SeaGull Editor : ac_dixit@yahoo.com

SeaGull is Published by The Indian Maritime Foundation : 1/402, Gera Gardens, Koregaon Road, Pune- 411001. Tel. : 91-20-26132316.

Designed & Printed by - www.ornateindia.co.in

The Sea Our Strength

The Indian Maritime Foundation - Council MembersCmde Rajan Vir (Tel.: 26132316 / 9823655692) President, Overall Development, Treasurer, Marine Art, Lectures in Pune University, International Coastal Cleanup, Awards Committee Underwater Technology, Museum & Library Committee, MRC Committee gitavir@gmail.comCapt. R Hajarnavis (Tel.: 25650016 / 9850094294) Senior Vice President, I/C Advertisements rdhajarnavis@gmail.comCdr Sati Taneja (Tel.: 26852394 / 9823570727) Vice President, Awards Committee, Seminars, SeaGull. satitaneja@gmail.comMrs Nalini Kunte (Tel.: 26163927 / 9850314665) Secretary, Public Relations, Membership, Lectures in Schools & Colleges, SIMA Committee, Museum & Library Committee anilkunte89@gmail.comMr Yezdi Batliwala (Tel: 9975264501/26834637) Advertisements, Underwater Technology, International Coastal Cleanup, Awards Committee proyez.bats@gmail.com Cmde Ajay H. Chitnis (Tel.: 26854784 / 9833265913) Joint Editor – SeaGull, Website Administrator. MRC Committee ajay.h.chitnis@gmail.com Capt. S Choudhuri (Tel.: 7757996427) Associate Editor Seagull. seawolfe641@hotmail.com Mrs Naina Delvis (Tel.: 26830171) Consultant Art Work nainadelvis@yahoo.comCapt. A.C. Dixit (Tel.: 25656726 / 9890488242) Editor, SeaGull, Lectures in Pune University ac_dixit@yahoo.comCapt. Ashok Gole (Tel.: 25436528 / 9822010105) IMF Memberships ashgole@dataone.inMrs. Poonam Gulati (Tel.: 26353104 / 9975518653) Museum & Library committee reggiegulati@gmail.comLt.Cdr. Ulhas Gupte (66747017 / 9604255988) Underwater Technology, Lectures in Pune University cdrgupte@gmail.comCapt. Sunand Kanetkar (Tel: 26854741, 9833370041) Lectures in Pune University, Seminars, SeaGull Editorial Committee sunandk2004@gmail.comCmde PK Malhotra (Tel:26852841, 9823172737) ICC Coordinator, India North, Museum & Library Committee. MRC Committee promptcleanup@gmail.comMrs. Shobhana Mirchandani (Tel.: 26159164/9011079228) Public Relations, Lectures Schools/CollegesCapt. Rabi Mishra (Tel.: 26165471 / 9850007753) I/C Memberships & Lists, Museum & Library Committee, Web-Site Liaison, Seafarers Memorial & Seamen's War Memorial, SeaGull Advertisements magellan56@gmail.comCapt Indrajit Roy (Tel: 27278485, 7719889353) Seagull Editorial Committee, Seminars. indrajit.roy62@gmail.comMrs Qaneez Sukhrani (Tel.:9822056782,8975856782) Museum and Library Committee, Media PR. qaneez.sukhrani@gmail.com Cdr M.N. Yeolekar (Tel: 9923343150 / 9969686322) Lectures in Pune University, SeaGull Editorial Committee, Museum & Library Committee mnyeolekar@gmail.com

Views expressed in this journal are those of the authors only. The contents may be reproduced with written permission of the editor.

2 SeaGull May 16 - July 16

Editorial

NOTICE BOARD

IMF celebrated 22 years of its founding on the 17th January 2016 in Pune. The occasion was marked by a lecture by the chief guest VAdm HCS Bisht, Director General of the Indian Coast Guard, followed by the annual dinner.

IMF has arranged a series of three lectures by VAdm Pradeep Chauhan (Retd) on Maritime Security. The first lecture of the series was held on 23rd February and the second on 19th April 2016, at the Boat Club in Pune. Both lectures were highly appreciated by the audience and we look forward to the third and final lecture in May/June 2016.

We are giving special coverage to an important event - the International Fleet Review held at Visakhapatnam in February 2016. It was a spectacular show with participation of over 50 countries and 70 warships. In the words of Mr Geoffrey Till whose article appears in this issue, 'It was naval diplomacy in action – a mixture of political theater and strategic messaging'.

Reforms in Indian shipping are moving at a fast pace. These include revision of the Indian Merchant Shipping Act, relaxing cabotage law and development of inland waterways.

It has been reported that Indian seafarers are facing serious difficulties in joining ships in foreign countries where entry visa is required. Indian seafarers are unable to join ships at the ports in Europe, Australia and New Zealand, where visa requirement is applicable to Indian seamen. Considering the way today's ship operations are run, the seafarers get barely enough time to pack their bags when they get their joining orders. Visa process takes a minimum of seven working days. By the time the visa comes through the ship would have already sailed. In some countries Indian seamen are not allowed to join at all, for example Russia - despite our good relations with that country. As a result, some ship owners have started looking to other nationalities for manning their ships and it is feared that this may result in irreparable loss of jobs if Indian seafarers lose their hard earned advantage in this highly competitive industry.

Unfortunately, Indian authorities are equally inconsiderate towards foreign seamen when it comes to entry/exit procedures. Denial of shore leave in Indian ports in the name of security (as also in many foreign ports) has robbed the seafarers of the simple pleasure of stepping ashore after a long voyage.

We hope that these issues will be addressed while implementing the 'Ease of doing business' theme proposed by the government.

3

nd2 May 16 - IMF's Quarterly Get Together at Pune. Hotel Pancharatna

th 5 May 16 - Joint Seminar; WNC, NI and IMF. Asvini Auditorium, Mumbai

th12 May 16 - Annual Shipbuilding Executive Summit, Mumbai.

Sponsored by Siemens and IMF

May/June 16 - Lecture 3 on "Maritime Security and You"

By VAdm P Chauhan (Retd), Boat Club, Pune th

12 June 16 - SIMA workshop at INS Shivaji, Lonavala.

Editorial

SeaGull May 16 - July 16

Letters

Sir,Thank you so much for sending me the March copy of Seagull.How much we all miss Bill- what an amazing man he was and how much he and Sally are loved by the whole community.As I think I have told you when we met at Bill and Sally's, I think Seagull is an outstanding publication. The layout and content are excellent.But, as a journalist, the thing that impresses me most is the fact that your articles appeal to people who have never been to sea as much as those who have had a maritime career.It is an almost impossible balance to achieve but Seagull succeeds to that seamlessly in every issue.Many congratulations.Warm good wishes.Elisabeth GledhillCirencester, Gloucestershire, UK

4

A Tribute to SeaGull and Bill Davidson

Autonomous ShipsSir,Many years ago, at a time when crew members on board ship were being heavily reduced , there was a coincidental management drive towards statistical shipboard safety, resulting in the uncomfortable thought that fewer people on board meant fewer people to suffer accidental loss.Yet another aim was that fewer decision-makers on board would result in a reduction of incidents and accident.About the same time we had the lighter-aboard-ship exercise, where ocean staff delivered a barge to a port anchorage, allowing the receivers or loaders to take charge of port activities while the ship continued on its productive way elsewhere.This was taken a step further with the hard-locked pusher ship, propelling and navigating medium-

sized tank sections as articulated ocean-going tankers.Conversely, even more years ago we had a fleet of general cargo ships trading on the Atlantic with all navigation, engineering, cargo and port agency, crewing, storing, communications et al being carried out by on-board staff, to the extent that only disciplines left on shore were those of the bank manager and the defence attorney.Given such experiences of the past, it is wonderful to hear of a ship of the future autonomously going about its commercial merchant ship operations and allowing seafarers to concentrate less on looking out of the bridge windows and more into the wonders of the flat screen. Perhaps that change of vista will be accompanied by fewer incidents and accidents on board, especially those horrible tales of highly trained and certified competent officers and their juniors ignoring hazards resulting in deaths in confined spaces.Returning to experiences of the past, and in relation to the recent Seaways articles, two questions stand out to me. One is whether it was ever correct for deck officers to wear boiler suits? The second is whether anybody has read the little book 'Fair Air in Dark Places?' In retirement after 60 years in merchant service including long service as a safety lecturer, I have come to the sad realization that no matter what effort was exercised in teaching, testing and certificating senior and junior sea staff, it appears that incidents and accidents continue unabated.Will they be ever so?Olaf Olsen AFNI Inverness, ScotlandCourtesy: Seaways, The Journal of The Nautical Institute, www.nautinst.org

SeaGull May 16 - July 16

Letters to the Editor