Book deep dives to tell the story of India's first nuclear submarine

A new book dives deep to tell the story of India's first nuclear submarine Chakra.

The Soviet-origin K-43 was a Charlie-class nuclear-powered cruise missile submarine operated by the Indian Navy as Chakra. It was built between 1964 and 1967 and was commissioned into the Soviet Navy on 5 November 1967. It later served as INS Chakra in the Indian Navy from 1988 to 1991.

The book S71 INS Chakra – The Pioneer and Her Men is authored by Commodore (Retd) Arun Kumar, who served the submarine arm of the Indian Navy. The book is published by Frontier India Technology.

This submarine is often referred to as Chakra 1.

The induction marked the beginning of the Indian Navy's submarine arm going nuclear powered. Chakra 1 enabled India to kick-start its own nuclear powered and nuclear armed submarine program. As a testimony, the Indian Navy operates SSGN, SSBN and is now building its own SSNs.

The book is a first-hand account of Chakra 1- as Commodore Kumar was part of the commissioning and decommissioning of the crew as the First Lieutenant and Executive Officer, respectively.

"The SSGN enabled the Indian Navy to develop capabilities to base, maintain, and operate nuclear powered submarines. In addition, the Navy also developed an ecosystem for radiation monitoring, safety services and waste management to the international standards," Commodore Kumar states.

Since the author was associated with the submarine from the selection of the crew to the return of the submarine, he has written about the entire gamut of the nuclear submarine operations.

Part one of the coffee table book covers the training of the crew in Vladivostok from 1983 – 1986 in detail. In the second part, Commodore Kumar comprehensively covered the commissioning of Chakra 1 in January 1988 and exploitation of the boat in India until its return to the USSR in January 1991.

"The Chakra 1 operation saw a lot of criticism from the western media, borne out of misinformation and deliberate distortion. They could not stomach a third world country like India operating a nuclear-powered boat. The book shows that India operated the nuclear boat as per international standards, says Joseph P Chacko, the author of the book Foxtrot to Arihant- The story of Indian Navy's submarine Arm.

The book gives deep insights into the men who commanded and operated the nuclear submarine and the mettle they are made of.

The Soviets gave complete control of the nuclear boat to the Indian Naval personnel after the training. The confidence was so high that the submarine travelled from Vladivostok to Visakhapatnam, operated and commanded by the Indian crew.

The Russian crew, called "the specialist", were not on board during the lease.

Commodore Kumar commanded two Kilo class boats INS Sindhuraj, INS Sindhughosh. He also held command of the submarine base INS Virbahu, Submarine School, INS Satavahana and as COMSUB East, commanding the 8th and 11th submarine Squadrons and the 10th Submarine Squadron as Capt SM. He played an important part in the growth of the Arm as The Principal Director of Submarine Acquisition in steering the 30 year SM building Plan at NHQ in his last appointment.