Vagli dives into history, to resurrect as Museum

C Shivakumar
Chennai:
After 36 glorious years of service, INS Vagli, the oldest operational submarine of the Indian Navy that was decommissioned at Visakhapatnam on December 2010, is set to become an added tourist attraction in Mamallapuram.
The submarine, arrived at Chennai Port from Visakhapatnam on Monday at 9 am and is expected to be handed over to state government during a official ceremony in the first or second week next month to be converted into Tamil Nadu Maritime Heritage Museum
Port officials told Express on Monday that the submarine is likely to be stationed in harbour for the next six months before being transferred to the 30 acres of land abutting the beach near the UNESCO declared World Heritage site, “Shore Temple”.
Sources said that the government has already sanctioned Rs 10 crore towards the cost of transferring and installing the submarine from Visakhapatnam to Mamallapuram and installing it on the platform at selected site.
Sources said the submarine which will be converted into museum will also have facilities such as marine technology, food courts, audio-visual studio, souvenir shops, aquarium, topilet complex and it will be planned and executed in a phased manner on build own operate and transfer model.
The submarine, a Foxtrot class submarine Type 641B, was commissioned by then Lieutenant Commander Lalit Talwar on August 10, 1974 at Riga, Latvia, in the erstwhile Soviet Union. She was the first of the 'Vela' class of submarines to be commissioned into the Indian Navy and has completed 36 years of dedicated service under 23 Commanding Officers and is probably the oldest submarine of its class in the world and definitely the oldest unit in the Indian Navy.
The submarine has in her operational life participated in almost all major tactical exercises off both the sea boards and elsewhere. The first submarine to be based at Mumbai, Vagli later shifted base port to Visakhapatnam in 1993. Despite being the oldest unit in commission in the Indian Navy, Vagli continued to serve with distinction. Even in its last Operational cycle she completed 137 days at sea and 1232 dived hours. That the Indian Navy was able to operate a boat of this vintage so effectively also bears testimony to the dedication and skills of generations of maintainers and operator.

BOX:

--- INS Vagli is a Foxtrot class submarine Type 641B.
--- The Foxtrot, the Soviet Navy's largest conventional submarine, could travel 16,000 nautical miles before having to refuel.
--- The submarine is capable of performing underwater operations continuously for four days, after which they had to rise to 7 metres (snorkel depth) to change the air and charge the batteries.
--- Three diesel engines generate power for electric motors that drive the 3 propeller.
--- The Foxtrot operated at a depth of 250 meters, could dive to over 300 meters and was capable of reaching 16.8 knots.
--- A total of 74 Foxtrots were built begining in 1958 for both the Soviet Navy and others countries including India, Libya, Cuba and Poland.
--- Historically there were more than ten Foxtrots in the Baltic Fleet (numerically the largest fleet in the Russian navy); today there are none.
INS Vagli was commissioned by then Lieutenant Commander Lalit Talwar on August 10, 1974 at Riga, Latvia, in the erstwhile Soviet Union.
--- It was the first of the 'Vela' class of submarines to be commissioned into the Indian Navy and has completed 36 years of service under 23 Commanding Officers.
--- It is the oldest submarine of its class in the world and the oldest unit in the Indian Navy.

--- The first submarine to be based at Mumbai, Vagli later shifted base port to Visakhapatnam in 1993.