Blast On Indian Navy’s Frontline Destroyer Docked At Mumbai Kills 3

An explosion on board a frontline Indian Navy warship INS Ranvir on January 18 killed three Naval personnel. Another 11 were reportedly wounded in the mishap which occurred about 4:30 pm at the Naval Dockyard in Mumbai about 4:30 pm.  

The explosion occurred in an internal compartment onboard INS Ranvir, a Navy statement declared, without mentioning the probable cause of the explosion.  

“The ship’s crew responded immediately and quickly brought the situation under control. No major material damage has been reported,” the statement added. The injured are being treated at the naval hospital, INS Ashwini.  

INS Ranvir is the fourth of the five Rajput class destroyers in the Indian Navy. It was commissioned in October 1986. This destroyer’s pennant number is D 54 and its home port is Visakhapatnam.  

“INS Ranvir was on cross coast operational deployment from the Eastern Naval Command since November 2021 and was due to return to base port shortly. A Board of Inquiry has been ordered to investigate into the cause (of the explosion),” the Navy statement elaborated.  

INS Ranvir is a heavily armed warship, equipped with surface-to-air and surface-to-surface missiles and anti-submarine warfare weaponry. It is one of the warships commanded by the serving Navy Chief, Admiral R Hari Kumar.  

This is the second major incident on board a frontline asset of the Indian Navy at Mumbai’s Navy Dockyard. In August 2013, a catastrophic explosion in a Kilo class submarine INS Sindhurakshak killed 18 personnel and wrecked the submarine. A series of accidents involving naval ships following the disastrous explosion in this submarine led to the resignation of the then Navy Chief, Admiral DK Joshi in February 2014.  

Vishal Thapar

BW Reporters Group Editorial Head for BW’s Defence, Security & Police