Indo-Pakistani War P-15 Termit

during indo-pakistani war of 1971, indian osa-class boats raided port of karachi in 2 highly successful operations causing severe damage , sinking several ships p-15s, among them destroyer, khaibar. former battle class destroyer, designed anti-aircraft ship. armament might effective against conventional air threats, (mounting 5 × 114mm guns , several 40mm bofors), had little chance against anti-ship missiles.

these raids meant strike karachi , destroy pakistani navy in western pakistan. first action, operation trident, carried out 3 osa class missile boats on night of 5 december [1]. operation trident involved:

ins nipat (lt.-cdr b.n kavina, vrc)
ins nirghat (lt.-cdr i.j sharma, avsm, vrc)
ins veer (lt.-cdr o.p mehta, vrc, nm)

around 20:30, target acquired radar, @ distance of on 40 miles (64 km), , nirghat fired 2 missiles. target destroyer khaibar, sailing @ 20 knots (37 km/h). crew of ship saw bright light in sky, low on water. believing afterburner of fighter aircraft, khaibar opened fire bofors guns, these not effective against such small, fast target. missile struck starboard side @ 22:45, destroying electrical system. 1 of boilers, possibly struck heat charge, exploded. despite thick smoke , fire, khaibar still able engage second missile, again mistaking enemy fighter. missile struck ship 4 minutes after first, destroying , sinking her.

p-20 launcher on osa ii class fast attack craft, wings folded

during action, nipat attacked 2 ships; cargo vessel venus challenger, carrying ammunition saigon, destroyed. escort, destroyer pns shahjahan severely damaged , later scrapped.

veer attacked muhafiz @ 23:05, (she minesweeper had witnessed attacks against khaibar); hit , disintegrated, throwing of crew water before sank.

nipat fired 2 missiles @ port of karachi. first known use of anti-ship missile against land targets. large oil tanks, identified radar, hit first missile, destroying it, while second weapon failed. on following nights there other ship actions. karachi again attacked missiles, while petja-class frigates provided anti-submarine protection osa-class boats.

on night of 8 december, in second operation, operation python, osa-class boat vinash, escorted 2 frigates, fired missiles @ karachi in six-minute action. 1 missile hit oil tank, destroying it. british ship harmattan sunk, panamanian ship gulfstar set on fire. pakistan navy fleet tanker, pns dacca, badly damaged , survived because commanding officer, captain. s.q. raza s.j. p.n., ordered release of steam in pipes prevented fire reaching tanks. though anti-aircraft guns opened fire in response, managed hit greek ship, zoë, moored in port , consequently sank.

in these actions against large ships, p-15 proved effective weapon, devastating warhead. out of eleven missiles fired, 1 malfunctioned, giving 91% success rate. gave every osa fac possibility of striking several targets. big ships, without specialized defence, targets p-15s.