{{pp|small=yes}} {{short description|Naval Operation In Indo-Pakistani War Of 1965}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2025}} {{infobox military conflict | conflict = Operation Dwarka | partof = the naval conflict of the India–Pakistan war of 1965 | image = | caption = | date = 7–8 September 1965 | place = Dwarka, Jamnagar district, Gujarat, India | coordinates = {{coord|22.23|68.97|type:event|display=inline}} | map_type = India | map_size = | map_caption = | map_label = Dwarka | territory = | combatant1 = {{flag|Pakistan}} | combatant2 = {{flag|India}} | commander1 = {{Flagicon image|Naval Jack of Pakistan.svg}} Commodore S. M. Anwar | commander2 = {{Flagicon image|Naval Ensign of India.svg}} Rear Admiral B. A. Samson | units1 = {{Flagicon image|Naval Jack of Pakistan.svg}} Pakistan Navy * 25th Destroyer Squadron | units2 = {{Navy|IND}} | strength1 = 1 light cruiser<br /><small>''({{ship|PNS|Babur|1956|6}})''</small><br />6 destroyers<br /><small>''({{ship|PNS|Khaibar|1956|6}}, {{ship|PNS|Badr|1957|6}}, PNS Jahangir, {{ship|PNS|Shah Jahan|DD-962|6}}, {{ship|PNS|Alamgir|1958|6}}, PNS Tippu Sultan)''</small><br />1 submarine<br /><small>(''PNS Ghazi'')</small> | strength2 = Unknown<br /> }} {{Campaignbox Indo-Pakistani War of 1965}} {{Campaignbox Indo-Pakistani Wars}}
'''Operation Dwarka''' was a naval operation by the Pakistan Navy to attack the Indian coastal town of Dwarka on 7 and 8 September 1965. This instance was the first engagement by the Pakistan Navy in any of the India–Pakistan wars.{{efn|1=The navy was formed in 1947 with the nation's independence from Great Britain, and fighting in the First India–Pakistan War was restricted to land and aerial combat missions.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Read|first1=Anthony|last2=Fisher|first2=David|title=The Proudest Day: India's Long Road to Independence|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company|isbn=9780393318982|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q9ebuSG64dkC&pg=PA474|page=474|date=July 1999}}</ref>|name=Dawn news}}
As the India–Pakistan war of 1965 broke out between India and Pakistan over Kashmir, the armies and air forces of both nations were involved in intense fighting in the regions of Punjab and Kashmir. To relieve pressure on the southern front, Pakistan decided to send its navy to launch a strike on the Indian coast. The primary objective of the attack ostensibly was to destroy the radar station at Dwarka which was believed by Pakistani naval intelligence to have a Huff-Duff beacon to guide Indian bombers.<ref name="MohanChopra2005">{{cite book|last1=Mohan|first1=P. V. S. Jagan|last2=Chopra|first2=Samir|title=The India-Pakistan air war of 1965|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FAhuAAAAMAAJ|date=May 2005|publisher=Manohar|isbn=978-81-7304-641-4|page=157}}</ref> Pakistani high command also hoped to divert the operations of the Indian Air Force away from the north.
Many Pakistani sources describe the operation as at least partially successful, while many Indian ones dispute this.<ref name="Hiranandani, 2000a" />
==Operation== On the night of 7 September, the Pakistan Navy launched its assault on Western Indian shores. Dwarka was chosen for its proximity {{nowrap|{{cvt|200|km}}}} from the Karachi Port, its relatively weak defences and historical political prominence. The plan called for a fleet of seven naval vessels to shell the town of Dwarka. The attack was aimed at luring the heavy ships anchored in Mumbai into attacking the Pakistani ships to enable the submarine PNS ''Ghazi'' lurking in the Arabian Sea to engage and sink the Indian ships. Accordingly, a fleet of seven ships comprising {{ship|PNS|Babur|1956|6}}, {{ship|PNS|Khaibar|1956|6}}, {{ship|PNS|Badr|1957|6}}, PNS ''Jahangir'', {{ship|PNS|Alamgir|1958|6}}, {{ship|PNS|Shah Jahan|DD-962|6}} and PNS ''Tippu Sultan'' set sail for Dwarka and bombarded the town. The bombardment continued past midnight.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=6 September 2022 |title=Operation Dwarka 1965: A golden chapter in naval history |url=https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/988834-operation-dwarka-1965-a-golden-chapter-in-naval-history |access-date=2 March 2024 |website=The News International |language=en}}</ref>
The Indian warships harbored in Mumbai were under refit and were unable to sortie, nor did ''Ghazi'' encounter active combatants on the West coast.<ref name="Hiranandani, 2000">Hiranandani (2000), pp 34–35. ''"FOCIF sailed with his flagship, INS Mysore, and three escorts out of Bombay Harbour and remained on station without encountering any Pakistani naval vessels till 8 September when the ''Talwar'', returning from Okha, joined her."''</ref> According to Pakistani sources, the objective of diverting the Indian Air Force from attacking Pakistan's southern front worked as air raids on the city of Karachi ceased. This was presumed to be due also to the lack of availability of the radar guidance, which Pakistan claimed was damaged in the attack.<ref name=":0" />
The Indian Navy's official version of events is that, around 23:55 hours, the Pakistani vessels fired on Dwarka for more than 20 minutes. The ships fired around 50 shells each, which included 5.25 inch rounds fired by the Pakistani cruiser PNS ''Babur''. The report adds that most shells fell between the temple and the railway station, which lay {{nowrap|{{cvt|3|km}}}} from the lighthouse. Some buildings were hit, with the Railway Guest House suffering significant damage along with a cement factory. Smoke from the damage was visible to the Pakistani warships, approximately {{nowrap|{{cvt|20|km}}}} away.<ref name="Ramesh Madan">{{cite web |url=http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/history/1965war/1150-dwarka.html |title=The Shelling of Dwarka |author=Madan, Ramesh (Ex-Sgt, IAF) |work=Bharat Rakshak |publisher=Bharat-Rakshak.com |access-date=6 September 2020 |archive-date=18 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200918212958/http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/history/1965war/1150-dwarka.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>
The radar installation was shelled during the bombardment but neither was the radar damaged nor were there any casualties according to Indian sources.<ref name="Hiranandani, 2000a">Hiranandani (2000), pp 34–35.</ref> The frigate INS ''Talwar'' was in nearby Okha Port undergoing repairs and did not intervene.<ref name="Hiranandani, 2000a"/> Hiranandani's history of the Indian Navy states that:<ref name="Hiranandani, 2000a"/>
{{blockquote|Next morning she (INS ''Talwar'') was directed to send a team to Dwarka to assess the damage. The team found that most of the shells had fallen on the soft soil between the temple and the radio station and failed to explode. The air attack damaged a railway engine and destroyed a portion of a railway guesthouse.}}
A total of 40 unexploded shells were also recovered intact.<ref name="Ramesh Madan"/> The shells bore the mark "INDIAN ORDNANCE"; these were dated from the 1940s before the Partition of India into India and Pakistan.<ref name="Ramesh Madan"/>
Radio Pakistan, however, transmitted that Dwarka was badly damaged.<ref name="Ramesh Madan"/>
===Naval command=== {{unreferenced section|date=September 2022}} The following is the list of commanding officers of the operation:{{citation needed|date=November 2011}} *Commodore S.M. Anwar, OTC – Officer Commanding of Operation Dwarka and the Commander of the Pakistan Fleet (COMPAK) *Captain MAK Lodhi – Commanding Officer of PNS ''Babur'', the light cruiser. *Captain A Hanif – Commanding Officer of PNS ''Khaibar'', the destroyer. *Commander IH Malik – Commanding Officer of PNS ''Badr'', the frigate. *Commander KM Hussain – Commanding Officer of PNS ''Jahangir'', the destroyer. *Commander Iqbal F. Quadir – Commanding Officer of PNS ''Alamgir'', the destroyer. *Commander SZ Shamsie – Commanding Officer of PNS ''Shah Jahan'', the destroyer. *Commander Amir Aslam – Commanding Officer of PNS ''Tippu Sultan'', the destroyer. *Commander Karamat Rahman Niazi – Commanding Officer of PNS ''Ghazi'', the submarine. *Commander Muhammad Ismail – Commander Signals, PNS ''Tippu Sultan'', the destroyer.
==Aftermath== For some, Operation Dwarka was a significant naval operation of the 1965 war,<ref>{{cite web |title=Operation Dwarka |url=https://www.paknavy.gov.pk/operation_dwarka.html |access-date=28 October 2024 |publisher=Pakistan Navy}}</ref><ref name="Kavic1967">{{cite book|last=Kavic|first=Lorne J.|title=India's quest for security: defence policies, 1947–1965|url=https://archive.org/details/indiasquestforse00kavi|url-access=registration|access-date=8 November 2011|year=1967|publisher=University of California Press|page=[https://archive.org/details/indiasquestforse00kavi/page/190 190]}}</ref> but others considered it a nuisance raid or of little strategic value.<ref name="Donohue1989">{{cite journal|author=Donohue, H. J.|title=Maritime lessons from the 1971 Indo-Pakistan war |journal= Working Paper|issue= 192|issn=0158-3751|publisher=Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University|year=1989| isbn=9780731508068}}</ref><ref name="Ghosh2009">{{cite book|last=Ghosh |first=Anjali|title=India's Foreign Policy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y32u4JMroQgC&pg=PA63 |page=63 |access-date=8 November 2011|date=1 September 2009|publisher=Pearson Education India|isbn=978-81-317-1025-8}}</ref><ref name="Dittmer2005">{{cite book|last=Dittmer|first=Lowell|title=South Asia's nuclear security dilemma: India, Pakistan, and China|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FuKWbnl-y5MC&pg=PA77|year=2005|publisher=M.E. Sharpe|isbn=978-0-7656-1419-3|page=77}}</ref> The Indian Ministry of Defence had issued written instructions which ordered the Indian Navy "not to proceed two hundred miles beyond Mumbai nor North of the parallel of Porbandar".<ref name="PradhanChavan2007">{{cite book|last1=Pradhan|first1=R. D.|last2=Chavan|first2=Yashwantrao Balwantrao|title=1965 war, the inside story: Defence Minister Y.B. Chavan's diary of India-Pakistan war|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ymYCJQjEGBUC|year=2007|publisher=Atlantic Publishers & Dist|isbn=978-81-269-0762-5|page=117}} The authors were the Defence Minister of India and his Private Secretary from 1962-65 (see pg xiii).</ref> The lack of response by the Indian Navy to the attack on Dwarka led to questions being asked in the Parliament of India and a challenge to be answered by others.<ref>Hiranandani (2000), pg 52.</ref><ref name="defencejournal_agosta">Sardar FS Lodi, [http://www.defencejournal.com/2000/jan/agosta.htm An Agosta Submarine for Pakistan] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303193455/http://www.defencejournal.com/2000/jan/agosta.htm |date=3 March 2016 }}</ref><ref name="Roy1995a">{{cite book|last=Roy|first=Mihir K.|title=War in the Indian Ocean|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Tqr8r7EB18wC|year=1995|publisher=Lancer Publishers|isbn=978-1-897829-11-0|pages=84|quote='' 'But the Bombayites failed to understand the lack of success by the Indian fleet, especially with sirens wailing, Jamnagar attacked and Dwarka shelled. But nonetheless, the naval bombardment of Dwarka with the Indian fleet still preparing to sail was an affront to the sailors in white, who could not understand what was holding the fleet back.' '' }}</ref> The Chief of the Naval Staff, Vice Admiral B.S. Soman was restrained from retaliation for the Dwarka raid by the Defence Minister.<ref name="PradhanChavan2007"/> Of the Indian Navy's 23 ships, ten were under refit in Mumbai, including the INS ''Vikrant'', the light cruiser INS ''Delhi'', three destroyers and two frigates.<ref name="Hiranandani, 2000a"/><ref name="Qadir">{{cite web |url=http://www.defencejournal.com/march98/pak3wars1.htm |title=Pakistan and its three wars |author=Qadir, Iqbal, Vice Admiral (retd) |year=1998 |publisher=defencejournal.com |access-date=10 November 2011 |archive-date=27 September 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927135201/http://defencejournal.com/march98/pak3wars1.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> The failure of {{INS|Talwar|F140|6}} to retaliate, then undergoing repairs to her condensers in Okha,<ref name="Hiranandanib">Hiranandani (2000), pg 34. ''"Talwar encountering contamination of her boilers due to leakage of her condensors put in at Okha for temporary repairs."''</ref> has been lamented by Indian Vice Admiral N. Krishnan who said that no government would blame a warship going into action, if attacked.<ref name="defencejournal_agosta" /><ref name="Roy1995b">Roy (1995), pp 84–85.'' 'As Vice Admiral N. Krishnan is supposed to have said. "One of our frigates Talwar was at Okha. It is unfortunate that she could not sail forth and seek battle. Even if there was a mandate against the Navy participating in the war, no Government could blame a warship going into action, if attacked. An affront to our national honour is no joke and we cannot laugh it away by saying 'All the Pakistani's did was to kill a cow'. Let us at least create a memorial to the 'unknown cow' who died with her boots on in a battle against the Pakistan Navy."' ''</ref> Following the action, the Indian Navy deplyed Bregut Alizes for ELINT and Maritime patrol in the area.<ref>https://www.bharat-rakshak.com/navy/units/others/inas-310/</ref> PNS ''Ghazi'' continued to patrol Kachchh and Mumbai coasts spotting aircraft positions when snorkeling.<ref name="Roy1995c">Roy (1995), pp 83–85.</ref>
An Indian source explained this by saying that the Indian government did not want to get into a naval conflict with Pakistan, but wished to restrict the war to a land-based conflict.<ref name="Hiranandani2002">{{cite journal|last1=Hiranandani |first1=Vice Adm Gulab, IN (Retd) |date=Spring 2002 |title=The Indian End of the Telescope – India and Its Navy |journal=Naval War College Review |volume=LV |issue=2 |url=http://www.usnwc.edu/press/Review/2002/spring/art4-sp2.htm |access-date=8 November 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060916122311/http://www.usnwc.edu/press/Review/2002/spring/art4-sp2.htm |archive-date=16 September 2006 }}</ref>The Dwarka raid is considered by Pakistani sources as being a prime reason for the Indian Navy's subsequent post-war modernization and expansion, with an increase in budget from {{INRConvert|35|c|lk=on|year=1965}} to {{INRConvert|115|c|year=1970}}.<ref name="defencejournal_agosta" /> The Dwarka raid, as per an Indian historian G. M Hiranandani, led to the procurement of missile boats by the Indian Navy from the Soviet Union for the Defense of Kutch. These were subsequently used by India in Operation Trident and Operation Python in the 1971 war.<ref>Hiranandani (2000), pg 326.</ref> However, he attributes the expansion of the Indian Navy in the period 1965 to 1975 to the post-1962 planned expansion of the Indian Navy with many ships being negotiated and purchased from the Soviet Union prior to the war.<ref>Hiranandani (2000), pp 8–11.</ref>
==Popular culture== In 1998, Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) financed and produced the historical dramatization film of the operation named, ''Operation Dwarka, 1965'', which was based on this incident. The film was directed by Pakistani film director Qasim Jalali and it was written by Hameed Kashmiri.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsHv5a0wnVc |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/rsHv5a0wnVc |archive-date=21 December 2021 |url-status=live|title=Operation Dwarka 1965 |publisher=Pakistan Television Corporation (PTV) |via=YouTube |access-date=5 September 2020}}{{cbignore}}</ref>
==See also== *India-Pakistani war of 1965 *India–Pakistan naval war of 1971 *{{ship|PNS|Ghazi||6}} *{{ship|PNS| Hangor|S131|6}}
==Notes== {{Notelist}}
==References== {{reflist}}
==Bibliography== * {{cite book|last=Hiranandani|first=G. M.|title=Transition to triumph: history of the Indian Navy, 1965–1975|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zFyMKROi46kC&pg=PA33|date=January 2000|publisher=Lancer Publishers|isbn=978-1-897829-72-1}}
{{Pakistani Armed Forces}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dwarka 1965}} Category:Military operations of the India–Pakistan war of 1965 Category:September 1965 in Asia Category:1960s in Gujarat Operation Category:Jamnagar district Category:Naval battles of India–Pakistan wars and conflicts