WHAT'S IN A NAME ?

It is an interesting fact that although the names of ships have an infinite variety, the names that Navies have given to their submarines have, at least initially, always been evocative of predators of the sea. This is only to be expected, as the very mention of a submarine conjures up an image of a stealthy underwater killer. Most submarine operating Navies have thus christened their submarines with the names of sharks, killer whales, stingrays, and other bloodthirsty denizens of the deep.

The Indian Navy too, followed this time-honoured tradition, and our submarines took on the names of large predatory fish that are found in Indian waters. The names are all in the languages of our coastal states, such as Marathi, Konkani, Malayalam and Tamil.

But nothing-not even selecting a submarine's name-can be done without the most profound deliberations at high levels, and it took at times as long as two years before the names of the first eight submarines were finally selected.

These were: -

Kalvari - Tiger Shark

Khanderi - Wide-snouted Sawfish

Karanj - Whale Sharks

Kursura - Long-snouted Shark

Vela - Sawfish

Vagir - Sand Shark

Vagli - Bat Ray

Vaghsheer - Long-tailed Shark

Whereas the same practice was followed when naming the Shishumar class, a departure was made when the first Kilo Class submarine, INS Sindhughosh, was commissioned. The names of the Sindhughosh class do not represent predatory fish, but are more general names which would broadly translate as " Indian Herald" " Indian Banner", and similar such evocative names. In the case of INS Chakra, she owed her name to the fabled Sudarshana Chakra of Indian mythology, which was a weapon of terrible destructive power, against which there was no defence.