K83 Vidyut (Sov Osa-I)

K90 Viyut (Sov Osa-II)

Russia had given missile boats to the Indonesian and Egyptian navies in the
early 1960s. The Russian side had first shown the missile boats to the Indian
Defence Minister's Delegation in August 1964. At that time, the Navy had
shown no interest in these boats, mainly because no Western Navy had such
boats and it was not clear how useful they would be in rough weather.

After the 1965 war, two major considerations led to the Navy's acquisition of
missile boats from the Soviet Union. The main one was that these boats could
deter hit and run raids on the Saurashtra coast of the type that Pakistan Navy
had so successfully done at Dwarka.

At one time, intelligence had suggested that the Pakistan Navy was considering
the acquisition of missile fitted frigates. Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union
Gorshkov was able to persuade the Indian Navy that for the defence of
Bombay and other major ports, the small Osa class of missile boats would be
ideal. Their mere presence would prove a great deterrent to the enemy
embarking on an attack.

The second consideration was the pressure from the Navy's young gunnery
specialists to acquire missiles. Russia had already supplied missile boats to
Indonesia and to Egypt. In June 1967, during the 6 day Arab Israeli War, an
Egyptian missile boat sank an Israeli frigate, the EILATH, at a range well
beyond the frigate's own guns.

Navies all over the world woke up with a start to the effectiveness of this new
Russian weapon - the surface to surface, anti ship, homing missile - which
enabled a small boat to sink a ship several times its size within a matter of
minutes. At one stroke, this new weapon altered the centuries old concept of
prolonged gun battles between opposing warships.

The significant characteristics of the boat were an extremely thin skinned 200
ton hull, propelled by very high power engines to give a high speed of 34 knots.
Being small, the boat had a very small radar cross section. Its sophisticated
radar was more advanced than any other known radar - it enabled the missile
boat, with its low radar reflectivity, to detect a larger ship well before the latter
was even aware of its presence, to fire its missiles and to speed away faster
than any other ship.
The Russian naval architects had deliberately designed these characteristics,
so as to give the small boats this advantage against much larger American
naval ships attempting to attack the Russian coast. Basically, the boats were
designed for, and had limited endurance for, only coastal operations.

The Indian Navy decided to press for the purchase of eight such boats. There
followed the intense activity of preparing the ground for selling the idea to the
Government. The Defence Minister, Mr Jagjivan Ram had taken kindly to the
idea of our acquiring these boats. The Navy got Cabinet approval for further
negotiations with the Soviet Government.

In January 1969, a delegation went to Moscow to discuss and finalise the

acquisition of missile boats. Visits were arranged to the Russian naval base at
Baku in the Caspian Sea to go to sea in a missile boat and visit a submarine
rescue vessel. The Delegation signed an agreement for the acquisition of a
squadron of missile boats and Technical Positions for storing and preparing
their liquid fuelled missiles.

Personnel completed their training in Russia in March 1970, and acceptance

trials of the boats started in mid 1970. To conserve their machinery, the boats
were lightened and loaded on to heavy lift merchant ships and transported to
India.

No consensus could be found on how best to protect the thin skinned hulls from
the rapid bottom fouling and corrosion which affected all ships hulls in tropical
waters. One view was that they should not be left in the water until actually
required to go to sea - they should be hauled up on slipways and stowed on
concrete hards. Since these hards would be both expensive and time
consuming to construct, and would also entail dredging, the idea had to be
given up. Eventually, they were berthed in the Wet Basin of the Naval Dockyard
Bombay. And the bottom fouling, which over time had begun to seriously
reduce their speed by as much as 10 knots, was removed just before the
commencement of the war in 1971.

The missile boats of Indian Navy which launched major offensives on Karachi
during 1971 war are called killers. The Indian Navy acquired eight such boats in
mid-1971. This formed the 25th Missile Vessel Squadron comprising Vijeta,
Vidyut, Vinash, Veer, Nashak, Nipat, Nirghat and Nirbhik.
These boats were in action during 1971 war to unleash terror on Pakistan ships
which were armed with P-15 missiles. The killers carried out a daring attack on
the mid-night of December 4, 1971. This day is celebrated every year as Navy
Day.

In mid 1971, it was decided to acquire five more Petyas and four more
submarines because the series production of these vessels in Russia was
coming to an end. The Navy wanted these acquisitions to incorporate the
additions and alterations which had been identified for improving their
performance. In due course, Indian Navy acquired eight more missile boats
namely Pratap, Prachand, Prabal, Pralaya, Chatak, Charag, Chapal and
Chamak.

In early 2005 Eastern Naval Command organised a get-together of Killers at

Visakhapatnam in which all the officers who were onboard the Killers took part.
On this occasion, INS Chapal and Chamak demonstrated their calibre to all
those who were present on the occasion. Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Arun
Prakash, himself the Commanding Officer of INS Chatak, witnessed the
demonstration. The other dignitaries present on the occasion included Vice
Admiral OP Bansal, FOC-in-C, Eastern Naval Command, Vice Admiral SCS
Bangara, FOC-in-C, Southern Naval Command, Rear Admiral SR Sampath
Gopal (Retd), Cmde V Jerath (Retd) and Capt MV Prabhakar (Retd).

All the boats except the last two, Chapal and Chamak, had been
decommissioned by 2005. At Visakhapatnam, Indian Naval ships 'Chapal and
Chamak', were decommissioned in May 2005. They were part of eight-missile
boats acquired from the erstwhile Soviet Union. The two missile boats arrived
in Kolkata on board the carrier ship Pripneprovsk and were commissioned in
1976 in Kolkata. Subsequently, they were part of 254 Killer Division to be
integrated into 25th Killer Squadron and based in Mumbai.

The decommissioning ceremony began with the arrival of Rear Admiral RP

Suthan, Chief of Staff, Eastern Naval Command. He has commanded the two
missile boats and 254 Killer Division. With the sounding of the last post at
sunset, the paying of pendant along with naval ensign of both the ships were
lowered for the last time. Later, boxes containing the naval ensign of the ships
were handed over by Cdr Harish Bahl and Lt Chriss Koshy, the last
commanding officers of INS Chapal and Chamak respectively, to the chief
guest. A ceremonial guard was paraded on the occasion.
 Specifications
Class K83 Vidyut K90 Viyut
(Sov Osa-I) (Sov Osa-II)
Displacement 245 ton full load
Dimensions 38.6 x 7.6 x 2.7 m
Speed 37 knots
Range 800 miles @ 25 knots
Complement 30
Armament 4 x SS-N-2A or B Styx SSM
4 x 30 mm (2 twin)
Vijeta, Vidyut, Vinash, Veer, Nashak, Nipat, Nirghat and Nirbhik.
Ships
Name Number Homeport Builder Ordered Comm Decomm
Osa-I Class
Vidyut K83 Russia 197
Vijeta K84 Russia 197
Vinash K85 Russia 197
Nipat K86 Russia 197
Nashak K87 Russia 197
Nirbhik K88 Russia 197
Nirghat K89 Russia 197
Osa-II Class
Prachand K 90 Vishakapatnam Russia 1976 Dec 1999
Pralaya K 91 Vishakapatnam Russia 1976 June 2001
Pratap K 92 Vishakapatnam Russia 1976 1990s
Prabal K 93 Vishakapatnam Russia 1976 Dec 1999
Chapal K 94 Vishakapatnam Russia 1976 May 2005
Chamak K 95 Vishakapatnam Russia 1976 May 2005
Chatak K 96 Vishakapatnam Russia 1976 May 2003
Charag K 97 Vishakapatnam Russia 1997