“We found that the company SIGNAAL in Holland, which supplied the fire control equip­ment and the radars for the Dutch Navy's Leanders, had superior equipment, superior in the sense they were already using digital electronics as opposed to the analog elec­tronics of the British systems. The Navy, therefore, felt that if we went in for the indigenous manufacture of the analog systems, we would be stuck with them for the next several years. Why should we make outdated analog systems when digital electronics were already coming into vogue? If we were going to make anything indigenously, we should start with something technologically more up to date than the obsolescent analog British systems then avail­able.

“Then we found that if we were to fit the Signaal equipment, the ship would require some modifications in the hull and in the structure, related only to these equipments and not to a wholesale change of design. Therefore, we needed somebody to supply us the modified shipbuilding drawings to enable us to fit the Dutch Signaal radars and fire control in a broad beam Leander and for that we tied up with NEVESBU, the Dutch Warship Design Bureau. The Dutch fire control and radar equipment were then licensed for manufacture to Bharat Electronics, which was the only Indian company at that time that had some experience of manufac­turing radars and electronic equipment for the Defence Services.”

“When I came back to NHQ in 1973, NHQ had decided that the design of the fifth frigate would be given to the Director (ate) of Naval Design (DND) and not to the Director (ate) of the Leander Project (DLP). As DDLP, I realised that we really did not have much to do, because if the design was being done by DND, what was going to be DLP's role? In those days, DND had come up with a design for a new weapon package.

“In the meanwhile, I went into the technical feasibili­ty of DND's design to see whether a large anti submarine helicopter like a Seaking could operate from a Leander. I distinctly remember we consulted some Admiralty Fleet Orders and then invited the DND, who had earlier given an opinion that this was not feasible, to discussions with DLP. When I went into it, it was on a limited presumption that the anti submarine Mortar Mark 10 fitted at the rear end of the ship was required and that it could never be removed. Then we came up with the idea that if the mortar well was covered up, the overhead space would be just enough for a Seaking to operate from there. The anti submarine mortar could be replaced by another type of forward throwing rocket launcher like the Swedish Bofors SR 375. Then I worked day and night so that no one else would come to know what we were doing. Between Constructor Captain Choudhary who was in the Directorate of Leander Project and myself, we did all the initial design work, showing the new flight deck, show­ing the new helicopter and showing the new weapon package that was involved. This was the most creative time of my life as a designer.

“We actually came up with a new design concept. We gave a presentation to the Chief of the Naval Staff and he accepted our design. Dr Roy Choudhary was the Scientific Adviser to the Defence Minister and he also accepted that our design would work. Even Mr Paramanandhan, who had by then become the Director General of Naval Design, was gracious enough to accept that operating a Seaking helicopter from a frigate was feasible. Finally, the design was accepted. That is how we in DLP came back into the design of the 5th frigate, the Taragiri.”

“My deputation to the Admiralty Marine Engineering Establishment, Haslar was to associate with the trials team formed by the Royal Navy for converting their boilers from FFO to Diesel. The Royal Navy found it expedient to go in for a single fuel at that point of time, because of the induction of gas turbines into their Navy. Having FFO burning Leanders and follow on steam ships would create logistic problems for them, and therefore, they thought it wise to go in for a 'single fuel Navy'.

“Added to this, they had problems while oper­ating steam ships and steam boilers in that some of their ships had experienced a number of furnace failures and explosions. It was with this in mind that they thought they would overcome the problem by changing over from FFO to diesel.

“The Indian Navy got a place for one Engineering officer to participate in these trials, which were really of a Research and Development nature and buttressed by actual trials on a Y‑160 boiler at Has­lar. Trials were done in a most methodical and professional manner, where frequent inspections of the furnace from inside were backed by a lot of effort from their labs in UK. A number of burners were experimented with until they arrived at the most optimum geometry for these burners, which gave the most optimised atomiser for the burning tips. Although trials were not hundred percent complete, my deputation period ended on a satisfactory note of not having any major problems with the burning of diesel. Trials did continue after I returned.

“We went into it by the year 1976, when Naval Headquarters decided to implement it. We could not implement it until 1979 because even the Royal Navy required a large number of conversion kits for their own ships.”

“Vindhyagiri, the sixth Leander and the last of series was commissioned on 8 July 1981. This is the first Leander with the steam atomised Dieso burning system, which should reduce the boiler refractory problems that have plagued earlier Leanders. All Leanders are to be converted to this system during their planned refits.”

“The specifications, the very fine tolerances, the performance ratios and the fact that all equipment had to be shock‑proof, were parameters which Indian Industry, by and large, were totally unaware of and had never experienced. Thanks to the inspiration of Mr Krishna Menon, indigenisa­tion was progressed relentlessly. He had always maintained that unless India was self‑sufficient in major items of defence equipment, we would never be totally free and that, further if we were dependent on the West or on anyone else, we would be badly let down, in time of war when the 'crunch' came. And indeed this was proved time and again, in the conflicts with Pakistan in 1948 and 1965, when both Britain and the USA imposed embargos.

“Today looking back, it is quite extraordinary the degree to which indigenisation was achieved. For instance, we are now accepting, without demur, the Main Gearing being manufactured by Walchand Nagar in collaboration with MAAG of Switzerland. And yet in 1966, when this was first suggest­ed, there was horror. The very idea of a highly sophisti­cated piece of equipment like the main gearing being manu­factured, way out in the middle of nowhere, some 60 to 70 miles outside Poona, in what was originally a sugar factory in a little village, was unbelievable to most. And yet it did succeed.

“There were numerous problems, aggravated to some extent by doubts and lack of confidence, but we won through. What is important is that it created the kind of confidence and experience, both in the Service and specially in Indian Industry who, having succeeded in producing equipment of such high specifications for the Navy, were emboldened to go in for higher technology.”

“The Directorate of Leander Project in 1969/1970 was very exciting. I had excellent colleagues. On the electri­cal side there were Commanders Baxi and Ganesh, on the engineering side there was Commander Bose. We did the very first composite layouts of compartments like the galley, the electronic warfare office, the electronic warfare equipment room etc. We did the complete air conditioning of the Nilgiri.

“I also did the collapsible hangar, which the Royal Navy did not have. We needed a hangar that could collapse like an accordion, so that when the helicopter was landing, the hangar would be closed and when the helicopter was parked, the hangar would be open. Nobody had done this in a ship of Nilgiri's size. We got a company called Dominion Aluminum Fabricating Company of Canada to do the collapsible hangar.

“It was a very interesting time because we were learning on the job. And stupid mistakes used to happen also. I went to Mazagon Docks for an inspection of the helicopter landing deck. The Alouette is a three-wheeled helicopter, the front wheel is in the middle. The helicopter guide plat­forms were welded as per the original British design for the British Westland Wasp, which was a four-wheeled helicopter. When I went and asked the Naval Air Staff. 'Why didn't you tell us earlier'? I got no reply. To rectify that mistake, we had to change the whole insulation and the wiring. We did a lot of foolish things. But we were learning all the time.

“In those four or five years, Mazagon Docks and the Navy learnt so much. I think the future of the Navy was laid in the Leander Frigate Project. For the first time, we were getting into the nitty gritty of building warships and this really culminated when the Navy put the big Seaking helicop­ter in Taragiri with a bigger extendable hangar. It was something quite phenomenal, something to be proud of.”

“We had the Department of Defence Production, Ministry of Defence, working hand in hand with Naval Headquarters and Mazagon Docks towards indigenisation. In retrospect, I would say this was the best and most systematic indigenisa­tion effort the Navy ever had. And taking the totality into account, it was possibly the best in the country at that time.

“While the main engines of the first ship were imported, the second ship's set of main engines were made by BHEL in Bhopal, using the same English Electric drawings made in Foot Pound System by converting the measurements to the Metric System, which had been adopted in India and in which Bho­pal's machines were set. We also developed an indigenous version of Allen's steam auxiliaries with Jyoti of Baroda and BHEL Bhopal. A steam test rig was set up in Bhopal, financed by the Navy, to give these machines a test run under steam before accepting the machinery for installation on board.

“Special weld-able steel, known as Ship Building Quality Steel or Lloyd's grade A/B is used in shipbuilding. These steels were not manufactured in India till then. We had the blessings of the Ministry of Steel to undertake the project at Rourkela Steel Plant and they did a fairly suc­cessful job, though it did not meet the specification to 100%. This steel was considered acceptable under deviation and used in constructing the second Leander. Subsequently, of course, it was found that imported steel was of quicker delivery and cheaper, and was used. Having established an indigenous source of manufacture of shipbuilding quality steel, we could always revert to it whenever necessary.

“The boilers of the first Leander were erected in the Naval Dockyard Bombay. A new Boiler Shop was created and the boilers, with drums, tubes, mountings etc from the British firm Babcock and Wilcox were erected. Being very heavy and bulky, these boilers were put on trailers in the Naval Dockyard Bombay and transported to Mazagon Dock for installation on board.

“The development of the main shafting was attempted at the Heavy Engineering Corporation (HEC) Ranchi. But HEC was experiencing serious administrative problems. As such the project did not finally succeed. They met the specifica­tions in only 50% of the items. They could have had 100% success had they carefully followed our instructions of cropping the ends of the forgings before rolling the shafts. In order to achieve good quality forgings for turbine rotors for the Navy and for Power Houses, HEC had initiated action for procurement and installation of a Vacuum Degassing Plant and a 6,000-tonne press. Unfortunately, after installation, these valuable plants were lying idle due to lack of initiative, and rotor forgings were being imported by BHEL and other turbine manufacturers.

“The main gear cases, a very critical piece of machin­ery, were also indigenised. In the first Leander, we used imported David Brown gearing but for the second Leander we went in for ones to be produced at Walchand Nagar near Pune, under collaboration with MAAG Gearwheel Co of Zurich. Here again we faced many problems in conversion of metric CGS into Foot Pound Systems, as the terminals had to be in the FPS system to match with the turbines and shafting while the internals imported from MAAG were in CGS system. I must say that the Directorate of Leander Project (DLP), the Directorate of Marine Engineering (DME) and the Directorate of Warship Projects (DWP) under the Ministry of Defence Production burnt midnight candles in Walchand Nagar, checking every dimension and manufac­turing tolerance, meeting both FPS and CGS system of the terminal components. It was a success in one shot.

“We had set up a Test Rig using a redundant cruising turbine of a Khukri class frigate for back-to-back test under actual steam and give both the gear wheels overspeed and overload runs of the kind it would experience in a ship for maximum exploitation. We were told that such trials were done only in Canada and in Switzerland. We ran continu­ous trials for 72 hours. The trial runs went as sched­uled except for one incident when one set of bearings failed. We immediately knew what it was due to. The repre­sentative of MAAG Gearwheel, a renowned designer, was present at the trials. We all agreed with the corrective actions and continued with the trials. I don't think such a bold step would be taken anywhere, to introduce into service a gear case, which was never tried earlier. We were very lucky that the propulsion system with the changed component gave no problem of noise or vibration in any mode.

“We developed all the gun‑metal valves and fittings indigenously. Similar indigenous substitutes were found for electrical fittings, items of domestic and hotel services nature, etc.”

“The success of the indigenisation effort in building the Leanders and the machinery that came into existence with it, the organisation of the Directorate of Warship Projects initially and the organisation of the Directorate of Production and Inspection Navy later, gave us the confidence that we can go ahead more boldly with procurement of equipment from indigenous resources. For instance, the communication equip­ment, ICS 3, for the Leanders was imported from the UK but we were able to get Bharat Electronics to develop it - whether it was the UHF transreceiver or the CCS equipment and the Versatile Console System - to a degree which the other two services did not indigenise. The naval construc­tors also rose to the occasion and came out with improved designs of the Leanders like the Taragiri and the Project 16 Godavari class frigates.”