A carrier with a cracked boiler. Jet aircraft that couldn’t take off with full fuel. A covert navy that didn’t officially exist. This is the story of India’s finest naval hour in 1971.
This riveting panel discussion brings together Admiral Jijish Gupta — who led the Seahawk strikes from INS Vikrant — and author Sandeep Unnithan, who researched the classified Operation X for his book. Together, moderated by Srikant, they reconstruct two parallel campaigns that changed the war. On one front, Vikrant — barely seaworthy, operating at 14 knots instead of 25, with pilots launching on reduced fuel — launched the first carrier-based airstrikes of the war on 4th December, systematically bombing Chittagong and Cox’s Bazar with extraordinary accuracy. On the other, the Directorate of Naval Intelligence ran Operation X: a clandestine unit starting with eight Pakistani defectors that grew to 540 Mukti Bahini naval commandos, sinking or disabling 100,000 tonnes of shipping inside East Pakistan before the official war even began. The panel also covers the legendary INS Panvel’s gunboat raid deep into the Khulna River, the role a Trivandrum condom factory played in waterproofing limpet mines, and Admiral Nanda’s determination — born of the humiliation at Dwarka in 1965 — that the Indian Navy would never sit out another war.
About The Speaker:
Sandeep Unnithan
An acclaimed national security journalist and author, Sandeep Unnithan serves as Executive Editor (News9 Plus) after decades at India Today, and has written notable works like Black Tornado and Operation X on India’s covert naval history.
Admiral S. K. Gupta
A highly decorated Indian Navy flag officer, Rear Admiral S. K. Gupta earned the Maha Vir Chakra for his distinguished leadership of INAS 300 during the 1971 Indo‑Pak War, marking him as one of India’s naval heroes.
Commodore Srikant B. Kesnur (Retd.)
A veteran Indian Navy officer and “maritime evangelist,” he helmed frontline warships, led the Naval History Project, and authored numerous naval publications to promote India’s maritime heritage and awareness.
