Buzz By The Bay: 'All Frontline Warships Equipped With World-class Missile System,' Says Captain Nitesh Garg

To celebrate 76th Independence Day, this week we invited a real life hero on Buzz By The Bay. We were delighted to have Captain Nitesh Garg, commanding officer of INS Betwa, in our studio. Based in Mumbai, INS Betwa is a Brahmaputra-class guided missile navy vessel, named after the Betwa river. This is the fourth vessel that Captain Garg is a commanding officer on. He shares his insights and inspires us with his sense of duty and patriotism. Excerpts from an interview given to Anushka Jagtiani.

Can you give us an overview of your responsibilities as a commanding officer of INS Betwa?

As a commanding officer the buck stops with me. I would say my primary responsibility is to make the ship combat ready and deliver ordinance of target when called for. To that extent, my job entails making personnel and machines work when called for. My other roles focus on protecting the national maritime interests. You also have to meet roles of diplomatic, constabulary and benign nature. The last one revolves around humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.

Do you have women on your ship?

Not yet, but we have women officers posted on other western fleet ships, frigates and destroyers, and this number is only going to grow.

INS Betwa is a Brahmaputra class frigate or warship with missile capabilities. Do these missiles provide a significant advantage in modern naval warfare?

Indians should be proud that all our frontline warships are equipped with the most advanced missile systems in the world. The weapons and sensors on a frigate allows us to fight in all the three dimensions; air, surface and sub-surface.

Can you narrate any incidents where your vessel was in a precarious position?

The sheer density of weapons on a modern frigate makes every voyage dangerous by most yardsticks. We mitigate these dangers by repeated drills and standard operating procedures. Coming to a precarious situation, I will take you back to 2008 when I was deployed in the Gulf of Aden. We were providing protection to a few merchant men and we heard a cry for help. There were 55-60 odd actions that we had to undertake in 150 seconds. Each second counts. We did those right and got everything on track. After a brief skirmish with the pirates, we could successfully thwart the piracy attempt.