PNS Hangor & HMS Conqueror...The only two Submarines that have sunk ships since 1945

 

via War History Online

PNS Hangor would be the first submarine to sink an enemy ship since 1945. In late November 1971, the Pakistani submarine was dispatched into the Arabian Sea, where she discovered a large group of ships from the Indian Navy. She maintained her distance from the vessels and investigated their communications. Over the next few days, the Indian Navy would learn of PNS Hangor’s presence and sent two British-made frigates to find her.

PNS Hangor was a French-made Daphne-class submarine. She was 200 ft long and armed with twelve 550 mm torpedo tubes.

On December 9, PNS Hangor detected the two frigates approaching her and dived deep until they came into torpedo range. Once they were in range, Hangor fired a homing torpedo at one of the frigates, INS Kirpan, which missed. Kirpan hightailed it away from Hangor as soon as they realized they were being targeted. Meanwhile, the second frigate, INS Khukri, barrelled towards the submarine in an attempt to sink it, however, Hangor fired a second torpedo at Khukri, which hit.

This torpedo dealt a fatal blow to the Khukri, which sank in mere minutes, claiming the lives of 18 officers and 176 sailors. Kirpan returned for another attack, which Hangor responded to with a third torpedo. This failed to stop Kirpan but caused the Indian frigate to flee.

After the engagement, the Indian Navy launched a huge search and destroy mission to find and sink Hangor, but the submarine reached safe waters after remaining submerged for almost a week.

Today, PNS Hangor is on display at the Pakistan Maritime Museum, Karachi, Pakistan.

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