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1971 Indo-Pak war navy hero Commodore TS Khurana passes away 

Jan 23, 2025 04:24 PM IST

Was awarded Nao Sena Medal for planning and executing Operations Trident and Python as part of the Indian Navy’s attacks on Karachi in December 1971. 

Commodore TS Khurana (retd), who was awarded the Nao Sena Medal for planning and executing Operations Trident and Python as part of the Indian Navy’s attacks on Karachi during the Indo-Pak war in December 1971, passed away in Chandigarh on Thursday.

Commodore TS Khurana (retd) was awarded the Nao Sena Medal for planning and executing Operations Trident and Python as part of the Indian Navy’s attacks on Karachi during the Indo-Pak war in December 1971. (File photo)
Commodore TS Khurana (retd) was awarded the Nao Sena Medal for planning and executing Operations Trident and Python as part of the Indian Navy’s attacks on Karachi during the Indo-Pak war in December 1971. (File photo)

He was 91. The antim ardas (prayer meeting) will be held at Gurdwara Sahib in Sector 8, Chandigarh, from 3pm to 4pm on January 26, his family said.

Posted as the deputy director of weapon policy and tactics at the navy headquarters in New Delhi, he was made the fleet navigating officer of the vital Western Fleet to carry out one of the most daring attacks just months before the 1971 war broke out. Besides commanding INS Kirpan and INS Trishul, he led the 25th missile boat squadron, known as the killer squadron, because of its deadly attack on Karachi. The squadron comprised 16 operational vessels.

Trained in maritime studies at the University of Greenwich in London, he was commissioned as acting sub-lieutenant on September 1, 1953. He went on to specialise in navigation and direction (control of aircraft on board and aircraft carrier) in Cochin and was selected as advance crew for INS Vikrant.

He was the chief of staff and CSO (operations) of the Eastern Naval Command for three years before he served on the same post in the Western Naval Command in Mumbai for 18 months and retired on May 30, 1987. Post-retirement, he was appointed deputy director general of the Coast Guard, New Delhi, till January 1988.

He undertook corporate assignments in Mumbai before settling down in Chandigarh in 2014.

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