“The green elongated cylinders that you see are torpedoes. They are lethal underwater weapons holding the power to destroy enemy ships,” says G Phaniraj as he points to the torpedoes stacked horizontally inside the Kursura Submarine Museum.
A crowd of 25 enthusiastic listeners stands in front of him absorbing every ounce of information that he gives.
Phaniraj is the curator of the museum and has been helping people understand the interiors of the mammoth submarine for the past 16 years. A native of Visakhapatnam, he served in the Indian Navy for over 15 years before taking up the job of curator.
“The museum was established on August 9, 2002, and one day later I joined as the curator,” he says. Phaniraj served as a submariner in the Kalvari class — Foxtrot class submarines of which INS Kursura was a part.
New beginning
After serving in the Navy for 31 years, INS Kursura began her life as a static tourist destination. From the time she was dragged ashore to the time when she was dry-docked at the Ramakrishna Beach, Phaniraj has seen it all. “The hauling of an entire submarine along with her complete weaponry from sea to the land was no mean feat. It took over one-and-a-half years to get her to the place that she stands today. She was positioned on a concrete foundation on February 27, 2001, after which the pavements and the garden were made,” he says.
The setting up of the museum brought to light the functioning of a submarine and put on display its forbidden confines. With dummies of officers and sailors at their job in the submarine, the museum gives civilians a glimpse of their hardships and toils encountered. “I have served on Kursura for six months and this is much more spacious than a functional submarine. There are at least 75 crew members and spare parts of all the engines are carried during the sail, so you can imagine how life at the sea must be,” he explains to a visitor who is astonished by the narrow passages of the submarine.
Answering questions by inquisitive visitors is what Phaniraj loves the most. He believes that people should know about defence life and the conditions the personnel live in. He takes pride in opening up about the life of a submariner to the civilians and also tells tales from his ocean voyages. Daily guided tours of small groups are held by Phaniraj and six other guides who are ex-Navy personnel and have sound knowledge about the submarine. According to Phaniraj, the submarine has become a major tourist destination over the years. “In the initial years, we did not have many visitors. But over the years the number of tourists has gone up. On an average 400-500 tourists visit the museum. The number goes over 1,000 on weekends,” he says.
“The most frequent question that I am asked is ‘how do submariners breathe?’, and I explain to them that before every dive the submarine used to suck in fresh air which could be purified and used for two days. The submarine had to resurface in two days to suck in fresh air again. People also ask about how food was stored and how supplies were managed during the long sail,” he says.
Safeguarding interests
INS Kursura which was a part of the 1971 war, was decommissioned on September 27, 2001, and was gifted to Andhra Pradesh by the Navy and the Ministry of Defence.
Special modifications were made to the submarine to facilitate a better view for the visitors.
