List of Indian Naval accidents

This is a list of accidents that have taken place in the Indian Navy. The list may be incomplete for years before 2000.

Article in India Today reported that since 1990, the Indian Navy has lost one warship in peacetime every five years. Since 2004, it has lost one naval combatant every two years. While peacetime losses of warships are not uncommon, the magazine mentioned that few global navies have such a dubious record.^[1] According to the Times of India, while some of accidents reported since August 2013 were serious, many of them were trivial incidents exaggerated in public.^[2]

These accidents have been attributed to ageing ships in need of maintenance (refit/repairs delayed in spite of laid down rules for refit cycles), delayed acquisitions by the Ministry of Defence, and human error.^[1] However naval commentators also argue that as India's large navy of 160 ships clocks around 12,000 ship-days at sea every year, in varied waters and weather, some incidents are inevitable.^[3][4] Captains of erring ships are dismissed from their command following an enquiry.^[5][6] The navy is envisaging a new 'Safety Organisation' to improve safety of its warships, nuclear submarines and aircraft in view of its planned increase in fleet strength over the next decade.^[7]