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Intentionally left blank
MARITIME DOCTRINE
OF
PAKISTAN
(MDP)
Preserving Freedom of Seas
2018
MARITIME DOCTRINE OF PAKISTAN

© Copyright Naval Headquarters, Islamabad 2018

This work is Copyright of Pakistan Navy. Apart from any use as permitted
under the Copy Right Ordinance 1962 (XXXIV of 1962), no part may be
reproduced by any process without the express written consent of the Naval
Headquarters, Islamabad.

Sponsor:
Operational Plans Division Naval Headquarters
ISLAMABAD
E-mail: [email protected]

First Printed: January 2018

Comments or proposals on this document may be directed to:

Pakistan Navy War College
Naval Complex Walton
Askari-V, Gulberg-III
Lahore
E-mail: [email protected]

Designed by:

Pakistan Navy War College

Lahore
+92-42-99232416
+92-42-66960103
FOREWORD

The Maritime Doctrine of Pakistan,

short titled MDP, provides authentic
and comprehensive overview of the
importance of maritime sector to the
wider public in general and policy
makers in particular. It elucidates as to
what constitutes maritime power and
why is it important for the well-being and prosperity of our people. It
further seeks to bring about an understanding on the maritime and
naval related issues for general familiarity and knowledge. At military
level, it delineates the role of naval forces in not only sustaining the
national war effort by keeping the Sea Lines of Communication (SLOC)
open but also its vital contribution in the overall outcome of wars.

The MDP is aimed to act as a catalyst for synergizing efforts and

optimizing resources of various stakeholders in the development of
country’s maritime sector which has lacked vitality for the last six
decades or so despite its vast potential. While MDP outlines the broad
contours of employment of naval and maritime power in support of
national objectives, it should not be taken as a set of rigid rules.
Flexibility, an inherent attribute of naval forces, should guide the
practitioners while interpreting it under a given set of conditions.

It needs no emphasis that sea connects nations and continents and is

the principal medium of globalization. Being vast, it also offers safe
MARITIME DOCTRINE OF PAKISTAN

haven to disruptive elements. This calls for collaborative efforts to

preserve order at sea for greater good of human race. In this context,
Pakistan Navy has significantly contributed in controlling and
thwarting the menace of maritime terrorism, piracy, gun running,
drug trafficking and human smuggling through sustained presence in
northern and western quadrants of the India Ocean. This may not be
enough and PN may have to enhance its reach and sustainability to
provide requisite protection to growing maritime activity, which will
proportionately increase with the operationalization of China-
Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and port of Gwadar.

The Maritime Doctrine of Pakistan, being first such effort in the public
domain, is likely to generate lot of interest amongst the general
public, shape opinions and be instrumental in galvanizing the
maritime sector of Pakistan. I am confident that it would also
stimulate an irreversible process of development across all coastal
areas of Pakistan.

I commend Pakistan Navy War College in steering the development of

this pioneering document. I would like to thank the invaluable
contributions made by the serving and veteran Naval officers in
compiling the document. I wish to express my special gratitude to
Commander (Retd) Muhammad Azam Khan for his efforts in devising
the conceptual framework and shaping the text into a comprehensive
document for Pakistan Navy. I hope the Maritime Doctrine of Pakistan
will serve its purpose across the spectrum of National edifice.

ZAFAR MAHMOOD ABBASI NI(M)

Admiral
Chief of the Naval Staff
January 2018
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Foreword iii
Illustrations x
Acronyms xi

1. MARITIME DOCTRINE OF PAKISTAN-IN CONTEXT 01

Doctrine 01
Maritime Doctrine 02
Need 02
Purpose 03
Difference between Military and Maritime Doctrine 03
Maritime and Naval Strategy 04
Policy, Strategy and Doctrine Interplay 04
Seapower 08
Military Instruments of Seapower 09
Surface Forces 09
Sub Surface Forces 15
Naval Aviation 16
Marine Forces 18
Special Operations Forces (SOF) 19
Distinctive Characteristics of Maritime Environment 19
Attributes of Maritime Forces 20
Navy as Instrument of Foreign Policy 21
st
Maritime Domain in 21 Century 21
The Sea and Holy Books 22
Muslims and the Navy 23

2. THE INDIAN OCEAN REGION 25

The Indian Ocean 25
Historical Survey 26
Cooperative Programmes 36

3. MARITIME ENVIRONMENT 39
International 39
Regional 43
Pakistan 45
Climate Change and Sea Level Rise 48

Preserving Freedom of Seas v

MARITIME DOCTRINE OF PAKISTAN

4. MARITIME SECURITY 51
Maritime Security 51
International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code 52
Maritime Security Initiatives in the new Millennium 53
Piracy 55
Drug Trafficking 56
Human Smuggling 56
Collaborative Maritime Security 57

5. MARITIME INTERESTS OF PAKISTAN 59

General 59
Area of Interest 59
The Maritime Zones 60
Maritime Boundary Delimitation 65
Pakistan National Shipping Corporation (PNSC) 65
Seafaring 66
Ports and Harbours 66
Ship Construction Maintenance and Repair 71
Karachi Shipyard and Engineering Works (KSEW) 71
Ship Recycling 73
Marine Resources 74
Living or Biological Resources 74
Non-Living or Physical Resources 80
Marine Energy- Renewable and Non-Renewable Resources 81
Industrial Resources 81
Coastal Tourism 82
Marine Ancillary Services 83
Marine Scientific Research (MSR) 83
Marine Pollution and Marine Ecosystem 85
Risks to Pakistan Coastline 86

6. CONCEPTS GOVERNING APPLICATION OF MARITIME FORCES 87

Maritime Domain 87
Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) 87
Maritime Security 88
Command of the Sea 89
Sea Control 89
Sea Denial 90
Force in Being 90

vi Preserving Freedom of Seas

 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Blockade 91
Visit Board Search and Seizure (VBSS) 92
Maritime Interdiction Operations (MIO) 92
Maritime Security Operations (MSO) 92
Commerce Raiding 93
Naval Diplomacy 93
Gunboat Diplomacy 94
Cordon Sanitaire 94
Exclusion Zones 94
Maritime Power Projection 95
Coercion 95
Deterrence 96
Compellence 98
Littoral Operations 99
Manoeuvre Warfare 100
Piracy and Counter Piracy Operations 100
Nuclear Second Strike Capability 101
Miscellenous Concepts and Terms 101
Sub-Conventional Domain 101
Cyber and Network Centric Warfare (NCW) 103
Air Operations 109

7. PRINCIPLES OF WAR 111

On War 111
Levels of War 111
Types of Warfare 112
Principles of War 114
Basic Forms of Naval Operations 121

8. MARITIME COMMAND AND CONTROL 127

The Maritime Forces 127
Functions of Modern Navies 127
Pakistan Navy 128
Naval Headquarters (NHQ) 129
The Field Commands 131
Commander Pakistan Fleet (COMPAK) 132
Commander Coast (COMCOAST) 134
Commander Karachi (COMKAR) 135

Preserving Freedom of Seas vii

MARITIME DOCTRINE OF PAKISTAN

Commander Logistics (COMLOG) 135

Commander North (COMNOR) 136
Commander Central Punjab (COMCEP) 136
Other National Maritime Organizations 137
Higher Defence Organization (HDO) 142

9. THE THREAT AND ROLE OF MARITIME FORCES 147

The Strategic Environment 147
Role of the Armed Forces 148
Maritime Operating Mediums 149
The Threat 150
Expanse of Operations 153
The Guiding Creed 155
Wartime (Military) Roles 155
Peace/Uneasy Peacetime –Roles 162
Non Military (Benign) Roles 165

10. FUTURE ASPIRATIONS 171

Vision of Pakistan Navy 171
The Military Strategic Environment 171
Pakistan Navy and the National Security – The Strategic
Correlation 172
Nature of Future Conflict 174
The Changing Character of Conventional Threat 174
Maritime Domain and Conventional War 175
Navy in Evolving Character of War 175
The Ideological Warfare 176
Future Contours of Information Warfare and Cyber Threats 176
Components of Navy as Fighting Power 178
Core Values 180
Maritime Vision 2025 and National Maritime Policy 181
Priority Areas for Force Development 182

viii Preserving Freedom of Seas

 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Glossary 187
Acknowledgements 241
References 243
Index 245

Preserving Freedom of Seas ix

MARITIME DOCTRINE OF PAKISTAN

ILLUSTRATIONS

Figures
1.1 National Security and Maritime Doctrine 6
5.1 Legal Regimes of Oceans and Airspace Areas 61
7.1 Principles of War 116
8.1 Naval Headquarters 131
8.2 Higher Defence Organization of Pakistan 142
8.3 National Security Committee 143
8.4 National Command Authority (NCA) 144
8.5 Organization of Joint Staff Headquarters 146
9.1 The Military Application of Maritime Forces 151
9.2 The Roles 154
9.3 The Non-Military (Benign) Application of Maritime Forces 166
10.1 Fighting Power 179

Maps
2.1 Indian Ocean Choke Points 25
3.1 Sea Lines of Communication in Indian Ocean 46
5.1 North Arabian Sea 59
5.2 Maritime Zones of Pakistan 63
5.3 The Coast of Pakistan 82
8.1 Pakistan Coast Guard (AoR) 140

x Preserving Freedom of Seas

ACRONYMS
AAW Anti Air Warfare
AD Air Defence
AEW Airborne Early Warning
AEW&C Airborne Early Warning and Control
AIP Air Independent Propulsion
AIS Automatic Identification System
ALCM Air Launched Cruise Missile
ANF Anti Narcotic Force
AoR Area of Responsibility
ASM Air to Surface Missile
ASEAN Association of the South East Asian Nations
AShM Anti -Ship Missile
ASuW Anti Surface Warfare
ASW Anti-Submarine Warfare
AWACS Airborne Warning and Control System
Bde Brigade
BMPs Best Management Practices
CAP Combat Air Patrol
2
C Command and Control
CBD Convention on Biological Diversity
CCNS Cabinet Committee on National Security
C4I2SR Command, Control, Communications, Computer,
Intelligence, Information, Surveillance and
Reconnaissance
CMCP Coalition Maritime Campaign Plan
CMD Credible Minimum Deterrence
CMF Combined Maritime Forces
CNS Chief of the Naval Staff
CoG Centre of Gravity
CONOPs Concept of Operations
COS Chief of Staff
CPEC China-Pakistan Economic Corridor
CSAR Combat Search and Rescue
CSI Container Security Initiative
CSR Continuous Synopsis Record
CSS Central Superior Services of Pakistan
CTF Combined Task Force
Preserving Freedom of Seas xi
MARITIME DOCTRINE OF PAKISTAN

C-TPAT Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism

CVBG Carrier Battle Group
DCC Defence Committee of the Cabinet (Old)
DDG Guided Missile Destroyer
DHS Department of Homeland Security (US)
DOE Department of Energy (US)
DWT (dwt) Dead Weight Tonnage
EEZ Exclusive Economic Zone
ESM Electronic Support Measures
EUNAVFOR EU Naval Force
EW Electronic Warfare
FAC Fast Attack Craft
FAC (M) Fast Attack Craft (Missile)
FAO Food and Agriculture Organization (United
Nations)
FAS Favourable Air Situation
FATA Federally Administered Tribal Areas
FOST Flag Officer Sea Training
FP Force Protection
FPSC Federal Public Service Commission of Pakistan
FSD Full Spectrum Deterrence
GLOC Ground Lines of Communication
GMP Global Maritime Partnerships (1,000 Ship Navy)
GNN Global Network of Navies
GPA Gwadar Port Authority
GT Gross Tonnage
HADR Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief
HVU High Value Unit
IFF Identification Friend or Foe
IHO International Hydrographic Organization
IMB International Maritime Bureau
IMC International Maritime Conference
IMO International Maritime Organization
IOMAC Indian Ocean Marine Affairs Committee
IO Indian Ocean
IONS Indian Ocean Naval Symposium
IOR Indian Ocean Region
IORA Indian Ocean RIM Association
xii Preserving Freedom of Seas
 ACRONYMS

IR Infra-Red
ISA International Seabed Authority
ISL International Shipping Lane
ISPS International Ship and Port Facility Security Code
ISR Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance
IUCN International Union for Conservation of Nature
IUUF Illegal, Unreported, Unregulated Fishing
IW Information Warfare
JMICC Joint Maritime Information and Coordination
Centre
JSHQ Joint Staff Headquarters
KICT Karachi International Container Terminal
Km Kilometre
KPT Karachi Port Trust
KSE Karachi Stock Exchange
LAM Land Attack Missile
LACM Land Attack Cruise Missile
LCC Amphibious Command Ship
LCM Landing Craft Mechanised
LCU Landing Craft Utility
LCVP Landing Craft Vehicle Personnel
LEA Law Enforcement Agency
LHA Landing Helicopter Assault
LHD Amphibious Assault Ship
LIC Low Intensity Conflict
LIMO Low Intensity Maritime Operations
LKA Amphibious Cargo Ship
LNG Liquefied Natural Gas
LoC Line of Control
LPD Landing Platform Dock
LPH Landing Platform Helicopter
LRIT Long Range Identification and Tracking
LRMP Long Range Maritime Patrol (aircraft)
LSD Landing Ship Dock
LST Landing Ship Tank
Preserving Freedom of Seas xiii
MARITIME DOCTRINE OF PAKISTAN

MAD Mutually Assured Destruction

MCM Mine Counter Measures
MDA Maritime Domain Awareness
MEA Multi-lateral Environment Agreement
MEZ Military Exclusion Zone
MFD Marine Fisheries Department
MIO Maritime Interdiction Operations
MoMA Ministry of Maritime Affairs (Ex-Ministry of Ports
and Shipping)
MMD Mercantile Marine Department
MMT Million Metric Tonnes
MoD Ministry of Defence
MoI Ministry of Interior
MOOTW Military Operations Other Than War
MoST Ministry of Science and Technology
MPA Maritime Patrol Aircraft
MPA Marine Protected Area
MPI Mega Port Initiative
MRCC Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre
MSO Maritime Security Operations
MSR Marine Scientific Research
NAC Network Aided Capability
NACTA National Counter Terrorism Authority
NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization
NCA National Command Authority
NCMPR National Centre for Maritime Policy Research
NDMA National Disaster Management Authority
NCO Network Centric Operations
NFU No First Use
NGS Naval Gunfire Support
NM (nm) Nautical Mile (2000 Yards) (1.852 Km)
NMACC National Maritime Affairs Coordination Committee
NSA Non State Actor
NSC National Security Committee (New)
NSP National Security Policy
OOTW Operations Other Than War
OPSEC Operational Security
xiv Preserving Freedom of Seas
 ACRONYMS

OPV Off Shore Patrol Vessels

OTC Officer in Tactical Command
PAOs Pro Active Operations
PCG Pakistan Coast Guard
PEPA Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency
PICT Pakistan International Container Terminal
PMSA Pakistan Maritime Security Agency
PN Pakistan Navy
PNS Pakistan Navy Ship
PNSC Pakistan National Shipping Corporation
PQA Port Qasim Authority
PSE Public Sector Enterprise
PSI Proliferation Security Initiative
PSO Principal Staff Officer/ Pakistan State Oil
PSYOPS Psychological Operations
RAS Replenishment at Sea
ReCAAP Regional Co-operation Agreement on Combating
Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia
RMA Revolution in Military Affairs
ROE Rules of Engagement
SACEP South Asia Co-operative Environment Programme
SADC South African Development Community
SAG Surface Action Group
SAM Surface to Air Missile
SAR Search and Rescue
SAU Search and Attack Unit
SDG Sustainable Development Goals (United Nations)
SFI Secure Freight Initiative
SLCM Submarine Launched Cruise Missile
SLOC Sea Line of Communication
SMI Strategic Management Initiative
SOF Special Operations Forces
SOLAS Safety of Life at Sea
SOP Standard Operating Procedure
Sq Km Square Kilometre

Preserving Freedom of Seas xv

MARITIME DOCTRINE OF PAKISTAN

SS Diesel Powered Electric Submarine

SSAS Ship Security Alert System
SSBN Nuclear Powered Submarine with Ballistic Missiles
SSG Special Service Group
SSG(N) Special Service Group (Navy)
SSGN Nuclear Powered Submarine with Guided
Missiles
SSM Surface to Surface Missile
SSN Nuclear Powered Attack Submarine
SUA Suppression of Unlawful Activity
TEU Twenty Foot Equivalent Unit
TEZ Total Exclusion Zone
TF Task Force
TG Task Group
UAV Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
UCAV Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle
UN United Nations
UNCLCS United Nations Commission on the Limits of
the Continental Shelf
UNCLOS United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea
1982
UNCTAD United Nations Conference on Trade and
Development
UNREP Underway Replenishment at Sea
UNSC United Nations Security Council
US United States
USD United States Dollar
UUV Unmanned Under water Vehicle
VA Vulnerable Area
VBSS Visit, Board, Search and Seizure (operations)
VCNS Vice Chief of Naval Staff
VP Vulnerable Point
VSTOL Vertical Short Take Off and Landing
WMD Weapons of Mass Destruction
WPNS Western Pacific Naval Symposium
WTO World Trade Organization
WWF World Wild life Federation
xvi Preserving Freedom of Seas
 CHAPTER – 1
MARITIME DOCTRINE OF PAKISTAN – IN CONTEXT

“And HE it is Who hath constrained the sea to be of service that ye eat fresh
meat from thence, and bring forth from thence ornaments which ye wear.
And thou seest the ships ploughing it that ye (mankind) may seek of His
bounty, and that haply ye may give thanks”.
(Al-Nahl: 14)

DOCTRINE

th
Doctrine, derived from 14 century Latin word 'doctrina' or 'teaching'
entails a set of beliefs, particular principles or a position held and advocated
by a distinct group or party. It is a generic term for the theoretical
component of experience. A doctrine is a living document written for the
present and provides for continuity and change. Whilst remaining verifiable
and accurate, a doctrine serves as guidance for a shared understanding on
principles, practices, managing change and acts as a driving force behind
institutional development.

Preserving Freedom of Seas 1

MARITIME DOCTRINE OF PAKISTAN

MARITIME DOCTRINE

A maritime doctrine lays down the fundamental maritime principles on

which subsequent actions (non-military and military) in the strategic,
operational and tactical realm are founded in pursuit of national objectives.

NEED
Need for a formal Maritime Doctrine of Pakistan(MDP) has been felt to
enable:

r All Naval officers to be acquainted with the basic principles on

which the use of maritime forces depend and to have a shared way
of thinking.

r Officers of the Army and Air Force to better appreciate the

maritime component of the broader military strategy.

r Maritime awareness among the general masses so that great

maritime potential of our Nation can be fully exploited.

r Research and academic institutions as well as interested

members of the general public to obtain an insight into the
intricacies of the maritime environment in which maritime forces
operate.

r Better cooperation with Friendly navies and Coalition partners.

r Essential familiarity of the international audience with maritime

thinking of Pakistan.

2 Preserving Freedom of Seas

 MARITIME DOCTRINE OF PAKISTAN - IN CONTEXT

PURPOSE

The purpose of formulating Maritime Doctrine of Pakistan, short titled MDP,

is to provide understanding to all stake holders on the distinctive attributes
of National Maritime sector and the role of Pakistan Navy in National
Security. MDP also aims to develop coherence and uniformity of thought
and action within Pakistan Navy and cooperation with the Army, Airforce,
Friendly navies as well as Coalition partners.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MILITARY AND MARITIME

DOCTRINE

A military doctrine is defined as ‘the fundamental precepts and principles

that guide a military force in support of its objectives; albeit authoritative, it
requires judgement in application'. Maritime doctrine, on the other hand
describes a nation's maritime potential and enunciates the related guiding
principles. This potential includes the non-military (merchant shipping,
ports, harbours, shipbuilding and repair, coastal communication
infrastructure, fishing, other marine resources etc) as well as the military
(Pakistan Navy, Pakistan Maritime Security Agency and law enforcement
agencies assisting the Navy) components. It further explains the purpose
and manner in which these components can be applied in pursuit of
National objectives.

Preserving Freedom of Seas 3

MARITIME DOCTRINE OF PAKISTAN

MARITIME AND NAVAL STRATEGY

‘A maritime strategy encompasses naval strategy but is broader in nature’.

Maritime strategy is the art of developing and employing all elements of
seapower during peace and war to achieve aims and objectives of national
maritime policy. It is influenced, inter alia by economic, trade, energy,
defence and foreign policies. Maritime strategy is the regulating
mechanism for all elements of seapower, which include but are not limited
to ports and harbours, mercantile marine, ocean's economic resources
(living, non-living, and subsoil) and maritime military forces. It also provides
a stable framework within which development and employment of
hardware, infrastructure and tactics are to be realized.

A naval strategy deals chiefly with the development and employment of

naval forces. In pure military terms, the immediate purpose of naval strategy
for any navy is to contest the control of the sea through direct or indirect
methods. The articulation of strategy is also an attempt to formalize the
ideas and elements of naval warfare so that they are more understandable
to a larger defence community, which often seems more comfortable with
the concepts of land warfare.

POLICY, STRATEGY AND DOCTRINE INTERPLAY

National policies are formulated by the Government and normally issued

through gazette notifications. These are rooted in national interests and
objectives as enunciated in the constitution and political directives issued
from time to time. The national policies guide the formulation of various
strategies including military, nuclear and maritime. A grand strategy is the
art or science of employing all elements of national power and resources to
achieve national objectives. It is about the relationship between means and

4 Preserving Freedom of Seas

 MARITIME DOCTRINE OF PAKISTAN - IN CONTEXT

ends and is inescapably both, political and military. Since originating in

policy, a strategy remains subordinate to the former. The term has extensive
application. Strategy is nonetheless rooted in war for it is in the field of
armed conflict that strategy assumes its most complex form. It provides link
between war and policy and is about making war an instrument to achieve
political goals. Accordingly, the term relates specifically to the strategic level
of war distinguished by the interrelation between military means and
political ends. The foundations of a strategy rest in doctrine. While strategy
steers development and employment of forces (and elements of seapower
in case of maritime strategy), a doctrine serves as a landmark in common
understanding and translating beliefs into actions.

Preserving Freedom of Seas 5

 NATIONAL SECURITY AND MARITIME DOCTRINE
6

NATIONAL INTERESTS
Interpretation of national purpose - ‘End’ for which a state acts.
Framed by the NSC*, approved by
the Cabinet and found in National
NATIONAL AIMS/ OBJECTIVES Security Policy.
Aims are conditions in future and aspired by a nation. Objectives
are broad goals based principles designed to support
national interests.

NATIONAL SECURITY INTERESTS

FOREIGN DOMESTIC/INTERNAL ECONOMIC MARITIME NUCLEAR DEFENCE

POLICY POLICY POLICY POLICY** POLICY POLICY

MARITIME NUCLEAR
MILITARY STRATEGY
STRATEGY STRATEGY

MARITIME
DOCTRINE

SEAPOWER ***
NAVAL LAND AIR
STRATEGY STRATEGY STRATEGY

DEVELOPMENT OF DEVELOPMENT OF
DEVELOPMENT OF DEVELOPMENT OF
INDUSTRIES/SHIPBUILDING & MERCANTILE MARINE/
PORTS/HARBOURS NAVAL FORCES
REPAIR/MARINE RESOURCES/R&D COASTGUARD

Figure 1.1
* The National Security Committee (NSC) of the Cabinet was constituted by the Government in April 2014. Chaired by the Prime
Minister, it includes the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Defence, Information, Interior and Finance besides the top military leadership
including the Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee and the Chiefs of Staff of Pakistan Army, Navy and Air Force. NSC is the principal
decision making body on National security and is mandated to formulate a comprehensive National Security Strategy. The National
Security Division serves as the Secretariat of the National Security Committee. Input to National Security Committee is provided by
Ministries, Military Intelligence, Senate, National Assembly, Special Committees, Think Tanks and renowned Scholars.

** Maritime Vision 2025 is in development stage under the aegis of Planning Commission. A revised National Maritime Policy is
meanwhile in advance stage of approval by the Government.

*** Seapower is the sum of all physical, demographic, geographic, economic, and military resources derived from or related to
sea. It involves navies, coastguards, marine or civil maritime industries and where relevant the contribution of land and air forces. It
further implies power both, at and from the sea.
7
MARITIME DOCTRINE OF PAKISTAN

SEAPOWER
“Whosoever can hold the sea has command of everything”
Themistoceles, 524-460 BC
(Athenian politician and naval strategist)

Seapower of a nation stems from the maritime potential. The navy of a

country is expression of its seapower. Complementing this military power
are the physical, demographic, geographic, and economic resources derived
from or related to the sea. These resources are used by a nation to advance
its national interests. Seapower involves civil and military maritime
capabilities of a nation. The expression is not only about what it takes to use
the sea but also the capacity to influence behaviour of people, things or
events ashore by what one does at or from the sea.

A navy serves as an instrument of deterrence, protection and preservation

of national maritime assets besides advancing a country's maritime
interests and enhancing
diplomatic clout overseas.
The term seapower
embraces the contribution
that navies can make to
influence events on land or
in the air and the contri-
bution that the other
Services can make to events at sea.

While naval forces can be used to threaten a state’s security, at a

fundamental level seapower is also benign. ‘The naval forces can generate
security without threatening others’ political or sovereign survival as may
be the case with ground forces intervention’.
Seapower is, however, a relative concept with some countries having more
than others. This could be in the shape of naval strength, ship-building
8 Preserving Freedom of Seas
 MARITIME DOCTRINE OF PAKISTAN - IN CONTEXT

potential, manpower reservoir of seafarers, marine resources, off-shore

assets etc or a combination of all these characteristics.

MILITARY INSTRUMENTS OF SEAPOWER

The sea, like land, is a domain where nations seek to prove their strength
and (or) increase their influence. Since primitive times, the sea has been
used for fishing, transportation and as a battle field for competing interests
and control of maritime trade routes. The instruments or tools used for
fighting at sea gradually evolved into warships and other potent fighting
platforms. After centuries of research and development, warships have
become diversified and complex systems representing most of today's
technological capabilities. In order to create decisive military effects, they
are provided with the capacity to generate tremendous firepower,
detection systems to detect and neutralize above, underwater and aerial
threats and an intricate command and control system that integrates the
electromagnetic and cyber domains. This, of course, is backed by all the
logistic support necessary for employing these complex tools of naval
power.

SURFACE FORCES

Warship

International law defines a warship as a ship belonging to the armed forces

of a nation bearing the external markings distinguishing the character and
nationality of such ships, under the command of an officer duly
commissioned by the government of that nation and whose name appears
in the appropriate Service list of officers, and manned by a crew which is
under regular armed forces discipline. In Pakistan Navy, those ships

Preserving Freedom of Seas 9

MARITIME DOCTRINE OF PAKISTAN

designated as Pakistan Navy Ship (PNS) and Pakistan Maritime Security

Agency (PMSA) vessels designated as Pakistan Maritime Security Ship
(PMSS) are ‘warships’ under the international law.

Aircraft Carrier
Aircraft carriers are primarily power projection platforms. Besides, inherent
mobility, they have onboard capacity to embark various types of potent
aircraft for delivering firepower at sea and ashore. They also have a
capability to detect and neutralize any air threat with effective terminal
defences. Aircraft carriers may displace upto 100,000 tonnes and vary in
length from 185 to 340 metre. These ships require effective protection
against air, surface and sub-surface threats and thus usually operate as part
of integrated group called Carrier Battle Group (CVBG). These prized
platforms are also the most sought after targets by an adversary.

Courtesy US Navy

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Cruisers

Cruisers are general purpose fighting ships with a tonnage between 6,000-
10,000 tonnes. Their main function is air defence, support to convoys and
shore bombardment. The arrival of destructive and long range missiles with
land attack capability has gradually reduced the role of these platforms in
most navies.

Destroyers

Destroyers are versatile ships of a fleet with capacity to operate in multi-

threat environment. These ships have all-around capabilities of anti-air,
anti-surface and anti-submarine warfare. They can operate independently
at extended ranges for fairly long periods. Their displacement usually varies
between 3000-6000 tonnes.

Courtesy PLA Navy

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MARITIME DOCTRINE OF PAKISTAN

Frigates
Frigates are primarily anti
submarine warfare (ASW)
ships. These platforms can
provide screen for escort of
capital ships and High Value
Units (HVUs). Frigates are
relatively smaller, agile and
quieter than destroyers and
vary in displacement between 2000 and 5000 tonnes. They may carry towed
array sonars for long range detection of submarines. Except for the size, the
distinction between a destroyer and frigate is diminishing particularly with
respect to effectiveness and firepower.

Corvettes
Corvettes are lighter in tonnage and weaponry than a frigate. They are
armed for anti-air and anti-surface operations but their primary
configuration remains ASW. Their displacement can vary between 500-2000
tonnes. Corvettes generally operate in waters close to coast.

Courtesy Turkish Navy

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Offshore Patrol Vessels

Offshore Patrol Vessels

(OPVs) normally operate in
coastal waters. They can
undertake operations for
relatively longer duration
and even in very turbulent
sea states. Armed lightly, an
OPV can nonetheless carry
deadly long range missiles.

Fast Attack Craft

Small fast attack craft (FAC) may be equipped in any suitable combination
with guns, torpedoes, mines and missiles for operation in coastal waters.
FACs are classified correspondingly, such as FAC (Missile), FAC (Gun) and
FAC (Torpedo). Modern FAC (M)s are also capable of carrying land
attack missiles. The
displacement of these craft
could be between 100 to
over 500 tonnes. The
operations of FAC (M)s are
generally dependent on
weather and sea
conditions.

Mine Warfare Forces

Mine counter measure forces are employed to sweep and destroy mines.
These are of four types: ocean minesweepers, coastal minesweepers,

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MARITIME DOCTRINE OF PAKISTAN

inshore minesweepers, and

mine hunters. In the
modern concept, especially
equipped helicopters are
also employed to sweep
mines. The tonnage of
minesweepers and
minehunters can vary from
40-450 tonnes. The present
day emphasis is on mine hunters, which employ sophisticated sonar systems
for detecting underwater mines and then neutralizing them through
Unmanned Under water Vehicle (UUV).

Amphibious Warfare Forces

The ships and craft employed in amphibious warfare include amphibious
command ship (LCC), amphibious assault ships (LHA and LPH), amphibious
transport docks (LPD), deck landing ships (LSD), tank landing ships (LST),
amphibious cargo ships
(LKA) and utility landing
craft (LCU, LCM, LCVP).
These ships and craft are
specially designed to carry
troops, guns, tanks,
equipment and stores for
assault/landing on shores.
Courtesy US Navy
The tonnage of these craft varies from 14,000 - 40,000 tonnes. The LHA and
LPD, depending on the design, can carry onboard a number of
helicopters/VSTOL aircraft to support amphibious operations. These forces
are essentially needed for expeditionary operations.

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 MARITIME DOCTRINE OF PAKISTAN - IN CONTEXT

Fleet Auxiliaries

In naval warfare, a fleet while operating away from home base for longer
duration is dependent on logistic support. Fleet auxiliaries, which include
depot and repair ships, tankers, oilers cum store ships, ammunition ships,
hospital ships and ocean going tugs, provide the essential support to ships at
sea. These ships are specially equipped for replenishing at sea while
remaining underway. The fleet auxiliaries provide a fleet great operational
advantage in range, endurance and capability to operate independent of
shore based support. Fleet oilers are a pre-requisite for undertaking
sustained operations at sea.

SUB SURFACE FORCES

Submarines
Submarines are primarily sea denial platforms. They are generally classified
according to their propulsion and weapon suite as follows:

r SSK Diesel electric powered attack submarine.

r SSN Nuclear powered attack submarine.
r SSGN Nuclear powered guided missile carrying
submarine.
r SSBN Nuclear powered ballistic missile
carrying submarine.

Diesel electric submarines

have limited submerged
speed (3-7 Knots) with the
periodic requirement to
snorkel (process to raise
induction mast breaking the
sea surface) for charging of

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MARITIME DOCTRINE OF PAKISTAN

batteries. During snorkelling, these submarines are susceptible to detection

by ASW forces particularly ASW aircraft. The latest technology in
conventional submarines is Air Independent Propulsion (AIP) system. The
system allows additional submerged time and is particularly useful during
evasion and transiting through intense ASW activity areas. Although the
introduction of AIP has enhanced the submerged endurance of these
submarines, they are still restricted in speed. In any case, the stealth feature
and ability to operate covertly makes these platforms a powerful weapon.
Conventional submarines usually displace between 1000 and 3500 tonnes.

SSNs and SSBNs are designed to remain deployed for longer duration. They
are capable of doing sustained high speeds (upto 30 Knots) and have
virtually unlimited
endurance. They not only
perform sea denial
functions but can also be
part of ASW forces for
convoy support operations.
SSBNs have a strategic role
of firing ballistic missiles
Courtesy US Navy
and as such require a robust
command and control system. They are part of nuclear strategic forces of a
nation. The dived displacement of a nuclear powered submarine can be up
to 18,000 tonnes.

NAVAL AVIATION

Naval aviation includes fixed wing aircraft in multi-mission configuration.

Fixed wing aircraft are also used for reconnaissance at sea, ferrying and
Search and Rescue (SAR) purposes. Also included in naval aviation are

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 MARITIME DOCTRINE OF PAKISTAN - IN CONTEXT

helicopters, interceptors
and bombers. Rotary wing
aircraft primarily consist of
ship borne helicopters
(Helos) used for various
combat functions at sea.
Together, these platforms
a i m to p rov i d e e a r l y
warning on assembly of enemy forces, their detection as well as
neutralization by attacking them from the air.

Long Range Maritime Patrol (LRMP) Aircraft

LRMP aircraft constitute eyes and ears of the fleet as it provides real time
information for compilation of maritime picture. LRMPs are also used to
detect and attack submarines as well as conduct anti-surface operations.
These aircraft can be armed with torpedoes or missiles or a combination of
both.

Maritime Patrol Aircraft (MPA)

MPAs are utilized in reconnaissance, anti-submarine or anti surface
operations. These aircraft can be armed with torpedoes or missiles. The
endurance of MPAs ranges from 5 to 16 hours and are shore based. Other
categories of fixed wing aircraft include: Airborne Early Warning (AEW),
Airborne Warning And Control System (AWACS), etc.

Fighters/Interceptors/Bombers

They are meant for interception of enemy aircraft and attacking enemy
ships as well as ground targets. These could be shore or carrier based.

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MARITIME DOCTRINE OF PAKISTAN

Helicopters
These are utilized for anti-
submarine, anti-surface,
special operations and
command and liaison
purposes. Helicopters could
be shore or ship based.
Alternatively, Helos are
used for coastal
reconnaissance, ferrying and SAR.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
(UAVs) or Remotely Piloted
Aerial Vehicles (RPAVs) are
used for surveillance at sea
or in coastal areas.
Although long in the
making, organic shipborne
UAVs are now beginning to
gain wider acceptance and
understanding of the naval fraternity. UAVs are also used for combat
purposes in which case these are called Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles
(UCAVs). UAVs can also act as a support aircraft in the battlefield.
UAVs/UCAVs are rapidly advancing in technology, which is helping them get
enhanced range and endurance.

MARINE FORCES
These are highly capable forces with distinctive roles and functions. Marine
forces can conduct expeditionary operations from the sea as well as

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 MARITIME DOCTRINE OF PAKISTAN - IN CONTEXT

sustained operations ashore. In contemporary era, these forces are

increasingly employed against irregular threats.

SPECIAL OPERATIONS FORCES (SOF)

SOF are multidimensional forces with capacity to conduct special

operations through land, sea, air and sub-sea. Special Operations Forces,
inter-alia, may conduct airborne, commando, salvage as well as search and
rescue operations. The SOF also augments a nation's effort in a regular
conventional war.

DISTINCTIVE CHARACTERISTICS OF MARITIME

ENVIRONMENT
The maritime operating environment is unique. There are some
characteristics that best define it and set it apart at the same time:

r Vastness of the Operating Medium The high seas are devoid of

any distinctive features. The operating medium exhibits a continuous
unbroken and unobstructed view as well as openness.

r Environmental Impact The sea, while providing unhindered

access to the ships that sail on it, can prove to be equally unrelenting
when it unleashes the forces of nature. As the sea state deteriorates
and sea becomes more turbulent, comfort levels tend to plunge. Gales
and cyclone force winds if encountered, can be harsh on both, men
and material.
r Fraternity The high seas are referred to as the common
heritage of mankind where warships of a large number of navies, land
adversaries included, frequently rub shoulders with and even
exchange information and ceremonial greetings on coming across
each other.
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MARITIME DOCTRINE OF PAKISTAN

r Interoperability The sea permit navies of many countries to

operate together as a composite task group towards a common cause
whenever needed.

ATTRIBUTES OF MARITIME FORCES

The inherent attributes of maritime forces differ starkly from army and air
force. Some of these are:

r Mobility Being intrinsically composite and self sustaining,

warships are able to traverse hundreds of miles in a day. Such mobility
also leads to rapidity of response and delivering combat power as well
as transportation of marine forces in an area where these are needed in
any emergency.

r Sustainability Depending on the nature and type of operation, a

warship can keep sustained level of combat power in time and space to
achieve its objectives.

r Versatility A warship is intrinsically versatile by nature and can

handle multiple tasks at short notice. In addition, it has an inherent
ability to rapidly transform from one role to another.

r Flexibility A warship can be deployed or withdrawn swiftly from

an area using modern communication. The oceans being huge, the
inherent flexibility of warships allow them to be deployed in an area
covertly or overtly. Submarines are particularly well suited for covert
deployment.

r Poise The seaborne forces can readily execute a mission at a short

notice. They can then remain deployed and positioned for long periods
to influence events or withdraw without the risk of embroilment.

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 MARITIME DOCTRINE OF PAKISTAN - IN CONTEXT

NAVY AS INSTRUMENT OF FOREIGN POLICY

In peace or war, a navy is an ideal instrument of pursuing objectives of
foreign policy. The peculiarities of the maritime domain coupled with
distinct attributes of the
navies, much different from
other armed forces, allow
them free navigation on
high seas. Furthermore,
navies (that have ability to
project power across the
oceans) can cruise the
world's seas in peacetime and even conduct limited operations outside
territorial waters of hostile countries.

ST
MARITIME DOMAIN IN 21 CENTURY

Three- quarters of the world's population lives in the littorals, less than 200
miles from the sea, 80 percent of its capital cities and nearly all major
centres of international trade and military power can also be found there.
The littorals are where
major trade routes
intersect. As shared
highway connecting the
world, the maritime
domain today supports a
dominant part of the global
trade. The amount of seaborne commerce has substantially expanded over
the past 30 years or so. In 2015, the world seaborne trade volume surpassed
10 billion tonnes, the first time in the records of UNCTAD. Shipments grew by
2.1 percent while the tanker trade segment recorded its best performance

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MARITIME DOCTRINE OF PAKISTAN

since 2008. China’s ‘One Belt’, ‘One Road’ initiative, according to UNCTAD,
has the potential to affect seaborne trade, reshape world shipping networks
and generate business opportunities.

The global seaborne commerce is loaded or offloaded at 4,000 ports world

wide including 1,000 major seaports. Over 30 nations have navies with
global reach while 160 nations have smaller navies, coast guard or maritime
policing capability.

The current global security environment is characterized by unpredictable

changes, instability and enormous interdependence surrounded by range of
diverse challenges. These challenges inter alia include scarcity of resources,
terrorism, violent non-state actors and global warming or climate change.
The last is cause of dramatic rise in the sea levels, triggering wide spread
cyclones, hurricanes, and tsunamis, which now increasingly affect millions
of inhabitants in coastal regions and urban centres along the shores of the
oceans. Climate change has multiplied the task of navies and other maritime
forces around the world.

THE SEA AND HOLY BOOKS

Since times immemorial, mankind has ventured into sea for three
fundamental reasons: exploiting its resources, finding new lands or routes
to far away places and transporting merchandize. In the Holy Quran, the
word Bahr has been used 41 times in 39 verses. The naval inspirations in
Islam are derived from the traditions of Holy Prophet (PBUH) which among
other things, encourages naval warfare.

“A battle at sea is like ten battles on land and the one who
suffers from dizziness at sea is like one who is soaked in his
blood in the path of Allah”.
Sunan Ibn Majah, Ch 10, Hadith 2777

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 MARITIME DOCTRINE OF PAKISTAN - IN CONTEXT

In Arabic language, the term 'fulk' (‫)ﻓُﻠﮏ‬, 'safinah' (‫ﺳـﻔﻳﻧﺔ‬: pl. ‫ )ﺳُﻔُﻥ‬or 'jariya'
(‫ﺟﺎرﻳﺔ‬: pl. ‫ )ﺍﻟﺟـﻭﺍري‬is used to describe sea going vessels. These three terms
appear in different chapters and verses of Quran. The world's first large
water borne vessel was the Prophet Noah's Ark described in Quranic verse:

“And it sailed with them amid waves like mountains, and Noah cried unto his
son - and he was standing aloof - O my son! Come ride with us, and be not
with the disbelievers.”
(Hud: 42)
According to Bible (The Genesis, 6:15), the Ark was 525 feet long; had a
width of 87.5 feet and measured 52.5 feet in height. Prophet Noah was the
first man deemed to be the founder of the maritime industry, a Shipbuilder,
a Shipper and a Salvor, while his Ark as the first Passenger and Livestock
Carrier.

Throughout history, sea routes were as important as land routes. Rich

maritime traditions developed as empires expanded and trading through
sea led to interaction between distant civilizations. This interaction also
resulted in conflict, leading to quest for dominance.

MUSLIMS AND THE NAVY

The development and use of navy by the Muslims dates back to the time of
Caliph Uthman Ibn Affan RA (d. June 656 AD). By the early 7th century the
Romans had considerably overcome their archrival Persians which by then
was a crumbling Empire. The Byzantine Empire's attempt in 649 to take over
Syria, then an Arab Muslim stronghold led to a series of battles between the
two sides. In 655 the navies of the two sides clashed off the coast of
Anatolia, a peninsula of land that today constitutes the Asian portion of
Turkey.
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MARITIME DOCTRINE OF PAKISTAN

In a famous battle, which came to be known as ‘Battle of the Masts’, the

Byzantine and Muslim fleets engaged closely. Despite overwhelming
numerical superiority in ships, the Byzantine navy suffered from poor
generalship. The battle that lasted for more than a day, ended in defeat of
Byzantine navy. Muslim naval supremacy was firmly established throughout
the Mediterranean. Interestingly, the Arab Muslims had earlier brought
shipbuilding techniques to the Mediterranean from the Indian Ocean.
These techniques enabled construction of larger robust and efficient ships
that proved decisive in engagements at sea.

The ‘Battle of the Masts’ also marked the dawn and advancement of the era
of Muslim navies that ultimately saw Ottoman Turks wresting away control
of Europe in 16th century. At the height of its power, the Ottoman naval
supremacy extended from Europe to Middle East with major naval bases at
Suez (1517) and Basra (1538) ensuring preservation of international trade
routes against attacks by the Portuguese fleet. It was the Ottomans who
fought to keep the old Middle Eastern trade route open. This trade route was
closed only when the Cape route was taken over from the Portuguese by the
much more powerful fleets of the English and Dutch.

PNS RAH NAWARD

24 Preserving Freedom of Seas

 CHAPTER – 2
THE INDIAN OCEAN REGION

THE INDIAN OCEAN

The Indian Ocean spreads all the way South to Antarctica, covering
68, 536, 000 Sq Km, almost 27 percent of the maritime space of the world
and 14 percent of the total globe. It is described as a body of water between
Africa, the Antarctic Ocean, Asia, and Australia. The Indian Ocean is the
third largest of the world's five oceans (after the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic
Ocean.

INDIAN OCEAN CHOKE POINTS

Map 2.1
It is a relatively enclosed Ocean, with its Northern, Western and Eastern
sides bound by land and its Southern perimeter as it merges with the
Antarctic Ocean characterized by fearsome winds. Shipping passes through
specific chokepoints in order to enter or exit the Indian Ocean. Four
critically important access waterways are the Suez Canal (Egypt), Bab el
Mandeb (Djibouti-Yemen), Strait of Hormuz (Iran-Oman), and Strait of

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MARITIME DOCTRINE OF PAKISTAN

Malacca (Indonesia-Malaysia). Port cities are found at all these chokepoints.

On land, the Indian Ocean is bounded and influenced by 36 key states and 20
peripheral states. The region also includes numerous island territories of
littoral and other states. The decision by the International Hydrographic
Organization (IHO) in the spring of 2000 to delimit a fifth ocean, the
Antarctic Ocean, removed the portion of the Indian Ocean south of 60
degrees South latitude.

HISTORICAL SURVEY

“The study of history lies at the foundation of all sound military

conclusions and practice”.
Alfred Thayer Mahan, 1840 - 1914
The Indian Ocean region since antiquity has been a melting pot of
civilizations and cultures. These civilization and cultures have continually
intermingled through trade. Connections established predate even the
Viking forays into the northern part of the American continent by over 4000
years. The Indian Ocean region, since 5000 BC, was a scene of frantic trading
activity, both coastal and transoceanic. Around the beginning of the
Common Era (former AD), the two ancient Red Sea port cities of Berenike
and Hormos had extensive trading links with India.

Early Trading Activities

Traders from Persia, enjoying state patronage during the height of the
ancient Sassanian Empire (224-651) were seen to dominate trade in the
Gulf as well as the Western Indian Ocean. The Arabs were also renowned
seafarers whose presence in India, East Africa and even in the East Indies
was a familiar sight. The Sassanian dynasty was destroyed by the Muslim
Arabs during the years 637-651. The latter's commercial activities

26 Preserving Freedom of Seas

 THE INDIAN OCEAN REGION

can be said to have peaked in the 9th century. Barring a few exceptions, the
general trading pattern was such that Ceylon (present day Sri Lanka) and
Calicut acted as an entrepot for trade between the Eastern and Western
parts of the Ocean.

Portuguese Designs

Vasco da Gama, (d. December 24, 1524 Cochin, India) was a Portuguese
navigator whose voyages to India between 1497-99 and 1502-03 opened up
sea route from Western Europe to the East by way of the Cape of Good
Hope. This set about a new era in world history. In 1502 he was given the
rank of an Admiral. Portuguese were the first Europeans to arrive in
numbers in the Indian Ocean.

Right from the moment the first lot of Portuguese expeditionary ships sailed
into Calicut harbour, the Portuguese regional designs were clear. The
principal aim of the Portuguese was to achieve economic stranglehold over
the Asian trade, in pepper and spices in particular. Portuguese had
antipathy for the Muslims. The capture of strategic ports, Colombo (1505),
Socotra (1507), Goa (1510), Melaka (1511), Hormuz (1515) and Diu (1535)
annexed during a 30 years stretch commencing 1505, enabled the
Portuguese to control and tax trade in the Indian Ocean. All ships plying in
the Ocean were required to obtain a license and pay custom duty after
visiting these ports and before setting off on their onward voyages. The
merchandize these ships could carry was strictly monitored and restricted
from hostile areas that were not allowed weapons and spices.

The monopoly enabled Portuguese to reap huge profits by selling in Europe,

where Asian spices were in great demand. It also allowed them to
simultaneously sideline Muslim traders who had thus far been dominating
regional trade. The markets dealing with these commodities namely Aden,

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MARITIME DOCTRINE OF PAKISTAN

Jeddah, Basra, Cairo, Alexandria, Aleppo, Sofala, Hormuz, Diu and Melaka,
consequently fell into decline. By early 17th century, however the
Portuguese hold in the Indian Ocean region was in shreds, dwindling rapidly
as they lost major ports including Cochin and Colombo.

Enter the Dutch

th
Towards the end of the 16 century, the Dutch, sensing an opportunity,
commenced their trading activities in the Indian Ocean and a little later, in
1604, entered into a treaty with the Emperor of Malabar, the Zamorin, to
work together for the expulsion of the Portuguese presence. Realizing that
the Portuguese were deeply entrenched at all the strategic locations, the
Dutch embarked on a plan to first establish their base in Java and from there
to make inroads into Portuguese domain.

The Dutch traded mainly in spices, cinnamon, cloves, pepper and nutmeg.
The establishment of Dutch East India Company in 1602 aimed at controlling
the intra Dutch competition between various Dutch companies. It was to
curb uneven trade profiteering, mostly earned through Indian spices. The
merchants were encouraged by the state to combine their resources. Finally
trade monopoly in the Indian Ocean was given to Dutch East India Company.
After capturing Malacca in 1641, the Dutch then aided the powerful King of
Ceylon to drive out the Portuguese. As a result, Colombo was the last to fall
after a protracted siege by the Dutch fleet in 1654.

28 Preserving Freedom of Seas

 THE INDIAN OCEAN REGION

The French Naval Inroads

The French having failed to make inroads in Ceylon in 1670 against the
deeply entrenched Dutch, settled for Madagascar and Mauritius. The
French fleet saw its best days under Admiral De Suffren in 1782-84. During
this period French actively supported Hyder Ali's Carnatic campaigns - a
series of military contests during the 18th century between the British, the
French, the Marhatas and Mysore (now Karnataka) for control of the coastal
strip. French also managed to capture Trincomalee port in Sri Lanka.

The Mughals

By early 18th century, fissures started to appear in the Mughal Empire and it
began to crumble. The decline of the Mughal Empire and the rise of the
British in India amongst other factors is attributable to the formers'
obsessive landward concerns. Mughals developed outsized armies for land
battles forsaking the Indian shores or the large coastline which provided an
ideal strategic position in relation to major trading routes. It was an affliction
described in common parlance as 'sea blindness', a menacing threat in
which large segments of general population and governments remain
ignorant of maritime future. This vacuum enabled outside powers with
strong commercial interests and potent navies to exploit the subcontinental
riches and thus establish a foothold in India.

The Trading Companies

The English and French commenced their Indian Ocean activities in the
wake of Dutch. Following the Dutch example, they set up their own East
India Companies in 1600 and 1664 respectively. The Dutch East India

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MARITIME DOCTRINE OF PAKISTAN

Company, like Portuguese desired control of spice and pepper trade. Dutch
were initially much more successful than the British East India Company. The
two had dissimilarity as well. While the Dutch East India Company
concentrated on country and inter Asian trade, the British East India
Company focused on trade to Europe.

The British Empire in India

Using their seapower effectively, the British gradually built up their land
power, through Madras in 1749 and Bengal in 1756. The Napoleonic wars in
Europe helped the British take over Ceylon, Java, Malacca and the Cape from
the Dutch and the French possessions, especially Mauritius, from the
French. The ports of Madras (Chennai), Bombay (Mumbai) and Calcutta
th
(Kolkata) were established by the British in the mid to late 17 century to
wean the transoceanic trade away from the traditional port cities. Despite
the careful application of coercion to attract the Asian traders, it still took a
good seventy odd years for Bombay to become more formidable than its
neighbouring port Surat. By 1800 another commodity, tea had entered the
trade market in a big way. British exported opium (cultivated in Bihar,
Eastern India) to China in return for tea. This trade and its revenue grew
sharply with a rise in tea consumption in European market.

After setting up factories in the port cities, the British proceeded to set them
up further inland near the production centres. It sent a clear message that
the British were in it for the long haul. The advent of steamships and the
opening of the Suez Canal (in November 1869) were two major
developments that transformed trading patterns in the region by shortening
the time and distances involved.

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 THE INDIAN OCEAN REGION

The Birth of Pakistan Navy

“Pakistan is still in its infancy and so is its Navy and other branches of
the Armed Forces. But this infant means to grow up and God willing
will grow up much sooner than many people think.... You will have to
make up for the smallness of your size by your courage and selfless
devotion to duty for it is not life that matters but the courage,
fortitude and determination you bring to it”.
Quaid-i-Azam’s address to Pakistan Navy. PNS Dilawar, 23 January 1948.

On the eve of indepe-

ndence, Pakistan Navy
came into being with the
prefix 'Royal'. The distri-
bution of resources to the
Royal Pakistan Navy by the
British was no different
from the other two
Services. Sixteen assorted ships, three shore establishments and roughly
two hundred officers and three thousand personnel for manning the ships
was not a great start. Facilities for ship repair and docking as well as the only
Naval Dockyard were located in Bombay. The problem of routine
maintenance let alone refit seemed insurmountable. The separation
between the country's two wings and requirement for a strong Navy further
compounded the problems. Nevertheless, the greatest invisible asset was
unflinching loyalty of every officer and man towards the new State and his
profession. Thus began the journey of Pakistan Navy that saw it through
numerous trials and tribulations only to come out better each time given the
perseverance of its human resource.

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MARITIME DOCTRINE OF PAKISTAN

Indo-Pak Wars

The hallmark of 1965 Indo - Pak war was daring bombardment of coastal
Indian town of Dwarka by a Pakistan Navy surface force consisting of a light
cruiser and six destroyers. Despite having an aircraft carrier the Indian navy
could not make any use of it; perhaps the dread of the only PN submarine
Ghazi earlier leased from the US was too much. Pakistan Navy despite being
smaller in size compared to Indian navy proved its mettle remaining
unchallenged and established ascendency in the North Arabian Sea.

During the 1971 war, the Indian aircraft carrier remained bottled up in
Andaman Island till confirmation on the sinking of PN submarine Ghazi. It
was only later that the carrier was deployed to Bay of Bengal to carry out
strikes on shore and off-shore targets. In the Western theatre, two missile
attacks resulted in the sinking of a PN destroyer, a minesweeper and a few
merchant ships at the Karachi anchorage, while setting the oil tanks at
Keamari ablaze. The PN submarine Hangor restored the balance by
torpedoing a frigate, INS Khukri on 09 December 1971. In a spectacular
action, which took place about 30 miles south of Diu off the Indian
th
Kathiawar coast, INS Khukri, the ship of the squadron commander of the 14
Frigate Squadron was sunk within two minutes after receiving a hit in the
magazine where explosives were stowed. During the same action PN
submarine Hangor also managed to torpedo and damage another ship, INS
Kirpan. It resulted in the Indian navy going on defensive. The 1971 war
clearly brought out the importance of submarines and surface launched
anti-ship missiles (AShM), as a critical means to naval warfighting.

32 Preserving Freedom of Seas

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fashioned ancestral furniture in white covers, shrouded in twilight. It
looked surly and elderly, and, as though out of respect for its repose,
not a sound was audible.
Even the clock was silent . . . it seemed as though the Princess
Tarakanov had fallen asleep in the golden frame, and the water and
the rats were still and motionless through magic. The daylight, afraid
of disturbing the universal tranquillity, scarcely pierced through the
lowered blinds, and lay on the soft rugs in pale, slumbering streaks.
Three minutes passed and a big, elderly woman in black, with her
cheek bandaged up, walked noiselessly into the drawing-room. She
bowed to me and pulled up the blinds. At once, enveloped in the
bright sunlight, the rats and water in the picture came to life and
movement, Princess Tarakanov was awakened, and the old chairs
frowned gloomily.
"Her honour will be here in a minute, sir . . ." sighed the old lady,
frowning too.
A few more minutes of waiting and I saw Nadyezhda Lvovna.
What struck me first of all was that she certainly was ugly, short,
scraggy, and round-shouldered. Her thick, chestnut hair was
magnificent; her face, pure and with a look of culture in it, was
aglow with youth; there was a clear and intelligent expression in her
eyes; but the whole charm of her head was lost through the
thickness of her lips and the over-acute facial angle.
I mentioned my name, and announced the object of my visit.
"I really don't know what I am to say!" she said, in hesitation,
dropping her eyes and smiling. "I don't like to refuse, and at the
same time. . . ."
"Do, please," I begged.
Nadyezhda Lvovna looked at me and laughed. I laughed too. She
was probably amused by what Grontovsky had so enjoyed-that is,
the right of giving or withholding permission; my visit suddenly
struck me as queer and strange.
"I don't like to break the long-established rules," said Madame
Kandurin. "Shooting has been forbidden on our estate for the last six
years. No!" she shook her head resolutely. "Excuse me, I must
refuse you. If I allow you I must allow others. I don't like unfairness.
Either let all or no one."
"I am sorry!" I sighed. "It's all the sadder because we have come
more than ten miles. I am not alone," I added, "Prince Sergey
Ivanitch is with me."
I uttered the prince's name with no arrière pensée, not prompted
by any special motive or aim; I simply blurted it out without
thinking, in the simplicity of my heart. Hearing the familiar name
Madame Kandurin started, and bent a prolonged gaze upon me. I
noticed her nose turn pale.
"That makes no difference . . ." she said, dropping her eyes.
As I talked to her I stood at the window that looked out on the
shrubbery. I could see the whole shrubbery with the avenues and
the ponds and the road by which I had come. At the end of the
road, beyond the gates, the back of our chaise made a dark patch.
Near the gate, with his back to the house, the prince was standing
with his legs apart, talking to the lanky Grontovsky.
Madame Kandurin had been standing all the time at the other
window. She looked from time to time towards the shrubbery, and
from the moment I mentioned the prince's name she did not turn
away from the window.
"Excuse me," she said, screwing up her eyes as she looked
towards the road and the gate, "but it would be unfair to allow you
only to shoot. . . . And, besides, what pleasure is there in shooting
birds? What's it for? Are they in your way?"
 A solitary life, immured within four walls, with its indoor twilight
and heavy smell of decaying furniture, disposes people to
sentimentality. Madame Kandurin's idea did her credit, but I could
not resist saying:
"If one takes that line one ought to go barefoot. Boots are made
out of the leather of slaughtered animals."
"One must distinguish between a necessity and a caprice,"
Madame Kandurin answered in a toneless voice.
She had by now recognized the prince, and did not take her eyes
off his figure. It is hard to describe the delight and the suffering with
which her ugly face was radiant! Her eyes were smiling and shining,
her lips were quivering and laughing, while her face craned closer to
the panes. Keeping hold of a flower-pot with both hands, with bated
breath and with one foot slightly lifted, she reminded me of a dog
pointing and waiting with passionate impatience for "Fetch it!"
I looked at her and at the prince who could not tell a lie once in
his life, and I felt angry and bitter against truth and falsehood, which
play such an elemental part in the personal happiness of men.
The prince started suddenly, took aim and fired. A hawk, flying
over him, fluttered its wings and flew like an arrow far away.
"He aimed too high!" I said. "And so, Nadyezhda Lvovna," I
sighed, moving away from the window, "you will not permit . . ."-
Madame Kandurin was silent.
"I have the honour to take my leave," I said, "and I beg you to
forgive my disturbing you. . ."
Madame Kandurin would have turned facing me, and had already
moved through a quarter of the angle, when she suddenly hid her
face behind the hangings, as though she felt tears in her eyes that
she wanted to conceal.
"Good-bye. . . . Forgive me . . ." she said softly.
 I bowed to her back, and strode away across the bright yellow
floors, no longer keeping to the carpet. I was glad to get away from
this little domain of gilded boredom and sadness, and I hastened as
though anxious to shake off a heavy, fantastic dream with its
twilight, its enchanted princess, its lustres. . . .
At the front door a maidservant overtook me and thrust a note
into my hand: "Shooting is permitted on showing this. N. K.," I read.
Love and Oher Stories
 LOVE

“T
HREE o’clock in the morning. The soft April night is looking
in at my windows and caressingly winking at me with its
stars. I can’t sleep, I am so happy!
“My whole being from head to heels is bursting with a strange,
incomprehensible feeling. I can’t analyse it just now—I haven’t the
time, I’m too lazy, and there—hang analysis! Why, is a man likely to
interpret his sensations when he is flying head foremost from a
belfry, or has just learned that he has won two hundred thousand?
Is he in a state to do it?”
This was more or less how I began my love-letter to Sasha, a girl
of nineteen with whom I had fallen in love. I began it five times, and
as often tore up the sheets, scratched out whole pages, and copied
it all over again. I spent as long over the letter as if it had been a
novel I had to write to order. And it was not because I tried to make
it longer, more elaborate, and more fervent, but because I wanted
endlessly to prolong the process of this writing, when one sits in the
stillness of one’s study and communes with one’s own day-dreams
while the spring night looks in at one’s window. Between the lines I
saw a beloved image, and it seemed to me that there were, sitting
at the same table writing with me, spirits as naïvely happy, as
foolish, and as blissfully smiling as I. I wrote continually, looking at
my hand, which still ached deliciously where hers had lately pressed
it, and if I turned my eyes away I had a vision of the green trellis of
the little gate. Through that trellis Sasha gazed at me after I had
said goodbye to her. When I was saying good-bye to Sasha I was
thinking of nothing and was simply admiring her figure as every
decent man admires a pretty woman; when I saw through the trellis
two big eyes, I suddenly, as though by inspiration, knew that I was
in love, that it was all settled between us, and fully decided already,
that I had nothing left to do but to carry out certain formalities.
It is a great delight also to seal up a love-letter, and, slowly
putting on one’s hat and coat, to go softly out of the house and to
carry the treasure to the post. There are no stars in the sky now: in
their place there is a long whitish streak in the east, broken here and
there by clouds above the roofs of the dingy houses; from that
streak the whole sky is flooded with pale light. The town is asleep,
but already the water-carts have come out, and somewhere in a far-
away factory a whistle sounds to wake up the workpeople. Beside
the postbox, slightly moist with dew, you are sure to see the clumsy
figure of a house porter, wearing a bell-shaped sheepskin and
carrying a stick. He is in a condition akin to catalepsy: he is not
asleep or awake, but something between.
If the boxes knew how often people resort to them for the
decision of their fate, they would not have such a humble air. I,
anyway, almost kissed my postbox, and as I gazed at it I reflected
that the post is the greatest of blessings.
I beg anyone who has ever been in love to remember how one
usually hurries home after dropping the letter in the box, rapidly
gets into bed and pulls up the quilt in the full conviction that as soon
as one wakes up in the morning one will be overwhelmed with
memories of the previous day and look with rapture at the window,
where the daylight will be eagerly making its way through the folds
of the curtain.
Well, to facts. . . . Next morning at midday, Sasha’s maid brought
me the following answer: “I am delited be sure to come to us to day
please I shall expect you. Your S.”
Not a single comma. This lack of punctuation, and the misspelling
of the word “delighted,” the whole letter, and even the long, narrow
envelope in which it was put filled my heart with tenderness. In the
sprawling but diffident handwriting I recognised Sasha’s walk, her
way of raising her eyebrows when she laughed, the movement of
her lips. . . . But the contents of the letter did not satisfy me. In the
first place, poetical letters are not answered in that way, and in the
second, why should I go to Sasha’s house to wait till it should occur
to her stout mamma, her brothers, and poor relations to leave us
alone together? It would never enter their heads, and nothing is
more hateful than to have to restrain one’s raptures simply because
of the intrusion of some animate trumpery in the shape of a half-
deaf old woman or little girl pestering one with questions. I sent an
answer by the maid asking Sasha to select some park or boulevard
for a rendezvous. My suggestion was readily accepted. I had struck
the right chord, as the saying is.
Between four and five o’clock in the afternoon I made my way to
the furthest and most overgrown part of the park. There was not a
soul in the park, and the tryst might have taken place somewhere
nearer in one of the avenues or arbours, but women don’t like doing
it by halves in romantic affairs; in for a penny, in for a pound—if you
are in for a tryst, let it be in the furthest and most impenetrable
thicket, where one runs the risk of stumbling upon some rough or
drunken man. When I went up to Sasha she was standing with her
back to me, and in that back I could read a devilish lot of mystery. It
seemed as though that back and the nape of her neck, and the black
spots on her dress were saying: Hush! . . . The girl was wearing a
simple cotton dress over which she had thrown a light cape. To add
to the air of mysterious secrecy, her face was covered with a white
veil. Not to spoil the effect, I had to approach on tiptoe and speak in
a half whisper.
From what I remember now, I was not so much the essential
point of the rendezvous as a detail of it. Sasha was not so much
absorbed in the interview itself as in its romantic mysteriousness, my
kisses, the silence of the gloomy trees, my vows. . . . There was not
a minute in which she forgot herself, was overcome, or let the
mysterious expression drop from her face, and really if there had
been any Ivan Sidoritch or Sidor Ivanitch in my place she would have
felt just as happy. How is one to make out in such circumstances
whether one is loved or not? Whether the love is “the real thing” or
not?
From the park I took Sasha home with me. The presence of the
beloved woman in one’s bachelor quarters affects one like wine and
music. Usually one begins to speak of the future, and the confidence
and self-reliance with which one does so is beyond bounds. You
make plans and projects, talk fervently of the rank of general though
you have not yet reached the rank of a lieutenant, and altogether
you fire off such high-flown nonsense that your listener must have a
great deal of love and ignorance of life to assent to it. Fortunately
for men, women in love are always blinded by their feelings and
never know anything of life. Far from not assenting, they actually
turn pale with holy awe, are full of reverence and hang greedily on
the maniac’s words. Sasha listened to me with attention, but I soon
detected an absent-minded expression on her face, she did not
understand me. The future of which I talked interested her only in
its external aspect and I was wasting time in displaying my plans
and projects before her. She was keenly interested in knowing which
would be her room, what paper she would have in the room, why I
had an upright piano instead of a grand piano, and so on. She
examined carefully all the little things on my table, looked at the
photographs, sniffed at the bottles, peeled the old stamps off the
envelopes, saying she wanted them for something.
“Please collect old stamps for me!” she said, making a grave face.
“Please do.”
Then she found a nut in the window, noisily cracked it and ate it.
“Why don’t you stick little labels on the backs of your books?” she
asked, taking a look at the bookcase.
“What for?”
“Oh, so that each book should have its number. And where am I
to put my books? I’ve got books too, you know.”
 “What books have you got?” I asked.
Sasha raised her eyebrows, thought a moment and said:
“All sorts.”
And if it had entered my head to ask her what thoughts, what
convictions, what aims she had, she would no doubt have raised her
eyebrows, thought a minute, and have said in the same way: “All
sorts.”
Later I saw Sasha home and left her house regularly, officially
engaged, and was so reckoned till our wedding. If the reader will
allow me to judge merely from my personal experience, I maintain
that to be engaged is very dreary, far more so than to be a husband
or nothing at all. An engaged man is neither one thing nor the other,
he has left one side of the river and not reached the other, he is not
married and yet he can’t be said to be a bachelor, but is in
something not unlike the condition of the porter whom I have
mentioned above.
Every day as soon as I had a free moment I hastened to my
fiancée. As I went I usually bore within me a multitude of hopes,
desires, intentions, suggestions, phrases. I always fancied that as
soon as the maid opened the door I should, from feeling oppressed
and stifled, plunge at once up to my neck into a sea of refreshing
happiness. But it always turned out otherwise in fact. Every time I
went to see my fiancée I found all her family and other members of
the household busy over the silly trousseau. (And by the way, they
were hard at work sewing for two months and then they had less
than a hundred roubles’ worth of things). There was a smell of irons,
candle grease and fumes. Bugles scrunched under one’s feet. The
two most important rooms were piled up with billows of linen, calico,
and muslin and from among the billows peeped out Sasha’s little
head with a thread between her teeth. All the sewing party
welcomed me with cries of delight but at once led me off into the
dining-room where I could not hinder them nor see what only
husbands are permitted to behold. In spite of my feelings, I had to
sit in the dining-room and converse with Pimenovna, one of the poor
relations. Sasha, looking worried and excited, kept running by me
with a thimble, a skein of wool or some other boring object.
“Wait, wait, I shan’t be a minute,” she would say when I raised
imploring eyes to her. “Only fancy that wretch Stepanida has spoilt
the bodice of the barège dress!”
And after waiting in vain for this grace, I lost my temper, went out
of the house and walked about the streets in the company of the
new cane I had bought. Or I would want to go for a walk or a drive
with my fiancée, would go round and find her already standing in
the hall with her mother, dressed to go out and playing with her
parasol.
“Oh, we are going to the Arcade,” she would say. “We have got to
buy some more cashmere and change the hat.”
My outing is knocked on the head. I join the ladies and go with
them to the Arcade. It is revoltingly dull to listen to women
shopping, haggling and trying to outdo the sharp shopman. I felt
ashamed when Sasha, after turning over masses of material and
knocking down the prices to a minimum, walked out of the shop
without buying anything, or else told the shopman to cut her some
half rouble’s worth.
When they came out of the shop, Sasha and her mamma with
scared and worried faces would discuss at length having made a
mistake, having bought the wrong thing, the flowers in the chintz
being too dark, and so on.
Yes, it is a bore to be engaged! I’m glad it’s over.
Now I am married. It is evening. I am sitting in my study reading.
Behind me on the sofa Sasha is sitting munching something noisily. I
want a glass of beer.
 “Sasha, look for the corkscrew. . . .” I say. “It’s lying about
somewhere.”
Sasha leaps up, rummages in a disorderly way among two or
three heaps of papers, drops the matches, and without finding the
corkscrew, sits down in silence. . . . Five minutes pass—ten. . . I
begin to be fretted both by thirst and vexation.
“Sasha, do look for the corkscrew,” I say.
Sasha leaps up again and rummages among the papers near me.
Her munching and rustling of the papers affects me like the sound of
sharpening knives against each other. . . . I get up and begin looking
for the corkscrew myself. At last it is found and the beer is uncorked.
Sasha remains by the table and begins telling me something at great
length.
“You’d better read something, Sasha,” I say.
She takes up a book, sits down facing me and begins moving her
lips . . . . I look at her little forehead, moving lips, and sink into
thought.
“She is getting on for twenty. . . .” I reflect. “If one takes a boy of
the educated class and of that age and compares them, what a
difference! The boy would have knowledge and convictions and
some intelligence.”
But I forgive that difference just as the low forehead and moving
lips are forgiven. I remember in my old Lovelace days I have cast off
women for a stain on their stockings, or for one foolish word, or for
not cleaning their teeth, and now I forgive everything: the
munching, the muddling about after the corkscrew, the slovenliness,
the long talking about nothing that matters; I forgive it all almost
unconsciously, with no effort of will, as though Sasha’s mistakes
were my mistakes, and many things which would have made me
wince in old days move me to tenderness and even rapture. The
explanation of this forgiveness of everything lies in my love for
Sasha, but what is the explanation of the love itself, I really don’t
know.
 LIGHTS

T
HE dog was barking excitedly outside. And Ananyev the
engineer, his assistant called Von Schtenberg, and I went out
of the hut to see at whom it was barking. I was the visitor,
and might have remained indoors, but I must confess my head was
a little dizzy from the wine I had drunk, and I was glad to get a
breath of fresh air.
“There is nobody here,” said Ananyev when we went out. “Why
are you telling stories, Azorka? You fool!”
There was not a soul in sight.
“The fool,” Azorka, a black house-dog, probably conscious of his
guilt in barking for nothing and anxious to propitiate us, approached
us, diffidently wagging his tail. The engineer bent down and touched
him between his ears.
“Why are you barking for nothing, creature?” he said in the tone in
which good-natured people talk to children and dogs. “Have you had
a bad dream or what? Here, doctor, let me commend to your
attention,” he said, turning to me, “a wonderfully nervous subject!
Would you believe it, he can’t endure solitude—he is always having
terrible dreams and suffering from nightmares; and when you shout
at him he has something like an attack of hysterics.”
“Yes, a dog of refined feelings,” the student chimed in.
Azorka must have understood that the conversation was
concerning him. He turned his head upwards and grinned plaintively,
as though to say, “Yes, at times I suffer unbearably, but please
excuse it!”
 It was an August night, there were stars, but it was dark. Owing
to the fact that I had never in my life been in such exceptional
surroundings, as I had chanced to come into now, the starry night
seemed to me gloomy, inhospitable, and darker than it was in reality.
I was on a railway line which was still in process of construction. The
high, half-finished embankment, the mounds of sand, clay, and
rubble, the holes, the wheel-barrows standing here and there, the
flat tops of the mud huts in which the workmen lived—all this
muddle, coloured to one tint by the darkness, gave the earth a
strange, wild aspect that suggested the times of chaos. There was
so little order in all that lay before me that it was somehow strange
in the midst of the hideously excavated, grotesque-looking earth to
see the silhouettes of human beings and the slender telegraph
posts. Both spoiled the ensemble of the picture, and seemed to
belong to a different world. It was still, and the only sound came
from the telegraph wire droning its wearisome refrain somewhere
very high above our heads.
We climbed up on the embankment and from its height looked
down upon the earth. A hundred yards away where the pits, holes,
and mounds melted into the darkness of the night, a dim light was
twinkling. Beyond it gleamed another light, beyond that a third, then
a hundred paces away two red eyes glowed side by side—probably
the windows of some hut—and a long series of such lights, growing
continually closer and dimmer, stretched along the line to the very
horizon, then turned in a semicircle to the left and disappeared in
the darkness of the distance. The lights were motionless. There
seemed to be something in common between them and the stillness
of the night and the disconsolate song of the telegraph wire. It
seemed as though some weighty secret were buried under the
embankment and only the lights, the night, and the wires knew of it.
“How glorious, O Lord!” sighed Ananyev; “such space and beauty
that one can’t tear oneself away! And what an embankment! It’s not
an embankment, my dear fellow, but a regular Mont Blanc. It’s
costing millions. . . .”
 Going into ecstasies over the lights and the embankment that was
costing millions, intoxicated by the wine and his sentimental mood,
the engineer slapped Von Schtenberg on the shoulder and went on
in a jocose tone:
“Well, Mihail Mihailitch, lost in reveries? No doubt it is pleasant to
look at the work of one’s own hands, eh? Last year this very spot
was bare steppe, not a sight of human life, and now look: life . . .
civilisation. . . And how splendid it all is, upon my soul! You and I are
building a railway, and after we are gone, in another century or two,
good men will build a factory, a school, a hospital, and things will
begin to move! Eh!”
The student stood motionless with his hands thrust in his pockets,
and did not take his eyes off the lights. He was not listening to the
engineer, but was thinking, and was apparently in the mood in which
one does not want to speak or to listen. After a prolonged silence he
turned to me and said quietly:
“Do you know what those endless lights are like? They make me
think of something long dead, that lived thousands of years ago,
something like the camps of the Amalekites or the Philistines. It is as
though some people of the Old Testament had pitched their camp
and were waiting for morning to fight with Saul or David. All that is
wanting to complete the illusion is the blare of trumpets and sentries
calling to one another in some Ethiopian language.”
And, as though of design, the wind fluttered over the line and
brought a sound like the clank of weapons. A silence followed. I
don’t know what the engineer and the student were thinking of, but
it seemed to me already that I actually saw before me something
long dead and even heard the sentry talking in an unknown tongue.
My imagination hastened to picture the tents, the strange people,
their clothes, their armour.
“Yes,” muttered the student pensively, “once Philistines and
Amalekites were living in this world, making wars, playing their part,
and now no trace of them remains. So it will be with us. Now we are
making a railway, are standing here philosophising, but two
thousand years will pass—and of this embankment and of all those
men, asleep after their hard work, not one grain of dust will remain.
In reality, it’s awful!”
“You must drop those thoughts . . .” said the engineer gravely and
admonishingly.
“Why?”
“Because. . . . Thoughts like that are for the end of life, not for the
beginning of it. You are too young for them.”
“Why so?” repeated the student.
“All these thoughts of the transitoriness, the insignificance and the
aimlessness of life, of the inevitability of death, of the shadows of
the grave, and so on, all such lofty thoughts, I tell you, my dear
fellow, are good and natural in old age when they come as the
product of years of inner travail, and are won by suffering and really
are intellectual riches; for a youthful brain on the threshold of real
life they are simply a calamity! A calamity!” Ananyev repeated with a
wave of his hand. “To my mind it is better at your age to have no
head on your shoulders at all than to think on these lines. I am
speaking seriously, Baron. And I have been meaning to speak to you
about it for a long time, for I noticed from the very first day of our
acquaintance your partiality for these damnable ideas!”
“Good gracious, why are they damnable?” the student asked with
a smile, and from his voice and his face I could see that he asked
the question from simple politeness, and that the discussion raised
by the engineer did not interest him in the least.
I could hardly keep my eyes open. I was dreaming that
immediately after our walk we should wish each other good-night
and go to bed, but my dream was not quickly realised. When we had
returned to the hut the engineer put away the empty bottles and
took out of a large wicker hamper two full ones, and uncorking
them, sat down to his work-table with the evident intention of going
on drinking, talking, and working. Sipping a little from his glass, he
made pencil notes on some plans and went on pointing out to the
student that the latter’s way of thinking was not what it should be.
The student sat beside him checking accounts and saying nothing.
He, like me, had no inclination to speak or to listen. That I might not
interfere with their work, I sat away from the table on the engineer’s
crooked-legged travelling bedstead, feeling bored and expecting
every moment that they would suggest I should go to bed. It was
going on for one o’clock.
Having nothing to do, I watched my new acquaintances. I had
never seen Ananyev or the student before. I had only made their
acquaintance on the night I have described. Late in the evening I
was returning on horseback from a fair to the house of a landowner
with whom I was staying, had got on the wrong road in the dark and
lost my way. Going round and round by the railway line and seeing
how dark the night was becoming, I thought of the “barefoot railway
roughs,” who lie in wait for travellers on foot and on horseback, was
frightened, and knocked at the first hut I came to. There I was
cordially received by Ananyev and the student. As is usually the case
with strangers casually brought together, we quickly became
acquainted, grew friendly and at first over the tea and afterward
over the wine, began to feel as though we had known each other for
years. At the end of an hour or so, I knew who they were and how
fate had brought them from town to the far-away steppe; and they
knew who I was, what my occupation and my way of thinking.
Nikolay Anastasyevitch Ananyev, the engineer, was a broad-
shouldered, thick-set man, and, judging from his appearance, he
had, like Othello, begun the “descent into the vale of years,” and
was growing rather too stout. He was just at that stage which old
match-making women mean when they speak of “a man in the
prime of his age,” that is, he was neither young nor old, was fond of
good fare, good liquor, and praising the past, panted a little as he
walked, snored loudly when he was asleep, and in his manner with
those surrounding him displayed that calm imperturbable good
humour which is always acquired by decent people by the time they
have reached the grade of a staff officer and begun to grow stout.
His hair and beard were far from being grey, but already, with a
condescension of which he was unconscious, he addressed young
men as “my dear boy” and felt himself entitled to lecture them good-
humouredly about their way of thinking. His movements and his
voice were calm, smooth, and self-confident, as they are in a man
who is thoroughly well aware that he has got his feet firmly planted
on the right road, that he has definite work, a secure living, a settled
outlook. . . . His sunburnt, thick-nosed face and muscular neck
seemed to say: “I am well fed, healthy, satisfied with myself, and the
time will come when you young people too, will be well-fed, healthy,
and satisfied with yourselves. . . .” He was dressed in a cotton shirt
with the collar awry and in full linen trousers thrust into his high
boots. From certain trifles, as for instance, from his coloured worsted
girdle, his embroidered collar, and the patch on his elbow, I was able
to guess that he was married and in all probability tenderly loved by
his wife.
Baron Von Schtenberg, a student of the Institute of Transport, was
a young man of about three or four and twenty. Only his fair hair
and scanty beard, and, perhaps, a certain coarseness and frigidity in
his features showed traces of his descent from Barons of the Baltic
provinces; everything else—his name, Mihail Mihailovitch, his
religion, his ideas, his manners, and the expression of his face were
purely Russian. Wearing, like Ananyev, a cotton shirt and high boots,
with his round shoulders, his hair left uncut, and his sunburnt face,
he did not look like a student or a Baron, but like an ordinary
Russian workman. His words and gestures were few, he drank
reluctantly without relish, checked the accounts mechanically, and
seemed all the while to be thinking of something else. His
movements and voice were calm, and smooth too, but his calmness
was of a different kind from the engineer’s. His sunburnt, slightly
ironical, dreamy face, his eyes which looked up from under his
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