I Survived Bullets Fired from a Ship's Gun

I survived 30 Bullets fired from my own Ship's Gun. This is a true story that happened sometime in the 1990. I was in the Navy those days and I was posted in a Leander class frigate you see in the picture above. It was God’s grace that I am still alive to write this true story. That day the ship was planned to fire its 4.5 inch twin barrel gun mounted in the front side of the ship just a few meters ahead of the Ship’s Bridge. The firing was supposed to commence from 9:30 am to 10:00 am. Before the firing is carried out over the sea, the ship has to ensure that there are no ships, boats and people in the direction in which firing will be done, up to a distance of about 80 km.

Those days, the ship would launch its small helicopter which has to go all the way up to about 70 kilometers n a sector of about 30 degrees from the ship and shoo away all the ships or boats in that area. We have to return back and debrief the ship’s Captain, that the area is clear for firing or not clear for firing. After the helicopter lands and switches of its engine, the Captain of the ship orders firing to commence.

The gun firing is practiced regularly at sea to teach firing the new Gun crew who may have joined the ship recently and to improve the speed and efficiency of the old crew on the ship on how to use the ship’s fire control radar system, using the fire control system to aim the guns on the correct direction and target, practice firing so that all the ship’s crew get trained in the correct procedure for firing and learn to do it as fast as possible. There is a target floating in the sea which is placed a day prior to firing.

The ship will survive a war only if the ship’s crew is able to fire and destroy the approaching enemy ship, aircraft or missile before it hits the ship. Otherwise the enemy plane will drop a torpedo, a bomb or a missile etc., and sink the ship into the sea along with its entire crew. It is highly dangerous on a ship during a real war unless the crew is trained well.

The probability of the ship getting hit either by a plane dropping a bomb over it, a submarine attacking with a torpedo from under the sea or another ship firing its gun or a torpedo is very high. That day the briefing for the flying ,was planned to be at 06:00 am. My mission was to take off and go up to 40 miles or 70 km from the ship in a sector of 30 degrees, for firing range clearance. My ship was already some 300 kilometers into the sea from the nearest land.

If at all anyone is there, my job was to tell them about the ship firing and get them sailing away to safe direction. Leander class ships are used by many countries in the world and it normally has crew of about 300 people onboard. It can carry one small helicopter on its helicopter deck in the rear of the ship and has a twin barrel 4.5 inch diameter (115 mm caliber) shell firing gun mounted on the front part of the ship, which is controlled by an automatic fire control radar system.

These guns have a 4.5 inch bore and twin barrel. These massive gun turrets are fitted on the foxle or front part of the ship. Every time the gun fires, the whole ship shakes. The light fitments often fall on to the floor with jolt and some part of the ship goes dark till new lights are fitted.

The guns are capable of propelling huge 25 kilogram bullets each of which is a foot long, 120 mm or 4.5 inch in diameter and about 1.5 feet in length can fly at a speeds of 750 meters per second, up to an effective range of 18 to 20 kilometers or more, but may fall on water surface about 40 to 60 kilometers from the ship depending on the elevation of the guns or how high up the guns were pointing while the massive bullets were fired.

These guns are basically designed to shoot down enemy aircraft and ships, which are coming to attack the ship, before they can do any harm the ship. Amazingly, these guns are capable of shooting down even an incoming missile travelling at a speed close to the speed of sound.

The Bullet Firing Day Starts

The Hands call was at 5:30 am. Hands call means, a long shrill sound from a curved whistle normally called as a Pipe on ships. The pipe was sounded on the ships broadcast system, after which an announcement is made, to get everyone up from the bed. Every announcement is made after sounding a customary pipe, on all war ships around the world.

Everyone gets about 5 minutes to get off their bed. After 5 minutes of hands call, at 5:35 am another announcement is made, "Hands to tea". Officers however get their bed tea served by stewards in their cabins. The rest of the ship's crew goes to the Galleys or dining hall to have tea.

Throughout the day some announcement or the other will keep coming on the broadcasting system till 10 pm, when the last announcement, "Good Night" is piped. Unless there is an emergency on the ship, no broadcast will be made between 10:00 pm and 5:00 am so that everyone, who are not on duty, can have a good sleep.

Out of every three crew onboard a ship, one will be on duty and the other two will sleep or rest. This is called a three watch system. Each watch is four hours long from 4 am, 8 am, 12 pm, 4 pm, 8 pm and 12 am. So you do three 4 hour watches a day, everyday.

During an actual war, every one has to be in one watch which means there is nothing called sleep hours. Everyone will stay in their designated posts 24x7. They may be allowed to sleep on their post and are provided food and water also there.

In my ship of 300 crew, 200 of us would sleep at night and the rest 100 would be on watch so that the ship continues to sail safely. No one is awake throughout the night. In case of an alert phase, the ship's crew is in a two watch system where you work 4 hours and rest for 4 hours alternately. It is actual life on a Ship during War at sea.

Nobody is Allowed to Sit in Ship's Bridge

The place from where the ship is controlled is called a Bridge. The Bridge has windows through which the Captain and the crew can see 360 degrees outside view. Only the Captain of the Ship is allowed to sit in the Ship's Bridge and rest every one has to stand. That is because the Captain is normally there on the Bridge always, whereas the crew will do 4 hours watch and go away. Other than the Captain’s chair, there is no place anyone else can sit inside the Bridge. In case the Captain is sleeping in his cabin, the moment something goes wrong, the duty personnel are to wake up the Captain and inform him even if it is past midnight.

All the cabins of a war ship will have a speaker through which the announcement can be heard everywhere inside the ship. In fact, these announcements can be heard even in the bathroom and toilet. These announcements are routine in nature but becomes important when it pertains to a fire somewhere in the ship, or a flooding in any part of the ship, both of which can sink the ship, if it goes undetected, uncontrolled or is mishandled.

There have been instances in the Navies world over, when a ship caught fire and the crew tried to douse the fire by flooding the compartments. They succeed in dousing the fire completely, but they ship sank the ship because of the over flooding they did, to douse the fire.

The Ship's Broadcasting System

The Ship's Broadcasting System is a set of mics and speakers through an amplifier. There are loud speakers fixed in each and every compartment of a war ship. Even if you are inside your cabin and sleeping, there are announcements made by the ship starting from a wake up call to good night and everything in between.

Even if the Ship's Captain wants some one in his cabin he gets it announced in the broadcast system. One of the most important announcements in the broadcast system on our ship was that which said, "Fresh Water will be available in all the bathrooms from 5:45 am to 5:48 am".

Yes, what you read is true. Our ship was old and had a boiler that produces water vapour, which hits the turbine at high pressure and that turns the ship's propellors. The two huge boilers need a lot of fresh water to generate steam. To generate fresh water at sea, all modern ships have Reverse Osmosis plants capable of making at least 5 or 10 tons of fresh water every hour from the salty sea water.

Th reverse osmosis plant produced fresh water is tangy in taste and difficult to drink. You need to develop a taste for this water. I used to mix the water with some lemon juice to get over that taste. All war ships will normally have at least two propellers where as a merchant ship normally has only one propeller.

This is because the warships need to go fast and also maneuver quickly to evade a missile or torpedo attack. This is not possible with just one propeller. So there are two propellers. Even if one engine fails or is hit by the enemy torpedo, the ship will continue to sail and fight with the remaining propeller.

Water for 3 Minutes Twice a Day

So we used to get water for 3 minutes precisely in the morning, another 3 minutes in the evening, in all the bathrooms. I used to wake up at 5 am, well before the Hands call is piped on the broadcast system, go to the toilet where sea water and some toilet paper was always available.

I would start brushing my teeth with the drinking water bottle I had filled up the previous night and wait for the water to come in the bathroom showers, so that I can take a proper bath in those 3 minutes. When the water comes, there is a 200 water drum placed in the bathroom which also gets half-filled in three minutes.

Those who come late will have to use that water in the metallic drum, which usually has about an inch thick sediments and rust in its bottom, which churns up the moment you dip a bucket or take a mug of water from it. Despite being sailing at sea which is nothing but water all around the ship, there was always a serious shortage of water onboard all steam ships those days.

Often the ship's engineering officer may let out some steam through the bathroom pipes from the boilers, to give you the feel of a sauna bath. That morning I had already finished my toilet visit and finished brushing my teeth also with my fresh water bottle.

I was waiting for the water to come in the bathroom to take a bath along with another Officer. We both are chatting when the Commanding Officer of our ship also came in. I was a Lieutenant those days and my Commanding Officer was a Commander, just two ranks above me.

The Commanding Officer (CO) or the Captain, has his own bath attached cabin with 24 x7 water available. In fact, he has two cabins, one called day cabin where he works, which is like an office and one can meet him there. The other is called night cabin where Captain sleeps at night and often by day where, nobody is allowed, accept his Steward.

The Captain also has his own cook and a pantry. The Captain of the ship always eats alone, where as other officers eat in the Officer’s Mess Wardroom. This is done so that authority of the Commanding Officer is maintained. He never even visits the Wardroom Mess where all the other Officers of the ship have meals and sit around.

Captain Stuck in Bathroom Story

The Fleet Commander who is an Admiral, had embarked on board to see the firing during this sailing. Whenever the Admiral embarks the ship, the Captain has to vacate his cabin and shift into the Executive Officer's (XO) cabin, so that the Admiral can now stay in the Captain's cabin.

The XO's is the second in Command of the ship. But XO’s cabin does not have any attached bathroom. He has to use the same bathroom as other Officers. This is because, the XO needs to mingle with the Officers to know the pulse of the ship and its crew. The Captain is thus called the father of the ship and the XO is the mother of the ship.

Because the Admiral has embarked the ship, my Captain had lost the luxury of his attached bathroom and now has to stay in the XO’s cabin and even stand in line with junior officers like me, to take a bath in the bathroom and use a toilet. As my Captain walked into the bathroom the other officer with me and I moved away to make room for the Captain.

Unfortunately, our common bathroom set up only had two showers in it. Now I was standing in front of one and the other Officer and the Captain were standing in front of the other shower. The three of us talked to each other for a couple of minutes when water suddenly started coming out of the showers precisely at 5:45 am.

Immediately, I went into one bathroom and the other officer jumped into the second shower and started bathing. The Captain was left out standing patiently outside the shower. Out of courtesy the other Officer took a shower without using soap and got out of the shower to allow the Captain to take a shower.

The Captain thanked the officer and started taking a bath. He applied soap and shampoo nicely on his body and hair. I finished my bath and was leaving the shower when the water vanished as suddenly as it had appeared.

My Captain was caught unaware and stood there with shampoo in his hair and soap all over his body. He had his eyes closed and he was shouting "Someone to go and get the water opened again." My Captain was used to 24 x 7 water routine and did not understand how water can stop in 3 minutes. He had probably never served in steam ships before.

I politely made him understand that the three minute water routine in the morning is over and now we can expect water for another 3 minutes after 12 hours in the evening. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. I gave him additional info that the 200 liter drum has about hundred liters of water and if he wants, he can use it.

The Ship's Captain got furious at my suggestion and ordered me to immediately tell the Engineering Officer of the ship to start the water for another 15 minutes. I went to the Engineering Officer’s cabin and conveyed the Captain’s order. The Engineering Officer who very often used to get scolded by the Captain for some ship's engine troubles, got the right opportunity to give it back to the Captain, that day.

So, the Engineering Officer got the water opened after a good 15 minutes delay, ensuring that the soap and shampoo got dried up nicely on the Captain's body. This episode did some good to the entire ship. The Captain never knew that the ship's crew were getting only 6 minutes water in the bathrooms in 24 hours.

The Captain ordered that water timing be increased from 3 minutes to 15 minutes twice a day. The Engineering Officer went to the Captain and told him about the shortage of water onboard and got it reduced to 10 minutes twice a day so that, the ship's engine boilers had adequate water to produce steam. Water available for 20 minutes a day was three times better than 6 minutes a day.

The Flight Briefing

I quickly got ready, went to the Officer's Mess Wardroom, had a quick breakfast and went for the flight briefing at 6:00 am to the ship's Bridge. Our take off was planned at 6:30 am and landing at 8:30 am. The Firing was supposed to commence at 9:00 am.

There are two raised chairs on either side of the bridge. The Captain, normally sits on the right hand side chair. But, when the Admiral embarks onboard the ship, the right hand side chair becomes Admiral's chair and the Captain will sit on the left hand side chair. Often most Captains never dare to sit when the Admiral is on the Bridge.

Ideally, the Captain should have been there on the bridge during the conduct of the flight briefing. Unfortunately, the Captain was still stuck with soap and shampoo on his body, in the bathroom, waiting for water to be opened when we started the flight briefing.

Even the Admiral was not there that early in the morning. The Navigating Officer told us what the ship will be doing when we were away flying and clearing the range for two hours as well as our take off and landing time.

The briefing was conducted smoothly by the Navigating Officer about what activities the ship will be doing after we take off till we land at 8:30 am.

The Communication Officer briefed us that we need to stay at least at 1000 feet to be able to communicate with the ship because all the VHF or Very High Frequency radio sets on the aircraft and ship both need to be in line of sight to get connected.

The Gunnery Officer briefed us that the firing of the 4.5 inch guns is planned to commence at 9:00 am but only after we land back on the ship’s deck at 8:30 am.

I and my crew, left the ship's bridge towards the helicopter on the deck in the rear section the ship. The two of us pilots, along with the flight diver manned the helicopter.

Just before we started up helicopter engines, the Communication Officer informed us on Radio that out take off time has been delayed by 45 minutes for some reason. So our take was amended from 6:30 am to 7:15 am. Similarly our landing time was delayed from 8:30 am to 9:15 am.

The Bullet Firing Story Starts

We took off as planned after 45 minutes at 7:15 am and flew as briefed, initially at 1000 feet altitude over the sea in the direction in which firing was supposed to be done. After about 20 km we found a small fishing boats in the firing sector. We flew down the helicopter to 50 feet over the boat, came to a hover and told this boat crew to move away southwards, because ship is likely to fire bullets in this direction.

The fishing boat crew know about it because most naval ships come in the same area and carry out firing practice. So, the boat started moving in the southerly direction we had indicated after pulling their fishing nets in to their boat. We flew up to 70 km away from the ship and during this time we might have at least told four more boats to move away in a safe direction which they followed all through flying the helicopter at 50 to 100 feet over the water.

Then we turned back towards the ship, still flying at a height of about hundred feet over the water. On our way back, we realized that these boats have moved away by just about 5 or 6 km and have started fishing again.

They were still not completely out of the firing sector of the ship and were in complete danger of being hit by a stray 25 kg anti-aircraft bullet travelling at 750 meters per second, which can either kill people onboard those boats, or make a hole in the boat and sink it.

So we had to continue flying low to ensure that these boats move to a safe direction clear of the firing sector. This took some time and we got delayed by about 20 minutes.

The best part of this mission was that, after about 10 minutes of takeoff, we had started descending to 50 feet to shoo away boats. And in the bargain, we lost radio contact with the ship. There was no radio contact throughout the mission, even after we climbed the helicopter back to 1000 feet as briefed for landing.

This is quite a normal phenomenon, because even in the previous flights for firing sector clearance missions, we had lost radio contact with the ship for about 2 hours till we climbed up back to 1000 feet and reached about 20 km close to the ship.

So, we were not worried that we do not have radio contact with the ship. The ship also has a radar which can track us. Thus, we were very confident that the ship's Captain knows exactly where we were flying looking at the radar scope, with respect to the ship.

As per plan our flight was supposed to take off at 7:15 am and land back at or before 9:15 am. Firing was supposed to commence only after 30 minutes of our landing at 9:45 am, as per the published program of the ship.

Ship's Gun Firing Starts True Story

I climbed my helicopter back to 1000 feet altitude and started flying towards the ship as fast as we could. We were also a bit low on fuel. As we reached 1000 feet height over water, suddenly our helicopter engine started malfunctioning as we were hearing some continuous thuds one after the other in quick succession. The sounds were coming from behind the aircraft. I looked inside at the flight instrument panels and found that all the flight and engine instruments were fine.

Then, where are these thud, thud, thud sounds coming from, if not from the engine? Any problem with the helicopter rotors, the main and tail gear boxes, etc., would have created heavy vibrations in the entire helicopter. Nothing of that sort was happening either. The helicopter vibrations were normal. I turned my helicopter towards the right to see if there is any smoke behind the helicopter coming from the engine.

Since we were flying a single engine helicopter, any problem with the engine means quickly landing the helicopter over water surface and get out of it. This small helicopter was not designed to float. So the moment we touch water the helicopter will topple. The correct procedure to do a ditching on water is to bring the helicopter to a very low hover over the water at about five feet, allow all passengers and the co-pilot to jump out into the water.

Now the Pilot will slowly put the helicopter down on the water, shut down the engine using the switch and apply the rotor brakes to stop the rotor. As the helicopter starts to sink into the water, hold on to some fixed part of the aircraft, look up as the pilot’s head goes under water to see that the rotors have hit water and has stopped rotating.

This is done because, if the pilot comes out before the main rotors above him has not hit the water and stopped, then the rotors will chop the pilot like a mixer grinder in the kitchen. After the rotors hit the water, unstrap the seat belts and swim out of the helicopter under water to clear the main rotors.

By day it is possible to do. At night this may be very difficult due to disorientation. Pilots have died swimming deeper into the water, instead of swimming up to the surface, due to disorientation and panic at night after ditching the helicopter.

I turned the helicopter around by about 90 degrees and I looked to the right side. To my surprise, I saw a few plumes of smoke behind our helicopter which look like small cloud plumes.

After turning the helicopter to the right, as I continue to look to my right, I saw cloud patches forming one after the other all around the helicopter. That is when I realized that the ship has commenced firing the 4.5 inch twin barrel guns already before we landed back.

The bullets she is firing has an effective hitting range of about 20 kilometers and here we were flying at just 10 kilometers from the ship. Our ship had forgotten that we were still flying in the firing sector.

And the sad part was that we were being fired at by our own ship using the biggest anti-aircraft gun available on board.

Immediately, I pressed the radio button and ask the ship, "Confirm firing commenced?"

This was the first call we had given after about two hours of silence. There was a pause of about 10 seconds in getting a reply from the ship.

Then came the voice of our ship’s Navigating officer who said on the radio, "Negative,.... Check, Check, Check".

The word negative means No, in aviation terminology. The words "Check, Check, Check," is used three times consecutively to stop firing the guns.

In his panic, when the Navigating Officer realized that the ship has commenced firing its 4.5 inch anti-aircraft guns in the same direction from which their own helicopter which was launched by the ship at 7:15 am to clear the firing sector, is coming back to land.

The Navigating Officer forgot to release the radio transmitter button before calling out Check, Check, Check on the ship's broadcast system mic in his other hand, ordering the Gun crew to stop firing the 4.5 inch double barrel guns.

But we were relieved to hear the Check, Check, Check. Our helicopter being small and we being 10 kilometers from the ship saved us. We later learned that the ship's fire control radar had a lock on my helicopter and the ship was actually firing at my helicopter.

After landing on the ship, we went and debriefed the ship’s Captain about the range clearance and that we have moved about five fishing boats away from the firing range. The Fleet Commander, the Admiral was also sitting in his chair in the ship’s Bridge. The Captain had a scared expression on his face, as this incident most likely has ended his career.

As we debriefed and left the Bridge, neither my ship’s Captain, nor the Admiral spoke a word. They had no words for the mistake they did. They were trying to look away not able to face the two of us pilots, for having locked on the fire control radar and fired the ship’s anti-aircraft guns at us, totally forgetting that the helicopter is still in air and they should wait for it to land back before commencing firing.

My Ship Fired 30 Bullets at Me True Story

We met the Gunnery Officer in the Officers Wardroom Mess sitting with a gloomy face. I asked him, “What are you doing here. Isn’t the Gun Firing still on”. The Gunnery Officer said, “The firing exercise has been called off by the Admiral pending investigation”.

I smiled and told him, "Come on, Cheer up. Your fire control had a pathetic aim. See, I am sitting in front of you alive and not even a scratch on the aircraft either. What you need to think is, if this was a real war, the ship would have been sunk today."

Then I asked him, "How many shells did you fired at us."

The Gunnery Officer who was sitting a little away said, "30 shells Sir. We would have continued firing had the Navigating Officer had not stopped us."

I said jokingly, "You would have got us probably in the 31st bullet."

Everyone in the wardroom had a hearty laugh including the Navigating Officer and the Gunnery Officer. I thought for a while, "There were 30 bullets fired by the 4.5 inch guns in under two minutes when the Navigating Officer got the firing stopped calling out Check, Check, Check."

That is when the realization came to the two of us. Our helicopter had missed about 30 of these 25 kilogram bullets whizzing past us for almost two full minutes, as we were flying towards the ship and did a 90 degree turn too. It was sheer luck that all 30 shells missed hitting my helicopter. God is great.

We were happy because we survived without being hit, because of only two reasons. The first reason was that we were flying a very small aircraft and we were at about 10 km away from the ship, even though there was a 100% probability of being hit by at least one bullet.

A single bullet hitting our helicopter could have either killed one or both of us or would have led to our helicopter crashing that day like a stone falling into the sea, never to be found again.

The second reason which I can imagine is that, at least one out of the two of us had done some good deed in our previous life, because of which God had decided to save our helicopter, almost 30 times in two minutes. We landed back safely on the ship after about 15 minutes.

Summoned to The Admiral's Cabin Story

We thought that the matter has ended. But at about 12:30 pm, just about half an hour before lunch, I heard the ships broadcast system announcement, "Ships flight crew, Admiral’s cabin".

I thought, the Admiral has been briefed something against us probably by the Captain so that he can get away with his crime, and we were going to get something seriously damaging to our career from the Admiral.

The two of us reluctantly walked up towards the Admiral's cabin. As we knocked and opened the Admiral's day cabin, we found the Admiral, standing at the door waiting for us. The Admiral shook hands with us and made us sit down on the sofa and even told us to make ourselves feel comfortable contrary to our thoughts and the proceedings we had expected.

Then he ordered the Steward to open a Champagne bottle which was already placed on top of the table there, in an ice bucket. I was a teetotaler and I didn't drink even beer those days. But when the Admiral offered me champagne I couldn't say no.

I had three or four servings of Champagne in those 30 minutes we sat listening to the Admiral’s broadcast. We were mere listeners to the old time stories the Admiral was recounting to us one after the other, non-stop.

We both never had an opportunity to speak anything, nor did the Admiral ask us anything. And the Admiral never mentioned anything about the chaos we had in the morning wherein our helicopter was shot at over 30 times with the Ship’s guns.

Probably, the old Admiral was feeling guilty himself for the whole incident since he was also onboard and sitting in the ship's bridge, when this mishap happened.

The Champagne bottle was opened probably to celebrate the second life the two of us got and for the ship getting away with the biggest blunder of the century and Naval history, by firing at its own helicopter, in peace time.

We thanked the Admiral and left the cabin. I was drunk as it was the first time I had something intoxicating. As we came out of the cabin, we saw our ship’s Captain standing outside anxiously. I saw a few drops of sweat on his forehead.

The Captain asked looking worried at me, "What did the Admiral ask you?"

The champagne was already in my blood and working wonders on me. I hardly was listening to what the Admiral was telling us. And more over, the Admiral did not mention anything about the Gun firing 30 bullets at our helicopter incident.

So, I said to the Captain of our ship for fun sake, "Sir, the Admiral was basically asking about the ship, living conditions, daily routine, water availability etc."

Probably the Captain also realized that I was already high on spirits and left us without asking any more questions. I went to the Wardroom, had my lunch, went to my cabin and slept off, since there were no more flying planned for the day.

I woke up at about 6:00 pm and was waiting for the freshwater announcement on the broadcast system for taking a bath. At 6:25 pm I heard the announcement on the ships broadcast system which said, "Fresh Water will remain open in all the bathrooms from 6:30 pm to 7:00 pm".

I was impressed. It was 3 minutes fresh water in the bathroom in the morning and evening till that morning. The Captain had extended to 10 minutes at 7:00 am, for his own benefit that morning. And now just twelve hours later, the 3 minutes fresh water availability in the bathroom has become 30 minutes water in all the ship's bathroom.

Even today, I have not been able to figure out if the 30 minutes has anything to do with the 30 in number bullets weighing 25 kilograms each, which the ship had fired at us. Believe it or not, this is a true story.

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