Christopher Roach

"... no munitions — as the ‘peace protocol’ of India’s MILAN-2026 exercise requires....” '
Okay, if the exercise protocols required everyone showup disarmed I'd expect someone to have posted actual official documentation...

Claims of unarmed or only lightly armed as part of the "peace protocol" come via the twitter account of Dr. Brahma Chellaney (a Professor of Strategic Studies), so plausible source but he doesn't offer any citation or link to a clear statement of the "peace protocol"...

I'd be dubious about trusting the Iranian ambassador's words.

So, I wouldn't say that confirms it was unarmed but does put it as a serious possiblity rather than something hallucinated by a campist...

‘Execution at sea’: Was IRIS Dena, Iranian frigate sunk by US in the Indian Ocean, unarmed? - The Statesman The frigate was returning from India after participating in MILAN-2026, a multilateral naval exercise hosted by New Delhi in Visakhapatnam, before it was torpedoed by a US submarine, killing at least ...

Okay found a source reporting this: www.thestatesman.com/india/execut...

Does not state what "peace protocol" actually entails.
States while in port during exercise ships must be in “safe configuration” but this does not imply unarmed and doesn't imply the ship was still in the state after leaving

IFR & MILAN 2026 Greetings to our friends and partners from across the seas! For nearly three decades, the Indian Navy’s flagship events the International Fleet Review (IFR) and MILAN have brought together maritime na...

Do you have a source stating it was unarmed or is this just supposition based on the exercises around the fleet review having no live-fire component?

Images of the ship during the fleet review certainly show it with 3in gun and missile launch canisters aboard...
www.ifrmilan26.com/gallery

On the second question. No.

Teacher and on the railways (started as a porter, diverted to RAAF/RAF [Empire Air Training Scheme into Coastal Command] during WW2, back on the railways post-war and ended up regional superintendent by the 1980s).

Sub-launched torps? Beyond all doubt:
Indian frigate Khukri sunk by Pakistani sub Hangor, 1971
Argentine cruiser Belgrano sunk by HMS Conqueror, 1982

Suspected by one side but not acknowledge by the other:
South Korean corvette Cheonan sunk by North Korean minisub.

Reportedly (sorry only link I can for this is the hell-site) piloted by ex-USN pilot flying for Kuwait.

So, I suppose he was after his real enemy (the USAF).
😜

Yes, war involves death and destruction... and? Belgrano was legally (a warship of a combatant) and ethically (actively engaged in combat operations) a valid target.

And we don't know what happened to the captain of the North Korea mini-sub believed to have sunk ROKS Cheonan...

Of cause, the latter two were situations where hostile surface forces were nearby, so surfacing would have been risking the loss of the submarines.

Precedents? Well, no U-Boat commanders were tried just for failing to rescue survivors. The captain of HMS Conqueror didn't get into trouble for failing to rescue survivors of the Belgrano. The captain of PNS Hangor didn't get in trouble for rescue survivors of INS Khukri.

Opinion from the Royal Australian Navy is "...in all likelihood, a submarine’s actions would be limited to a notification to higher headquarters..." seapower.navy.gov.au/analysis/fir...

So let command know and let them notify neutral ships or your own surface ships.

Problem is "all possible" depends on the context, and what's possible with one sub is rather less than a destroyer squadron.

Geneva Convention (II) on Wounded, Sick and Shipwrecked of Armed Forces at Sea, 1949 Article 18 states:
"After each engagement, Parties to the conflict shall, without delay, take all possible measures to search for and collect the shipwrecked, wounded and sick..."
Problem is "all possible" is vague.

... if it is sensible and moral is a different question.

Belgrano was sunk outside the Falklands' exclusion zone. While some fringe leftists (who fail to understand ships can turn) claim it was illegal everyone else (include the captain of the Belgrano)accepted it as legal. So precedent says, no, targeting warships outside the combat zone is legal...

And given most early to mid career scientists bounce round on 2-5 (if exceptionally lucky) year contracts... How the eff do we get grants in that time and how the eff do we get stable employment without grants?

USS Bagley maybe bagging HMAS Canberra at Savo...

You can take the sheep out of New Zealand... You can't take the New Zealander out of the sheep.
😜

And given he had a history of playing silly buggers with weapons inspection for most of the previous decade...

What AD?

The British got out of the land based area air defence (rather than point defence ala Rapier and CAMM) when Bloodhound was decommissioned in 1991...

Nah, from two buttons and some pocket lint to four buttons and more pocket lint.
😜

So, if this account goes silent, can we assume the stoat won?

Since you are a kiwi that goes without saying... Spiders aren't wooly enough for you.

P for pterodactyl?
🤪

Or: Tower, head, spike and Bridge.

RETVRN TO TRADITION! Attainder, Tower, head, spike, bridge...

That exercise? Boghammers carrying antiship missiles larger than the boat? Superlumial motorcycle couriers?

Yeah, nah.