New Delhi, Oct. 3: The navy has dismissed the captain of a warship that sank off the Goa coast after it collided with a merchant vessel.

The INS Prahar is still at the bottom, about 10 nautical miles from Goa, after the mishap in April.

Navy headquarters may give up the idea of salvaging it after initial efforts were abandoned.

The INS Prahar was being captained by Lieutenant Commander Yogesh Tripathi who was court-martialled.

Last week, the court martial found him guilty of “gross navigational error”. Tripathi was said to have not acted in accordance with the ROR (rules of the road).

The ROR is a set of rules that ships have to abide by to avoid congestion and mishaps. One of the rules is that if two (or more ships) are on a collision course both should turn starboard (right) side.

Around 9.45 pm on the night of April 21, the Prahar and the Shipping Corporation of India Merchant Vessel Rajiv Gandhi were sailing head-on. In the Prahar, its captain was said to have ordered the ship to turn port (left) side even as the merchant vessel was swerving to its starboard (right) side.

Recounting the events, an officer in naval headquarters said the Prahar was not only struck but was also “lifted” up by the bow of the much larger Rajiv Gandhi.

The Prahar’s crew — 71 sailors and officers — were saved because they either jumped into the water or clambered aboard the merchant vessel.

The Prahar was a missile corvette built for speed. It was on the surface of the water for close to three hours before it went under. The warship was returning from an exercise off Goa and was headed towards Mumbai. There are doubts on whether the Prahar’s bridge was manned at the time of the collision.

Missile corvettes like the Prahar (the Veer class) are capable of travelling at about 40 knots, zippy by the standards of larger vessels.