Garden reach delivers largest over survey delivers largest ever survey vessel to Indian Navy
This survey ship is capable of full-scale coastal and deep-water hydrographic survey of port and harbour approaches as well as the determination of navigation channels and routes
Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) Limited has achieved yet another milestone by delivering the INS Sandhayak, the largest survey vessel ever built in India. Sandhayak was laid on 8 November 2019 and launched on 5 December 2021.
INS Sandhayak is the first in the series of four Survey Vessels (Large) being built by it. It was launched by Smt Pushpa Bhatt, wife of Ajay Bhatt Raksha Rajya Mantri on 04 Dec, the Navy Day.
The delivery and acceptance papers were signed by GRSE’s Chairman & Managing Director (CMD) Cmde PR Hari IN (Retd) and Commanding Officer of the vessel, Cmde RM Thomas in the presence of Rear Admiral Nelson D’Souza, NM, CSO (Tech), Director (Finance) RK Dash, Cdr S Bose, IN (Retd), Director (Shipbuilding) and other Senior Officials of GRSE and Indian Navy.
GRSE has partnered with the Indian Navy for the last 62 years after delivery of the first indigenously-built warship INS Ajay in 1961. Since then, GRSE has delivered 70 more warships to the Indian Navy. At the moment, GRSE is building 18 more warships for the Indian Navy, including three 17A Advanced Frigates, eight Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Craft and four Next Generation Offshore Patrol Vessels.
Delivery of a warship of the quality of the INS Sandhayak is a great achievement, particularly when no platform of its kind has ever been built in India. GRSE had not stopped the work on this ship even during the pandemic years.
The INS Sandhayak is the lead vessel in a series of four Survey Vessels (Large) and has been named as per tradition as the reincarnation of former Sandhayak. That survey vessel was commissioned into the Indian Navy in 1981 and decommissioned in 2021. The new INS Sandhayak and the remaining ships of the series are far more advanced than their predecessors.
The ships have a displacement of 3,300 tonnes and a length of 110 metres. They have a cruising speed of 16 knots (30 km/h) with a maximum speed of 18 knots (33 km/h ) and an operating range of 12,000 km.
The ships have a complement of 231 and are equipped with hydrographic sensor equipment and a hangar which can accommodate one advanced light helicopter. For the secondary role, the ships is fitted with a CRN91 naval gun.
In addition, the vessels will follow MARPOL (marine pollution) Standards of the International Maritime Organisation and will be built per Classification Society Rules and Naval Ship Regulations.
The primary role of the vessels is to conduct coastal and deep-water hydro-graphic survey of ports, navigational channels, Economic Exclusive Zones and collection of oceanographic data for defence. Their secondary role would be to perform search & rescue, ocean research and function as hospital ships for casualties
These survey ships are capable of full-scale coastal and deep-water hydrographic survey of port and harbour approaches as well as the determination of navigation channels and routes. In addition, the Sandhayak-class can undertake surveys of maritime limits and collection of oceanographic and geographical data for defence applications. Such data adds muscle to India’s maritime capabilities.
These ships can also carry a helicopter each, participate in low-intensity combat and function as hospital ships. They can also be used for Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief operations.
Propelled by two marine diesel engines combined with fixed-pitch propellers and fitted with bow and stern thrusters to help the ships manoeuvre at low speeds during surveys, they are ideally suited to carry out their designated operations.
Fully designed by GRSE’s Design Team to meet the requirements of the Indian Navy, the INS Sandhayak was built using ‘Integrated Construction’ technology. This was in compliance with applicable provisions and regulations of the Classification Society (IRS).
GRSE CMD lauded the effort put in by team GRSE, the Indian Navy and all the other stakeholders and said “We are proud to deliver this ship on the Navy Day and we are confident to deliver the balance three ships of the SVL project as per the committed timelines”.
