New INS NIRDESHAK Survey Ship Launched By GRSE
“The ship’s ability to undertake the whole spectrum of Indian Navy hydrographic and oceanographic operations will make us even more potent
Indian Naval Survey Ships have ability to undertake the whole spectrum of Naval hydrographic and oceanographic operations. The Navy had around 8 x Survey Ships against a probable requirement of at least 12 such vessels. Two were decommissioned a few years back.
INS SANDHYAK, the first ship of the new series was launched in Kolkata in Dec 2021. This ship will be commissioned by Oct 2022. Now the second ship INS NIRDESHAK has been launched by Sarbani Dasgupta, the wife of Vice Admiral Biswajit Dasgupta, the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Naval Command. This ship is being built at Kattupalli, near Chennai, and is the second of four survey vessels built by Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) Ltd. This will be commissioned by Dec 2023.
These news Survey Ships will make us even more potent, and foreign fleets are looking to the Indian Navy for hydrographic cooperation, said Vice Admiral Biswajit Dasgupta.Indian shipyards’ efforts and highlighting the construction potential ahead, with the Indian Navy planning to build 31 ships in the next years.
The name INS Nirdeshak comes from a previous survey ship of the same name that was built by the GRSE in 1983 and served in the Indian Navy until it was decommissioned in 2014. The GRSE’s most recent series of large survey vessels are significantly more advanced than the company’s previous ships in the naval fleet, according to a statement.
The ships, which are 110 metres long and 16 metres broad and have a displacement of roughly 3,400 tons, can reach a top speed of 18 knots and have a range of 6,500 nautical miles. The newer ship, the ‘Nirdeshak,’ will be more capable, larger, modern, state-of-the-art, with enhanced propulsion and manoeuvring, as well as the ability to operate autonomous and remotely operated systems.”
“The vessel has reached 80 percent Indigenization by cost, which is a tremendous milestone for Indian shipbuilding,” he said, praising Indian shipyards’ efforts and highlighting the construction potential ahead, with the Indian Navy planning to build 31 ships in the next years.
The capabilities of these survey ships were highlighted by Commodore PR Hari (Retd), chairman and managing director of GRSE. Full-scale coastal and deep-water hydrographic surveys of port and harbour approaches, as well as the assessment of navigation channels and routes, are all possible with these survey ships. They can also conduct maritime boundary surveys and collect oceanographic and geographic data for defence purposes.
