Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday launched two indigenously built warships 'Surat' and 'Udaygiri' at the Mazagon Docks in Mumbai. This is the first time that the two indigenously built warships have been launched concurrently, the Mazgaon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd (MDL) said.
The MDL is a premier ship and submarine building defence public sector undertaking.
'Surat' is the fourth ship of Project 15B Destroyers, which heralds a significant makeover of the P15A (Kolkata Class) destroyers, and is named after the commercial capital of Gujarat and also the second largest commercial hub of western India after Mumbai, the Navy said.
The Project 15B class of ships are the Navy's next-generation stealth guided-missile destroyers being built at the MDL.
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'Udaygiri', named after a mountain range in Andhra Pradesh, is the third ship of Project 17A Frigates. It is a follow on of the P17 Frigates (Shivalik Class) with improved stealth features, advanced weapons and sensors and platform management systems, the Navy said.
The new warship is the reincarnation of the erstwhile 'Udaygiri', the Leander Class ASW Frigate, which saw numerous challenging operations in its illustrious service to the country, spanning over three decades from February 1976 to August 2007, it added.
Indian Navy’s indigenously built warships or frigates:
At present ten indigenously built warships from four different classes are currently in active service with the Indian Navy.
It includes warships under Shivalik class, Talwar class, Brahmaputra class and Godavari class.
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Shivalik Class: This class is the heaviest of the warship classes presently with the Indian Navy. Also known as Project 17, this class includes multi-role stealth warships. They are the first stealth warships to be built in India. A total of three ships were built by Mazagon Dock Limited, Mumbai between 2000 and 2010, and all three were in commission by 2012.
The ships under this class operated by Indian Navy include INS Shivalik, INS Satpura and INS Sahyadri.
Talwar Class: The class of warships with the Indian Navy are modified Krivak III class vessels. Currently, three ships of this class are in service with the Indian Navy. The ships under this class include INS Talwar, INS Trikand, INS Trishul, INS Tabar, INS Teg, INS Tarkash and INS Trikand.
Brahmaputra Class: The Talwar class was preceded by the Brahmaputra class, which was built by the Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers, Kolkata. The ships with the Indian Navy under this class include INS Brahmaputra, INS Beas and INS Betwa.
Godavari Class: Predecessors to the Brahmaputra class frigates were the Godavari-class frigates. Of the three ships of the Godavari class, the lead ship, INS Godavari, was decommissioned in 2015, and the remaining two were operational. The warships operated by the Indian Navy under this category include INS Ganga and INS Gomati. (Source: PTI, Indian Navy website and military-history.fandom.com)
