In what comes as a major boost to India's submarine rescue capabilities, Nistar, India's first indigenously built diving support vessel, was commissioned in Visakhapatnam on Friday.
The newly commissioned vessel revives the legacy of the original INS Nistar, originally built in 1971. It had played a crucial role during the 1971 Indo-Pakistan war, identifying Pakistan's sunken submarine Gazi outside Visakhapatnam harbour and Eastern operations.
The word ‘Nistar’ originates from Sanskrit and means liberation, rescue or salvation. The ship has state-of-the-art diving equipment installed, can undertake deep-sea saturation diving up to 300 m depth, and has a side diving stage for conducting diving operations up to 75 m depth. It will also serve as a mother ship for the deep submergence rescue vessel (DSRV), to rescue and evacuate personnel, in case of an emergency in a submarine underwater.
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Chief of Naval Staff (CNS) Admiral Dinesh K. Tripathi said that the new Nistar will carry forward the legacy of the original INS Nistar, with advanced saturation dive systems and capability to rescue deep submergence rescue vessels, including submarines.
"Old ships never die, they always return in upgraded form," he said during the commissioning ceremony.
He pointed out that Nistar is significant both technologically and operationally, as the vessel would help India emerge as a preferred partner in submarine rescue globally.
Tripathi observed that only a few navies worldwide have such capabilities, and fewer nations develop them indigenously.
Minister of State for Defence Sanjay Seth said Nistar will enhance India's global identity, proving that the Indian Navy stands as an equal among world powers.
He highlighted that the Nistar that was decommissioned in 1989 was weighing 800 tonnes, is now revived with a weight of 10,500 tonnes, and is 120 meters long, reflecting Viksit Bharat's (Developed India) technological transformation.
'India shifted from importer to exporter', exporting defence goods worth Rs 23,622 crores and targeting Rs 50,000 crores, achieved through the efforts of 120 MSME sector personnel, said Seth.
