Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Ltd (GRSE) delivered a ship, Yard 3020 (to be called the Kavaratti), to the Indian Navy on Tuesday. The ship is the 104th warship built and delivered by GRSE since its inception in 1960 and is the last in the series of four anti-submarine warfare corvettes (ASWC) under the P-28 programme.
Kavaratti was handed over by retired rear admiral V.K. Saxena, chairman and managing director, GRSE, to Commodore Sandeep Singh, Commanding Officer (design), in the presence of senior officials of Indian Navy and GRSE.
The first three ships of the P-28 programme—INS Kamorta, INS Kadmatt and INS Kiltan—were delivered earlier and now form an integral part of the Eastern Fleet of the Indian Navy. The P-28 class of ships have been touted as a shining example of the 'Make in India' programme.
The first three P-28 corvettes built by GRSE have been creating waves across the world since their induction to the Indian Navy. They have participated in several overseas operations and international maritime exhibitions in Malaysia, Singapore and other countries including international fleet reviews.
INS Kiltan recently participated in the prestigious Exercise Malabar 2019, an endeavour to strengthen naval cooperation and enhance interoperability between the navies of the US, India and Japan. With 90 per cent indigenous content and being equipped to fight in nuclear, biological and chemical warfare conditions and featuring the integration of a host of weapons and sensors, the P-28 class of ships are considered a milestone in the journey towards self-reliance.
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These anti-submarine warfare corvettes have catapulted the Indian Navy into the elite club of forces having stealth ships. The 'X' form of the hull and superstructure gives the Kavaratti very low radar cross-section and special design of propulsion system minimises radiated underwater noise. The stealth features make detection of the Kavaratti very difficult for adversaries both above and below the sea surface.
The P-28 corvettes are designed to be equally effective in the littorals as well as in the deep oceans. This class of ships have been designed as an extremely versatile anti-submarine warfare platform capable of neutralising enemy submarines using indigenous weapons like torpedoes, rocket launchers and integral helicopters. The Kavaratti has a displacement of 3,250 tonnes, length of 109metres and width of 12.8metres. The ship has a maximum speed of 25 knots, with an endurance of over 3,400 nautical miles at a speed of 18 knots and can accommodate 17 officers and 106 sailors.
