Vishakhapatnam: Breaking new grounds in the making of warships in the country, India today commissioned the first indigenously built stealth Anti-Submarine Warfare Corvette, INS Kamorta, at an impressive ceremony at Visakhapatnam naval dockyard. The Defence Minister Shri Arun Jaitley who commissioned the warship, described the development as ‘the coming of age of our ship building industry’.
The commissioning of INS Kamorta has added a new dimension to the ASW capability of the Indian Navy and in particular, the Eastern Fleet. The multifarious missions that can be undertaken by the ship truly reflect the enhanced multi-dimensional capability of the Indian Navy.
Admiral RK Dhowan, Chief of the Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Satish Soni, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Naval Command, Rear Admiral AK Verma (Retd), CMD, Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers (GRSE) and various other dignitaries were present during the commissioning ceremony.
INS Kamorta is first of the four ASW Stealth Corvettes designed by the Navy’s in-house organisation, the Directorate of Naval Design (DND), under Project 28, with an indigenous component of about 90%. Measuring 110 meters in length, 14 meters in breadth and displacing 3500 tons, the ship can achieve speed of 25 Knots. The ship is fitted with Anti-submarine Rockets and Torpedoes, Medium and Close-in Weapon Systems and indigenous surveillance radar Revathi. The ship is also capable of carrying an integral ASW helicopter.
Shri Jaitley said in the last three months, both the Prime Minister and he had been associated with many an accretions made into the Indian Navy namely, INS Vikramaditya, INS Kolkotta and INS Kamorta. But this one was special because of the high indigenous content. He said, at the moment, 42 warships are under construction in various shipyards of the country which is a welcome sign of the health of the ship building industry. He expressed confidence that the measures taken by the government will infuse healthy competitive spirit between the public and private shipyards.
Kamorta also boasts of other “firsts” such as a foldable Hangar Door and a Rail-less Helo Traversing System, which will give helicopter operations from the corvette a significant edge over other warships.
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