Major Shaitan Singh
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Visakhapatnam. The Indian Navy commissioned the second batch of three Immediate Support Vessels (ISVs) at a formal ceremony here March 24.
Armed with Heavy Machine Guns (HMGs) and sophisticated radars and navigation equipment, two ISVs have been acquired from Rodham Spain, and significantly, the third from UAE's Abu Dhabi Ship Builders (ADSB).
This is perhaps the first time that India is sourcing a weaponised platform from the UAE. Naval officers, some of whom recently visited the IDEX 2015 in Abu Dhabi, particularly praised the quality of the vessel supplied by the UAE company.
Given Pennant numbers T 38, T 39 and T 40, all the three vessels were first brought to the Naval Dockyard in Mumbai where Delivery Acceptance Trials were carried out. Then, these ships sailed 1,200 nautical miles from Mumbai to Visakhapatnam on India's east coast over a duration of 12 days before getting commissioned at the Eastern Naval Command, Vice Admiral Satish Soni, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Naval Command, said while addressing the gathering, adding that the ISVs proved their sturdiness as they crossed successfully the Gulf of Mannar facing strong winds and high seas.
The first batch was commissioned on 4 June 2014.
Vice Admiral Satish Soni was received on arrival at the Naval Jetty by Commodore KA Bopanna, Naval Officer-in-Charge(NOIC), Andhra Pradesh. The Admiral was presented a Fifty-man Guard and introduced to the Commanding Officers of the ISVs thereafter. The inaugural address was delivered by the NOIC, Andhra Pradesh. Lieutenants Jai Kishore, Shobhit Saxena and Vaibhav Bhardwaj, Commanding Officers of T-38, T-39 and T-40 respectively, read out the Commissioning Warrants. Hoisting of the Naval Ensign onboard for the first time and ‘Breaking of the Commissioning Pennant’ with the National Anthem being played marked the completion of the Commissioning Ceremony.
The ISVs are fitted with two Caterpillar engines of 1600 MHP each to provide water jet propulsion which provides the vessels a high speed of 40 knots and an endurance of 500 nautical miles. These ships are capable of carrying out day and night surveillance and can be used for rapid insertions/extraction of MARCOS (Indian Navy commandos) for military intervention.
The induction and deployment of these ships will augment the ongoing efforts to bolster coastal security and provide protection to our offshore assets from asymmetric threats. These ships would enhance Indian Navy’s capability in furthering its mandate of maritime safety and security over the Offshore Developmental Areas on the Eastern sea board.
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