India’s largest naval base to come up near Vishakapatnam

[shree835]

In what is seen as a bid to entrench its presence beyond Bay of Bengal into the East Asian waters and the Pacific Rim, Indian Navy is all geared to get an exclusive sea port for its Eastern-bound frigates and warships.

Ramkonda, a quite hamlet on the Coromandel coast some 50 kms east of Vishakapatnam, was chosen for building the new marine base. The work on the Project Varsha began in 2005, and when completed, it is expected to be a gem of the Indian Navy.
Seen by many as another step in fulfilling the ambitions of India’s ‘Look East policy, Project Varsha is expected to be the largest such base in the country once it is completed.
Experts claim that Ramkonda’s proximity to Vishakapatnam, which is the headquarters of Eastern Naval Command and Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) is what prompted Indian Navy to build a base there.
The base, envisaged for the exclusive use of the Navy, is also expected to ease off traffic from the Vishakapatnam harbor.
With an expanding warships’ fleet which has already touched 46 and will soon see induction of nuclear powered submarine INS Arihant, the strength of Eastern Naval command is now on par with India’s western Naval command.
And with Admiral Joshi’s aggressive rhetoric hinting that India would co-operate with Vietnam in competing with China for natural resources in the South China sea and beyond, a prominent naval base in East was long overdue.
Interestingly, Project Varsha is being built on the same line of motives as Project Seabird. While Seabird, located on the coast of Karnataka, was built to have an eye on Pakistan, Varsha is seen by many as manifestation of India’s ambitions in South China Sea and counteracting the growing Chinese might in the region.
But Project Varsha is not the only war base in the strategic Bay of Bengal. A naval air station is all set to be built off Kolkata’s coast, with another envisioned for the Tamil Nadu’s coast. The latter is expected to secure the Indian interests on both, the eastern and western flanks.
Besides, India also boasts of an air surveillance station in the Andaman and Nicobar islands. It had been built to monitor the activity of air and sea-borne traffic in and around the region.

India’s largest naval base to come up near Vishakapatnam | idrw.org

 

[Tridibans]

I think this is an old news. Anyway, we need to develop our infrastructure in ports, airfields etc. near home before thinking of blue water nave/ dominating IOR..... .

 

[janon]

I think this is an old news. Anyway, we need to develop our infrastructure in ports, airfields etc. near home before thinking of blue water nave/ dominating IOR..... .

That's precisely what we are doing. This port is very much at home, not just near it.

 

[IND151]

very good news

 

[Nishad]

The construction started in 2005? And not yet completed? I always feel that if one needs to learn future tense,one should come to Indian defence threads.

 

[Yogi]

The construction started in 2005? And not yet completed? I always feel that if one needs to learn future tense,one should come to Indian defence threads.

Its a naval base which will be able to handle 10-12 nuke subs along with other warships n not some chai ki dukan which will be completed over night...

The naval base ur talking about is Karwar base in Karnataka which started in 2005 n for ur kind info 1st phase of Karwar has already been completed n its currently capable of handling 15 warships n the II phase is divided in 2 parts A n B. A part will be completed by 2017 (30 warships) n B part by 2025 once completed it will be one of the largest naval base in whole of Asia capable of handling more than 50 warships n mordern subs like Scorpene n P-75I subs as well as Aircraft Carrier so hold ur horses dear as its not Vishakapatnam but Karwar which will be Pak centric...

 

[Capt.Popeye]

The construction started in 2005? And not yet completed? I always feel that if one needs to learn future tense,one should come to Indian defence threads.

Nope. Not at all. There are far greater examples west of the border: extracting coal, gas from coal, oil from coal etc.
Not to forget the greatest engineering break-through in the history of mankind: running automobiles on water.

Now on topic: The present Harbor facilities are adequate for the present Indian Fleets. However going in to the future, they will be cramped for the projected expansion of the Fleets. We are likely to hear more about expansion/augmentation of facilities in the Andaman and Nicobar Archipelago, the plans are already on the drawing boards.
Another factor is that both the Indian Navy's biggest bases at present; viz. Mumbai and Vizag share harbor approach channels and other facilities with civilian ports which is a major bottle-neck. Now the IN has decided to have stand-alone Naval Harbors wherever possible. Karwar is already up and running. Ramkonda is the next one. More will be in the works when required.