On the eve of Xmas, India’s first indigenously built INS Khukri Missile Corvettes, was decommissioned. The ceremony of INS Khukri which had been in service for 32 years, took place at Visakhapatnam. In the presence of the chief guest Vice Admiral Biswajit Dasgupta, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Naval Command, the naval ensign, the national flag and the decommissioning pennant were lowered at sunset.
What is a Missile Corvette?
These are agile high-speed ships and have considerable firepower. They are ideal for a littoral environment, says an expert.
More about INS Khukri
According to the Indian Navy, in August 1989, the corvette was built indigenously by the Mazagaon Dock Shipbuilders. The ship which had the distinction of being part of Western and Eastern Fleets was commissioned in Mumbai by the then Defence Minister Krishna Chandra Pant, and Mrs Sudha Mulla, who was the wife of late Capt Mahendra Nath Mulla, MVC. The first commanding officer of the ship was Commander Sanjeev Bhasin (now Vice Admiral Retired).
When it was in the Indian Navy, this missile corvette was commanded by 28 Commanding Officers and travelled a distance of over 6,44,897 nautical miles. This is almost three times distance between the Earth and the Moon, and Or is equivalent to navigating 30 times round the globe.
Since the ship was also affiliated with the Gorkha Brigade of the Indian Army, during the ceremony Lt General PN Ananthanarayan, SM, President Gorkha Brigade, was also present.
How many Corvettes Indian Navy has?
Four and these include INS Kamorta, INS Kadmatt, INS Kiltan and INS Kavaratti. These were commissioned in the Indian Navy in 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2020 respectively.
As reported earlier, the platforms and the internal systems have been designed and built indigenously.
In 2020, the Chief of Army Staff General MM Naravane had commissioned the last of 4 indigenously built anti-submarine warfare (ASW) stealth corvettes ‘INS Kavaratti’ under Project 28.
The ships under Project 28 have been designed locally by the Navy’s in-house Directorate of Naval Design (DND). And they have been built with 90 per cent indigenous content, carbon composite has been used. These were built by Kolkata based Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers.
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