Vice Admiral Kiran Deshmukh, GRSE chairman and managing Director Commodore P.R. Hari IN (Retd) and senior officials from the Navy and GRSE were present on the occasion.
GRSE is building eight ASWSWCs and four SVLs for the Navy and the ships are at various stages of completion. INS Anjadip was the third vessel of this series and INS Sanshodhak is the fourth and last in the series of SVLs being built by GRSE.
Keel for the seventh ASWSWC was also laid on Tuesday.
“ASWSWCs require less draft and can operate close to the coast, searching for underwater threats and neutralizing enemy assets such as midget submarines and mines. Equipped with advanced sonar and armed with the latest weaponry, such as lightweight torpedoes and ASW rockets, these warships will pack a tremendous punch, once they become operational,” GRSE said in a statement.
INS Anjadip has been named after an island close to India’s western coast that is now part of naval base INS Kadamba. The island had put up strong resistance in 1961 when India took back Goa from the Portuguese. The island also has a memorial for the Indian marines who were martyred there.
According to GRSE, INS Anjadip is the reincarnation of a soviet era ASW Ship of the Indian Navy which was decommissioned in December 2003.
Sanshodhak is a Hindi word which means discoverer or investigator. “This is an apt name for the SVL that will be carrying out hydrographic surveys to chart the ocean floor and provide valuable information on our seas and oceans for defence purposes,” said the shipyard.
Hailing the partnership between GRSE and L&T Shipbuilding, Vice Admiral R.B. Pandit said the collaboration is a befitting example of a Public-Private partnership which is a desired framework for the indigenous warship construction capabilities.
“This successful model will be closely watched and I am sure it would set the path for similar future collaborations in warship construction in our country,” he said.
Speaking on the occasion, Commodore P.R. Hari said: “The ASW Shallow watercraft project has eight ships, and the Survey Vessel Large Project four ships. We launched the first SVL on the 5th of December 2021 and thereafter we have been launching a ship every six month with the last ship being launched today. As far as the ASW Shallow watercraft project is concerned, we launched the first ship on 20th of December 2022, and are churning out a ship every three months and we intend maintaining this tempo”.