Two anti-submarine warfare shallow watercrafts of Indian Navy launched at Cochin Shipyard

The fourth and the fifth ships in the series of eight Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Crafts, vessels of the Indian Navy, were concurrently launched at the Cochin Shipyard on September 9, 2024.
| Photo Credit:  R.K. Nithin

The fourth and the fifth ships in the series of eight Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Crafts (ASW CWC), vessels of the Indian Navy, were concurrently launched at the Cochin Shipyard here on Monday (September 9, 2024).

The vessels that are 78 m long, 11.36 m wide and have a draught of about 2.7 m would be able to achieve a maximum speed of 25 knots. They would have endurance of 1,800 nautical miles and would bear the names INS MALPE and INS MULKI on being commissioned into the Navy. The vessels having displacement about 900 tons are designed to fit indigenously developed, state-of-the-art SONARS, for underwater surveillance.

The ships were launched by Vijaya Srinivas, wife of Vice Admiral V. Srinivas, the Flag Officer Commanding in Chief of the Southern Naval Command.
| Photo Credit:
 R.K. Nithin

After the ceremonial puja, the ships were launched by Vijaya Srinivas, wife of Vice Admiral V. Srinivas, the Flag Officer Commanding in Chief of the Southern Naval Command who was the chief guest at the event.

Operations

The contract to design, construct and deliver the eight ASW SWC ships was signed between the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and the Cochin Shipyard Ltd (CSL) in April 2019. The Mahe-class of ships will replace the in-service Abhay class ASW Corvettes of Indian Navy and are designed to undertake anti-submarine operations in coastal waters, low intensity maritime operations (LIMO), mine-laying operations which would include full-scale sub-surface surveillance of the coastal waters and coordinated ASW operations with aircraft, apart from search and rescue.

Each of the vessels has total installed propulsion power of about 12 MW. They are equipped with light-weight torpedoes, ASW rockets and mines, close-in weapon system (30 mm gun) and 12.7 mm stabilised remote-control guns.

In his address, Vice Admiral Srinivas said the construction of the vessels are in keeping with the need to be self-reliant and prepared in view of the geo-political situation and security challenges.

Madhu S. Nair, CMD of Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL), said the shipyard was all geared up to cater to the Navy’s requirements.

The directors of CSL, senior Navy officers, classification-society representatives, employees and workers were among those present on the occasion.