By Raju Vernekar
Mumbai, Aug 07:
The keels of the first warship of the Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Craft (ASWSWC) project and the third warship of Survey Vessel Large (SVL) project for the Indian Navy were laid virtually by Vice Chief of Naval Staff, Vice-Admiral SN Ghormade, on Friday.
The ships are being built by the Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Ltd (GRSE) as part of the indigenous shipbuilding program for the construction of eight ASWSWC and four SVL for the Indian Navy. The ships are partly being built under a Public-Private Partnership model by GRSE at L&T Shipyard, Kattupalli, Chennai, Tamil Nadu.
The Keel Laying is a major milestone activity in the shipbuilding process and indicates the amalgamation of various blocks towards the construction of a ship. During the keel-laying ceremony, Vice-Admiral Kiran Deshmukh, Controller of Warship Production & Acquisition (CWP&A), Rear Admiral GK Harish, Director General Naval Design, Surface Ship Group (DGND) (SSG), Rear Admiral V K Saxena (Retd), CMD/GRSE and other senior officials of the Indian Navy and GRSE were also present.
Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Guest appreciated the efforts put in by GRSE and L&T in achieving this milestone despite COVID-19 constraints and resultant lockdowns. He called it a noteworthy achievement by the Shipyard and commended the professionalism displayed by all. He highlighted that construction of these vessels is a major boost for “AtmaNirbhar Bharat” and India’s ‘Make in India’ commitment with most of the weapons, sensors, and equipment being indigenous.
He added that the ASW Shallow Water Craft equipped with state-of-the-art underwater sensors and weapons will boost the Navy’s ASW capability. The SVL ships capable of the full-scale coastal survey, deep-water Hydrographic survey, and determination of navigational channels/ routes will also be fitted with state of art equipment.
Highlighting various challenges faced by the Shipyard in executing this complex shipbuilding project CMD-GRSE stated that despite challenges posed by the ongoing pandemic, production of the ships continued by utilization of innovative solutions. He thanked the Indian Navy for their unstinted support and reiterated GRSE’s commitment to cater to the requirement of modern surface fleets.
