INDIA. Mumbai: A submarine INS Sindhudhvaj was decommissioned after serving the nation for 35 years. At the naval dockyard in Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh in the presence of top Indian Navy officers at sunset on Saturday.
The traditional ceremony was conducted, with an overcast sky adding to the occasion’s solemnity when the Decommissioning Pennant was lowered. The submarine was paid off after a glorious patrol of 35 Years.
Vice Admiral Biswajit Dasgupta, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Naval Command, was the Chief Guest for the ceremony. The Decommissioning event was attended by 15 former Commanding Officers, including Commodore SP Singh (Retd), the Commissioning CO, and 26 Commissioning crew veterans, an Indian Navy official said.
The submarine was acquired from the Soviet Union in 1987. The submarine crest depicts a grey colour nurse shark, and the name means flag bearer at sea. Throughout her career in the Navy, the Russian-built Sindhughosh class submarine Sindhudhvaj served as the symbol of indigenisation and the Indian Navy’s efforts to achieve “Atmanirbharta” (self-reliance).
She was credited with many firsts, including the operationalization of the indigenous sonar USHUS, the indigenous satellite communication systems Rukmani and MSS, the indigenous torpedo fire control system, and the inertial navigation system.
The Deep Submergence Rescue Vessel and she successfully completed mating and personnel transfers together, and she was the only submarine to get the CNS Rolling trophy for Innovation from Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
She was the first Kilo-class submarine and was part of Project 877 EKMs, the world’s commonly visible conventional submarines with 62 units currently in service across nine global navies. 877EKM submarine is powered by diesel-electric propulsion with two 1,000kW diesel generators and one 5,500hp propulsion motor.
Between 1986 and 1991, India purchased eight of these submarines.
Between 1998 and 2000, it later purchased two additional submarines from the Russian Federation. They were the first submarines in the Navy’s fleet to be able to launch anti-ship and land attack cruise missiles from below the surface, giving the naval fleet a powerful force multiplier.
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