Defence Minister Rajnath Singh commissions INS Sandhayak, sends pirates warning

Singh warned that those involved in maritime piracy and smuggling will not be tolerated.

New Delhi: The first of the four new survey vessels, INS Sandhayak, was commissioned in to the Indian Navy on Saturday augmenting the force’s ability to boost the surveillance apparatus in strategic waters.

Commissioning the ship at the naval dockyard at Visakhapatnam, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh described the Indian Ocean as a hotspot for global trade with choke points like Gulf of Aden and Gulf of Guinea.

“Many threats remain at these choke points, the biggest being from pirates,” he said, referring to the hijack attempts on Merchant Vessels in the Arabian Sea.

In the last few days, the Indian Navy averted five piracy attempts and assisted ships hit by drones and missiles, besides rescuing 80 fishermen and marines.

“The Indian Navy in the Indian Ocean region is facilitating safe trade, while ensuring peace and prosperity. Many defence experts are calling this the rise of a superpower. This is our culture - to protect everyone,” he said.

The defence minister’s comments come in the backdrop of the political leadership proposing that New Delhi can become a net security provider in the Indian Ocean, upstaging the much larger China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy.

Manufactured by Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers, Kolkata, INS Sandhayak will carry out full scale hydrographic surveys of ports, harbours, navigational channels, coastal areas and deep seas, with an aim to enable safe marine navigation. It will also have several operational roles.

Navy Chief Admiral R Hari Kumar said each of the 33 ships and submarines inducted in the last 10 years, were all made in India. Going ahead, 64 out of 66 ships and submarines under order, are being built in Indian shipyards.

The new survey ship is equipped with state-of-the-art hydrographic equipment, including deep and shallow water multibeam echo-sounders, autonomous underwater vehicle, remotely operated vehicle, data acquisition and processing system and satellite-based positioning systems.

The ship, re-incarnated in its present avatar from erstwhile INS Sandhayak which was decommissioned in June 2021, would be propelled by two diesel engines and was capable of achieving speeds in excess of 18 knots, a navy spokesperson said in a statement.