Article Posted on : - Jan 16, 2014

Saryu class of naval offshore patrol vessels (NOPV). Photo: Indian Navy.

NEW DELHI (PTI): The state-owned Goa Shipyard Limited on Tuesday joined the elite club of ship manufacturers to have built 200 warships with the delivery of INS Sumedha offshore patrol vessel to the Indian Navy.

"GSL on Tuesday joined the elite class with the delivery of the 200th vessel. The delivery of the 200th vessel for the nation, synchronises with the handing over of the third of the Naval Offshore Patrol Vessel (NOPV) 'INS SUMEDHA' - built and designed indigenously," a GSL release said.

The vessel was handed over to the Navy by GSL Chairman and Managing Director Rear Admiral Vineet Bakshi at a function at the shipyard, the release said.

The ship was received by Commanding Officer-designate of the vessel Commander Anand E Kulkarni.

The vessel is the largest Offshore Patrol Vessel of the Navy and the largest constructed by Goa Shipyard Limited. It is expected to help the force to meet its requirements for undertaking surveillance and prevent infiltration and transgression of maritime sovereignty.

"This vessel is suitable for monitoring sea lines of communication, defence of offshore oil installations and other critical offshore national assets and can be deployed for escorting high value ships and fleet support operations," the release said.

The first and second of the series of new 105m-class of OPVCs 'INS SARYU' and 'INS SUNAYANA' were handed over to the Navy by GSL in December 2012 and September 2013 respectively.

GSL is also building Torpedo Recovery Vessels, Fast Patrol Vessels, Extra Fast Attack Crafts, Offshore Patrol Vessels, Advanced Offshore Patrol Vessels and Naval Offshore Patrol Vessels and 126 GRP interceptor boats.

GSL is one of the few Indian shipyards equipped with an in-house design capability and most of its new shipbuilding projects are based on our own in-house design.

It is implementing a major expansion plan that is expected to significantly boost its capacity of shipbuilding facilities.