Article Posted on : - May 23, 2012

INS Ratnagiri, a Pondicherry-class coastal minesweeper.

MUMBAI (PTI): INS Ratnagiri, a Pondicherry-class coastal minesweeper, was decommissioned at sunset here Tuesday by Rear Admiral B K Verma, the Flag Officer Commanding Maharashtra and Gujarat Naval Area.

The decommissioning ceremony was held at Naval Dockyard, Mumbai and was attended by ex-Commanding Officers of the ship as well as senior officers of the Western Naval Command.

INS Ratnagiri has served the nation gloriously for 32 years, an official release said.

She was acquired from erstwhile Soviet Union and commissioned at Riga (then USSR) on 10 June 1980. She was commissioned by I K Gujral, the then Ambassador to USSR and named by his wife Sheila Gujral. The first Commanding Officer of the ship was Lt Cdr Shyam Kaushal.

INS Ratnagiri was the sixth ship of her type and upon commissioning the ship formed part of 19 MCM Squadron at Mumbai. The ship was named after the coastal city of Ratnagiri located in the Konkan region of Maharashtra, popular for its fishing community. The ship was originally fitted with an array of weapons and sensors which included two AK 230 CIWS system, two RBU 1200 rocket launchers and a MCM sonar suite.

The ship was retrofitted with Klein Side Scan Sonar and Clip-on Influence Sweeps (Dyads), which had been inducted in the recent past to buttress her MCM role. The ship was also fully equipped to operate as a patrol platform, a role that changing security imperatives had brought about. The ship is commanded by Cdr Amit Nagpal and is manned by a crew of 5 officers and 70 sailors.