Article Posted on : - Mar 29, 2017

NEW DELHI (PTI): Indian Navy's latest surveillance ship, INLCU L51 was commissioned Tuesday and it will be part of the fleet deployed to check poaching, illegal fishing, drug trafficking and other unlawful activities in the Indian Ocean region.

The ship was commissioned by Vice Admiral Bimal Verma, Commander-in-Chief of the Andaman and Nicobar Command at Port Blair.

It is the first of the eight ships of the LCU Mk IV Class and has been built by M/s Garden Reach Ship Builders & Engineers Ltd, Kolkata.

Conceived and designed indigenously, the commissioning of the ship adds a feather to the glorious chapter in India's 'Make in India' initiative and indigenisation efforts in the field of warship design and construction, the Defence Ministry said in a statement.

With a displacement of 900 tons, the ship is 62.8 metre in length and 11 metre in breadth.

The ship will also play a key role in carrying out maritime surveillance of Andaman & Nicobar Islands for preventing anti-poaching, illegal fishing, drug trafficking, human trafficking, poaching and other illegal activities.

The armament onboard the ship include 30 mm CRN-91 guns, 12.7 mm Heavy Machine Guns and 7.62 mm Medium Machine Guns.

In addition, the ship is fitted with state-of-the art Electronic Warfare suite for early detection of adversaries.