Kolkata: Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) Ltd of Kolkata has announced completion of Contractor Sea Trials (CSTs) of two warships it is building for the Indian Navy. Of these two, one is the INS Himgiri, second in a series of seven Advanced Stealth Frigates being built for the Indian Navy by Mazgaon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd in Mumbai and Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) Ltd in Kolkata. The INS Himgiri is the first of three such warships being built by GRSE.
“A CST is considered the final stage of construction, when a vessel’s seaworthiness is tested. Several factors, such as speed, maneuverability, and the performance of on-board equipment are checked. In this case, senior officials from GRSE, Indian Navy and classification societies were on board both warships to monitor their performances,” a senior GRSE official said.
On Monday, GRSE announced that the 6,670 Tons INS Himgiri completed her CST on March 3. The other ship is the INS Androth, second in a series of eight Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Crafts (ASW SWCs) being built by GRSE.
The INS Himgiri will be armed with Brahmos anti-ship and anti-surface missiles and Barak-8 surface to air missiles, apart from torpedoes to counter underwater threats. The first ship of this series, INS Nilgiri, built by the Mazgaon shipyard, was commissioned into the Navy on January 15 this year by defence minister Rajnath Singh.
The smaller, but heavily armed, ASW SWCs are also being built by shipyards in India for the first time. They have been designed and equipped to detect and destroy underwater threats, close to the coast. These multi-purpose vessels can carry out other tasks as well and be part of fleet operations in the deep sea.
official said.
The CST for INS Arnala – first of the ASW SWCs – was also successfully completed recently and she will be delivered to the Navy shortly. It was for the INS Arnala that GRSE bagged the Raksha Mantri Award 2022 for designing the ‘most silent ship’.
