The ''Rajshree''-class patrol vessels are a series of eight inshore

patrol vessel A patrol boat (also referred to as a patrol craft, patrol ship, or patrol vessel) is a relatively small naval vessel generally designed for coastal defence, border security, or law enforcement. There are many designs for patrol boats, and they ...

s built by

Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Ltd, abbreviated as GRSE, is one of India's leading defence shipyards, located in Kolkata. It builds and repairs commercial and naval vessels. GRSE also exports the ships that the company builds. Founded ...

(GRSE),

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

for the

Indian Coast Guard The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) is a maritime law enforcement and search and rescue agency of India with jurisdiction over its territorial waters including its contiguous zone and Exclusive economic zone of India, exclusive economic zone. It was st ...

Design

The ''Rajshree'' class have displacement of 303 tons and are in length. They are fitted with an integrated bridge system (IBS), integrated machine control system (IMCS). The vessels are powered by three MTU 16V4000M90 series engines capable of generating 2,720 BHP at 2100 rpm each to propel the vessel at a speed of 31.5 knots using three 71S2 Rolls-Royce Kamewa water jet propulsion. At economical speed of 16 knots, they have a range of 1,500 nautical miles. The vessels also generates 320 kW of electric power to feed a wide array of on-board sensors and equipment. The vessels are also fitted with various terrestrial and satellite based communication systems including a Fleet-500 satellite communication system. The ships are equipped with a 30 mm

CRN 91 Naval Gun The Close Range Naval-91 is a naval version of the Medak 30mm automatic gun installed on the Sarath Infantry fighting vehicle, a variant of the Russian (originally Soviet) BMP-2 manufactured in India under license by the AVANI. The Medak gun ...

, which is gyro-stabilized with an electro-optical fire control system. They can undertake day and night patrolling for anti-smuggling, anti-poaching and fisheries monitoring in shallow waters. They also carry on board a high-speed fibre-reinforced plastic boat, two Gemini boats and one water scooter for

search and rescue Search and rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, typically determined by the type of terrain the search ...

operations. They have fully air conditioned and modular accommodation for 6 officers and 34 sailors.

Operational history

On the evening of 24 August 2024, ICGS Rajratan, in coordination with Maritime Rescue Coordination Sub Centre (MRCSC)

Pipavav Pipavav is a village located near the West coast of Gujarat, India. By road it is 2 hours (85 km) from Amreli, 30 minutes (16 km) from Rajula, 2.5 hours (130 km) from Bhavnagar on the East and 1.5 hrs (78 km) from Diu on t ...

and an ICG

Dornier 228 The Dornier 228 is a twin-turboprop STOL utility aircraft, designed and first manufactured by Dornier GmbH (later DASA Dornier, Fairchild-Dornier) from 1981 until 1998. 245 were built in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany. In 1983, Hindustan Aeronautics ...

, rescued 9 crew members of IFB Angel. The Fishing Boast was adrift 70 km south of Diu amid rough seas due to an engine failure. The boat was later towed to Jafarabad.

Ships in class

The first vessel in the series ICGS ''Rajshree'' was commissioned by Director General Indian Coast Guard, Vice Admiral M.P. Muralidharan at GRSE Jetty on 15 February 2012. Firstly commanded by Commandant Pankaj Verma, an alumnus of the prestigious US Naval War College, Newport. The ship is named after an old Seaward class defense boat (SDB) of the Indian Navy INS ''Rajshree'' that served from 1983 to 2006.The second ship, ICGS ''Rajtarang'', was commissioned at

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

on 19 May 2012, and the third, ICGS ''Rajkiran'', on 29 August 2012, at

Visakhapatnam Visakhapatnam (; List of renamed places in India, formerly known as Vizagapatam, and also referred to as Vizag, Visakha, and Waltair) is the largest and most populous metropolitan city in the States and union territories of India, Indian stat ...

. A follow-on order of 5 more ships will be built with deliveries starting by mid 2018. Indian government gifted a Rajshree-class patrol vessel named PS Zoroaster to

Seychelles Coast Guard The Seychelles Coast Guard (SCG) is a branch of the Seychelles People's Defence Force created in 1993. It is a maritime, military, multi-mission service. They acquired responsibility for search and rescue for vessel incidents as well as environmen ...

. SCGS Zoroaster was refitted at GRSE in 2024 and returned to Seychelles along with INS Sunanya on 15 June 2024.

Gallery

References

{{Ship classes of the Indian Coast Guard Patrol boat classes Fast attack craft of the Indian Coast Guard Ships of the Indian Coast Guard

Design

Operational history

Ships in class

Gallery

See also

References