The ''Samarth''-class offshore patrol vessel are a series of eleven

offshore 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 the ...

s being built by

Goa Shipyard Limited Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL) is an Indian Government owned ship building company located on the West Coast of India at Vasco da Gama, Goa. It was established in 1957, originally by the colonial government of the Portuguese in India as the "Estalei ...

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. The Indian Coast Guard was formally estab ...

. The construction of ''Samarth'' class was motivated by a desire to triple the Coast Guard assets in the aftermath of

2008 Mumbai attacks The 2008 Mumbai attacks (also referred to as 26/11, pronounced "twenty six eleven") were a series of terrorist attacks that took place in November 2008, when 10 members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, an Islamist terrorist organisation from Pakistan, ...

. They are an improvement over the earlier , with a larger beam and more powerful engines. The ships are being constructed in two batches—a batch of six ordered in May 2012 that was completed in December 2017 and a follow-on batch of five ordered in August 2016.

History

Following the 2008 Mumbai attacks, the

Indian Government The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...

initiated a program to triple the Indian Coast Guard force, assets and infrastructure. Thereafter in accordance with it a 'request for information' for acquisition of six offshore patrol vessels was issued by the

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in state ...

on 1 April 2010. After technical evaluation and commercial bids a contract worth $400 million or Rs. 1800 crore was signed with GSL on 9 May 2012 to build six vessels. On 14 May 2012 GSL did the first steel cutting in its shipyard, and the keel-laying ceremony of the first of the new class of offshore patrol vessels was held at

Vasco da Gama Vasco da Gama, 1st Count of Vidigueira (; ; c. 1460s – 24 December 1524), was a Portuguese explorer and the first European to reach India by sea. His initial voyage to India by way of Cape of Good Hope (1497–1499) was the first to link ...

on 28 September 2012. The second and third vessels were laid down 28 January and 11 October 2013, and the fourth on 9 January 2014. The first vessel was commissioned on 10 November 2015 and all six will be commissioned by the end of 2017. In August 2016, a follow-on consisting of five patrol vessels was placed for INR 20 billion. The follow-on vessels will have a greater indigenous content of 70% compared to the 62% of the previous batch. ''Sachet'' the first OPV was launched on 21 February 2019 and commissioned on 15 May 2020 by Defence Minister

Rajnath Singh Rajnath Singh (; born 10 July 1951) is an Indian politician serving as the Defence Minister of India. He is currently the Deputy Leader of the House Lok Sabha. He is the former President of Bharatiya Janata Party. He has previously served as ...

by video conferencing. ''Sujeet'' the second OPV from the second batch was handed to

on 12 November 2020 and later commissioned on 15 December 2020. ''Sajag'' the third OPV was delivered ahead of time on 16 March 2021. The ship was commissioned by

NSA The National Security Agency (NSA) is a national-level intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collectio ...

Ajit Doval Ajit Kumar Doval KC (born 20 January 1945) is a bureaucrat & spymaster, serving as the fifth and current National Security Advisor (NSA) to the Prime Minister of India, with the precedence equivalent to Cabinet Minister. He previously served a ...

on May 29, 2021. ''Sarthak'' was delivered ahead of schedule and was commissioned in the

on 28 October, 2021. ''Saksham'' the last ship of the project was delivered ahead of schedule on 8 February, 2022. All 5 ships of the Fleet 2 were delivered ahead of schedule.

Description

The class is long with a

displacement Displacement may refer to: Physical sciences Mathematics and Physics *Displacement (geometry), is the difference between the final and initial position of a point trajectory (for instance, the center of mass of a moving object). The actual path ...

of 2,350 tonnes. Features include Integrated Bridge System, Integrated Machinery Control System, Power Management System and High Power External Fire Fighting System. They are designed to carry one twin engine Light Helicopter and five high speed boats including two

Palfinger The company Palfinger AG is an Austrian manufacturer of hydraulic lifting, loading and handling systems, especially known for the cranes. With 150 models and a market share of 35 percent, the company is the world market leader. The PALFINGER Gro ...

QRIBs for fast boarding operations, search and rescue, law enforcement and maritime patrol. The class is also capable of carrying pollution response equipment to combat oil spill contamination at sea.

Ships of the class

Gallery

References

{{Ship classes of the Indian Coast Guard Patrol ship classes Ships of the Indian Coast Guard

History

Description

Ships of the class

See also

Gallery

References