The Sandhayak-class survey vessels are a series of four survey vessels being built by

Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Ltd, abbreviated as GRSE, is one of India's leading Defense industry, defence shipyards, located in Kolkata. It builds and repairs merchant shipping, commercial and warship, naval vessels. GRSE also expor ...

(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 Navy The Indian Navy (IN) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Navy, maritime and Amphibious warfare, amphibious branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. The Chief of the Naval Staff (India), Chief ...

. The first vessel was commissioned in 2021. The primary role of the vessels would be to conduct coastal and deep-water hydrographic survey of ports, navigational channels,

Exclusive Economic Zones An exclusive economic zone (EEZ), as prescribed by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, is an area of the sea in which a sovereign state has exclusive rights regarding the exploration and use of marine resources, including e ...

and collection of

oceanographic Oceanography (), also known as oceanology, sea science, ocean science, and marine science, is the scientific study of the ocean, including its physics, chemistry, biology, and geology. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of top ...

data for defence. Their secondary role would be to perform

search & 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 ...

, ocean research and function as

hospital ship A hospital ship is a ship designated for primary function as a floating healthcare, medical treatment facility or hospital. Most are operated by the military forces (mostly navy, navies) of various countries, as they are intended to be used in or ...

s for casualties.

History

In April 2016, the Indian Navy issued a request for proposal to six shipyards, four public and two private, for the construction of four large survey vessels. In September 2017,

(GRSE) emerged as the lowest bidder with a bid of , beating L&T Shipbuilding by . The contract was awarded to GRSE by the

Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

on 30 October 2018. The first ship is expected to be delivered within 36 months from the date of signing the contract.

Design

The ships have a displacement of and a length of . They have a cruising speed of with a maximum speed of and an operating range of at a speed of . The ships have a complement of 231 and are equipped with hydrographic sensor equipment and a

hangar A hangar is a building or structure designed to hold aircraft or spacecraft. Hangars are built of metal, wood, or concrete. The word ''hangar'' comes from Middle French ''hanghart'' ("enclosure near a house"), of Germanic origin, from Frankish ...

which can accommodate one advanced light helicopter. In the secondary role, the ships can be fitted with a CRN 91 naval gun. In addition, the vessels will follow MARPOL (

marine pollution Marine pollution occurs when substances used or spread by humans, such as industrial waste, industrial, agricultural pollution, agricultural, and municipal solid waste, residential waste; particle (ecology), particles; noise; excess carbon dioxi ...

) Standards of the International Maritime Organisation and will be built per Classification Society Rules and Naval Ship Regulations.

Development

The keel of the first ship ''Sandhayak ,''named after its predecessor , was laid down on 8 November 2019 and launched on 5 December 2021. It was expected to be commissioned by 2023, the boat was commissioned on 3 February 2024. The second vessel of the class, ''Nirdeshak'' , was laid on 1 December 2020 and was subsequently launched on 26 May 2022. The ship was delivered to the Indian Navy on 8 October 2024. The ship was commissioned on 18 December 2024. The third ship, ''Ikshak'', was laid down on 6 August 2021 and launched on 26 November 2022. The fourth and the last ship, ''Sanshodhak'', was laid down on 17 June 2022, and launched on 13 June, 2023.

Ships of the class

Gallery

References