‘Steel Cutting’ ceremony of first of the five Fleet Support Ships (FSS) was held at Hindustan Shipyard Limited, Visakhapatnam on 10 Apr 24, in presence of Shri Giridhar Aramane, Defence Secretary.
Steel Cutting of First Fleet Support Ship For Indian Navy
‘Steel Cutting’ ceremony of first of the five Fleet Support Ships (FSS) was held at Hindustan Shipyard Limited, Visakhapatnam on 10 Apr 24, in presence of Shri Giridhar Aramane, Defence Secretary.
Contract with HSL for acquisition of five Fleet Support Ships was signed in Aug 2023 and the ships are scheduled to be delivered to the Indian Navy, commencing mid-2027. On induction, the Fleet Support Ships will bolster the ‘Blue Water’ capabilities of the Indian Navy through replenishment of fleet ships at sea. The ships, with more than 40,000 tonnes displacement will carry and deliver fuel, water, ammunition and stores enabling prolonged operations without returning to harbour, thus enhancing the Fleet’s strategic reach and mobility.
CMD, HSL Cmde Hemant Khatri (Retd) extended gratitude to the Defence Secretary for being a key in the revival of HSL. He underlined the importance of construction of FSS as it provides business to nearly 550 MSMEs in-and-around Visakhapatnam and employment opportunity to over 3,000 personnel.
Fleet Support Ship
The HSL-class fleet support vessels are a series of five fleet tanker planned to be built by Hindustan Shipyard, Visakhapatnam for the Indian Navy. The deal was signed on 25 August 2023 with an expected project completion timeline of 8 years. The primary role of the vessels would be to replenish ships of the Indian Navy with fuel, food and various other supplies. With a length of 230 m and displacement of 45,000 tonnes these will be the heaviest and the second largest vessels to be in operation in the Indian Navy fleets before 2030.
