INS Sandhayak (Yard 3025), the first Survey Vessel Large (SVL) ship, was commissioned into the Indian Navy in the presence of Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh.

INS Sandhayak

INS Sandhayak (Yard 3025), the first Survey Vessel Large (SVL) ship, was commissioned into the Indian Navy in the presence of Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh at an impressive ceremony held at the Naval Dockyard, Visakhapatnam on February 03, 2024.

Role of INS Sandhayak

The primary role of the ship is to carry out full scale hydrographic surveys of ports, harbours, navigational channels/routes, coastal areas and deep seas, towards enabling safe marine navigation. In its secondary role, the ship will be capable of undertaking a range of naval operations.

 The commissioning ceremony marked the formal induction of the first of the four ships of the SVL Project under construction at Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers (GRSE), Kolkata. The project has been steered by the Warship Design Bureau of the Indian Navy. The keel was laid on March 12, 2019, and the ship was launched on December 05, 2021. It has undergone a comprehensive schedule of trials in harbour and at sea, leading up to commissioning. The ship has a displacement of 3,400 tons and an overall length of 110 meters with a beam of 16m.

It is equipped with state-of-the-art hydrographic equipment including Deep & Shallow Water Multi-Beam Echo-Sounders, Autonomous Underwater Vehicle, Remotely Operated Vehicle, Side scan sonars, Data Acquisition and Processing System, satellite-based positioning systems and terrestrial survey equipment. The ship is propelled by two Diesel Engines and is capable of achieving speeds in excess of 18 knots.

Growing Concern In IOR

The challenges in the distant seas include China’s carefully calculated power play for influence, defending the rules-based international order, and the Arabian Sea emerging as a new front with Red Sea tensions escalating and the resurgence of piracy. The navy has stepped up surveillance in and around the Arabian Sea substantially and deployed task groups consisting of around 10 warships in the face of rising threats.

Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers

Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Ltd, abbreviated as GRSE, is one of India’s leading shipyards, located in Kolkata. It builds and repairs commercial and naval vessels. GRSE also builds export ships. Founded in 1884 as a small privately-owned company on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, it was renamed as Garden Reach Workshop in 1916. The company was nationalised by the Government of India in 1960. It was awarded the Miniratna status. It is first Indian shipyard to build 100 warships.