A Water Jet Fast Attack Craft (WJFAC), INS Tihayu, was commissioned into the Navy by Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Eastern Naval Command Vice-Admiral H.C.S. Bisht, at the naval base here on Wednesday.
The 315-tonne INS Tihayu is the sixth of the WJFAC ‘Car Nicobar Class’ vessel to be commissioned and allotted to the Eastern Fleet.
According to Vice-Admiral Bisht, four of the vessels are based in Chennai and two, including Tihayu, will be stationed in Visakhapatnam. Built by Kolkata-based shipyard Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE), INS Tihayu is the 20th vessel in this class to be built by the shipyard.
It is an improved version of the earlier vessels and can achieve a top operating speed of 35 knots per hour, said Chairman and Managing Director of GRSE Rear Admiral (retd) A.K. Verma.
The ship is fitted with three water jet propulsion systems, powered by marine diesel engines generating 2,720 KW of power.
Coming to the armament, it is loaded with an indigenously built 30 mm CRN gun and can have an additional package of about 11 machine guns of different variants.
The ship also carries a shoulder-launched IGLA surface-to-air missile to neutralise threat from the air. The ship will be commanded by Commander Ajay Kashov and will have four officers and 41 crew members.
According to Vice-Admiral Bisht, the ship will meet the requirement of extended coastal and offshore patrolling and can be extensively used for anti-poaching and anti-piracy operations. “Its speed, stealth features and armament gives a decisive edge, and will serve as a deterrent for pirates and in safeguarding our EEZ and the blue economy.”
Talking to The Hindu , post commissioning of the ship, Vice-Admiral Bisht said the Eastern Naval Command will add up two more Kamorta-class anti-submarine warfare corvettes by 2018, to its fleet of two.
“But what will make ENC a dominant force in the eastern seaboard is the induction of another Shivalik class multi-role stealth frigate to its existing fleet of three. We already have INS Shivalik , Satpura and Sahyadri , and the new one which is being built by GRSE will have enhanced state-of-the-art features and will be inducted shortly,” he said.
According to the CMD of the GRSE, for the first time the shipyard has crossed the Rs. 200 crore net profit mark. “Last year, we have made a turnover of Rs. 1,700 crore with a net profit of Rs. 227 crore,” said Rear-Admiral A.K. Verma.
He pointed out that the GRSE had so far delivered 98 ships of different variants to the Navy and would be adding up two more by the end of this year to make it 100.
We have orders for about 20 more ships and all are in advance stage of construction. They will be delivered in about one-and-a-half-year time, he told The Hindu .
On the name Tihayu, he said it was based on the name of Tihayu island of Nicobar Island archipelago, which in local language means sunrise and the motto of the ship is ‘swift and sure’.
ENC will add up two more Kamorta-class anti-submarine warfare corvettes by 2018
×