The Indian Navy has allotted a craft to the Alappuzha port museum being set up as part of the Heritage Project, Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac has said.
“Vice Admiral G. Ashok Kumar, Vice Chief of the Naval Staff, informed that the Indian Naval Fast Attack Craft T 81 has been allotted to the Alappuzha port museum. The ship is in Mumbai. It will be handed over to the Southern Naval Command soon. From Kochi, we will have to bring it to Alappuzha and installed on the seashore in front of the museum. The Navy has offered full support,” Dr. Isaac said in a social media post. The Fast Attack Craft T 81 was commissioned into the Indian Navy in June 1999. The ship has a displacement of 60 tonnes, a length of 25 metres and a beam of five metres and is capable of speed in excess of 40 knots. It is capable of being put to sea in the shortest possible time and can perform a wide variety of roles including surveillance, reconnaissance, coordinated search and rescue operations and high-speed interception of small craft.
Dedicated section
Dr. Isaac said that the museum, being set up by renovating godowns close to the old port office, near the Alappuzha beach, would have a dedicated section for the Indian Navy.
Recently, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan inaugurated the port museum building.
The museum will showcase the State’s rich maritime history, especially the story of the Alappuzha port.
