An indigenously-built warship equipped with a range of high-tech missiles was launched on Saturday with Navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba saying the stealth destroyer can be compared with the best vessels in the world.
Christened ‘Mormugao’, the vessel has been built by government-run Mazgaon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd and belongs to Visakhapatnam class of ships being constructed under Project 15B.
Admiral Lanba’s wife Reena launched the bedecked ship at a function at MDL in Mumbai at 11.58 am and it was released into the Arabian Sea for the first time. The vessel will undergo certain testings required by Indian Navy and would be subsequently known as INS Mormugao.
Four more such destroyers would be built and delivered by MDL during 2020-2024, the Public Sector Unit said in a statement.
The first ship of the Visakhapatnam class was launched on April 20, 2015.
Mormugao has a displacement of 7,300 tonnes with maximum speed of over 30 knots. The warship is equipped with surface-to-surface missiles, surface-to-air missiles and anti-submarine rocket launchers. It is also capable of carrying two anti-submarine warfare helicopters.
Addressing the function before the launch, Admiral Lanba said, "This ship serves the Make in India drive of the country as it is indigenously built."
“It secures the sea in a better way. Contract for this ship was signed on January 2011. It can be compared with best ships in the world and has been developed by our own designers at DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation) as well as other government agencies and private companies,” he said.
There is a pressing need to build more such ships and reduce the construction period of future vessels, the Navy chief said.
Admiral Lanba said since 1960 Indian Navy and MDL are building ships together.
MDL is the only dock in the country that has capability to build submarines.
