Indian Navy’s new indigenously built Torpedo Launch and Recovery Vessel INS Astradharini was commissioned October 6 at the Naval Base Visakhapatnam.
The design of the Astradharini was a collaborative effort of NSTL, M/s Shoft Shipyard and IIT Kharagpur. The vessel has a catamaran hull form that significantly reduces its power requirement.
Having a length of 50 m, the vessel is capable to do speeds up to 15 Knots. It can operate at high sea states and has a large deck area with Torpedo Launchers for deploying and recovering various kinds of torpedos during the trials. The ship also has modern power generation and distribution, navigation and communication systems.
INS Astradharini will be used to carry out the technical trials of underwater weapons and systems developed by NSTL, a naval systems laboratory of DRDO. It is a replacement for Astravahini which was decommissioned on July 17, 2015.
[mappress mapid=”17115″]
Image: Indian Navy