India commissions final Kolkata-class destroyer INS Chennai

INS Chennai, the last of three Kolkata-class guided missile destroyers, joined the Indian Navy in a ceremony held at the Mumbai naval dockyard on Monday. 

Following her formal induction, INS Chennai will be placed under the Indian Western Naval Command.

In due course, the ship will be homeported at Mumbai and assigned to the Western Fleet.

The Project 15A Kolkata class destroyers are successors of the Project 15 Delhi-class destroyers which entered service in the late 1990s. Conceived and designed by Indian Navy’s Directorate of Naval Design, the ships have been named after major port cities of India, Kolkata, Kochi and Chennai.

Measuring 163m in length and 17.4m in width, the ships displace 7500 tonnes. According to the Indian Navy, they are propelled by four gas turbines, in a combined gas and gas (COGAG) configuration, capable of achieving speeds in excess of 30 knots.

INS Chennai is fitted with the super-sonic BrahMos surface to surface missiles and LR SAM surface to air missiles. The ship’s anti submarine warfare capabilities are provided by indigenously developed rocket launchers and torpedo launchers.