India: Admiral Nirmal Verma Arrives in Visakhapatnam

Admiral Nirmal Verma, AVSM, PVSM, ADC, Chief of the Naval Staff arrived Visakhapatnam on a two day visit to Eastern Naval Command on friday, 30 Sep 11. During his stay here, he will be the Chief Guest at the Commissioning Ceremony of Indian Navy’s fourth Fleet Tanker Shakti, scheduled to take place on 01 Oct 11, at the Naval Dockyard, Visakhapatnam.

The construction of Shakti commenced in November 2009 at the Fincantieri Shipyard, Italy. The ship which is to be commissioned on 01 Oct 11, was formally handed over to the Indian Navy on 23 Sep 11 at Visakhapatnam, in under two years. At a length of 175 metres and a width of 32 metres,  Shakti is one of the largest ships of the Indian Navy. The ship displaces over 27000 tons and is capable of carrying over 15,000 tons of liquid cargo  including fuels for ships and aircraft of the Navy as well as fresh water. It also has large storage space to carry up to 500 tons of solid cargo like victuals and ammunition. It has state of the art cargo handling facilities including a 30 ton capacity deck crane that facilitate simultaneous fuelling of multiple
ships and transfer of heavy solid cargo at sea. The ship is fitted with a credible self defence capability and an indigenous Anti Missile Defence Chaff system. Shakti also boasts of fully automatic engine controls, Power Management and Battle Damage Control Systems.

Shakti derives her name from her predecessors. She is the third tanker of the same name, with earlier two ships having served the nation with pride. The first Shakti was acquired in Nov 1953, commissioned on 29 Jan 1954 and decommissioned on 31 Dec 1967, whilst the second Shakti was commissioned on 21 Feb 76 and decommissioned on 21 Jul 07, after serving the nation gloriously for more than 31 years. The induction of INS Shakti into naval service will be an important leap for the Indian Navy as the ship enhances the reach of the Navy well beyond the limits of the Indian Ocean and would provide support to the expanding fleet of the Indian Navy.

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Source: indiannavy, October 02, 2011