The Indian Navy has taken delivery of the lead Project 15B guided missile destroyer ‘Visakhapatnam’ from Mazagon Docks Limited (MDL).
The ship is the first of four planned Visakhapatnam-class destroyers to be built under a project that started in January 2011.
Project 15B are a follow-on to the Kolkata-class (Project 15A) destroyers currently in service.
Designed by the Directorate of Naval Design, the Indian Navy’s in-house design organization, and built by M/s Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd, Mumbai, the four ships are christened after major cities Visakhapatnam, Mormugao, Imphal and Surat.
The keel of Visakhapatnam was laid in October 2013 and the ship was launched in April 2015.
The design has largely maintained the hull form, propulsion machinery, many platform equipment and major weapons and sensors as the Kolkata-class to benefit from series production.
The 163-meter warship has a full load displacement of 7400 tons and maximum speed of 30 knots. According to the defense ministry, the overall indigenous content of the project is approximately 75 percent.
The ships will feature locally-developed medium range surface-to-air missiles, BrahMos surface-to-surface missiles, 76mm Super Rapid gun mounts, and torpedo tube and anti-submarine indigenous rocket launchers from Larsen & Toubro.
Project 1135.6 frigate launch in Russia
Coinciding with the delivery of the lead P15B destroyer on October 28, Russian shipbuilder Yantar launched the Indian Navy’s seventh Talwar-class (Project 11356) frigate in Kaliningrad, Russia.
The frigate, which was formally named as Tushil (Sanskrit word meaning protector shield) during the launching ceremony, is the second-last ship to be built in Russia. The final two ships will be built by the Indian Goa Shipyard.
Talwar-class frigates share many design features with the Admiral Grigorovich-class frigate entering service with the Russian Navy. The 124-meter ships feature Russian combat management and missile systems. Armament includes 3S14E vertical missile launchers for 3M-54E Klub-N anti-ship missiles as well as Shtil-1 medium-range surface-to-air missile systems. They are also capable of launching BrahMos missiles.
