The Indian Navy has strengthened its maritime capabilities in the underwater domain with the commissioning of INS Nistar, its first domestically produced diving support vessel.
INS Nistar was welcomed into the fleet last week at a special ceremony in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh attended by Indian Defence Minister Shri Sanjay Seth.
The 118m ship, with a displacement of more than 10,000 tons, was built by state-owned Hindustan Shipyard Limited in Visakhapatnam on India’s east coast and is designed for deep-sea diving and rescue operations.
As per an Indian Ministry of Defence press statement, roughly 80% of the vessel’s technology is domestically designed and produced. Her name translates from Sanskrit as “Salvation.”
She is the first of two such vessels being constructed by Hindustan Shipyard for the Indian Navy. Each comes equipped with state-of-the-art diving equipment including remote-operated vehicles (ROVs), a self-propelled hyperbaric lifeboat, and diving compression chambers.
She can undertake diving and salvage operations up to 300m and will also serve as the launch and recovery platform for a specialised submarine rescue ship, dubbed a “deep submergence rescue vessel” to recover and evacuate personnel from submarines in distress.
Defence minister Seth hailed the new ship as “a technological leap and a milestone in Indian shipbuilding.”
He said the Indian Navy was positioning itself as a ‘First Responder’ and ‘Preferred Security Partner’ in the region.
Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi added: “Nistar will provide critical submarine rescue support to the Indian Navy as well as our regional partners.”
- You can read more details on the Indian Ministry of Defence website