Kochi: The fourth and the fifth ships in the series of eight Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Crafts (ASW SWC), vessels of the Indian Navy, were launched concurrently at the Cochin Shipyard here on September 9, 2024.
Designed to fit indigenously developed, state-of-the-art sonars for underwater surveillance, the vessels are 78 m long, 11.36 m wide and have a draught of about 2.7 m. The vessels would be able to achieve a maximum speed of 25 knots and would have an endurance of 1,800 nautical miles. They would bear the names INS MALPE and INS MULKI on being commissioned into the Navy. The vessels will have a displacement of about 900 tonnes.
The ships were launched by Vijaya Srinivas, wife of Vice Admiral V. Srinivas, the Flag Officer Commanding in Chief of the Southern Naval Command who was the chief guest at the event.
In April 2019, the contract was signed between the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and the Cochin Shipyard Ltd (CSL) to design, construct and deliver the eight ASW SWC ships. The Mahe class of ships will replace the in-service Abhay class ASW Corvettes of Indian Navy and are designed to undertake anti-submarine operations in coastal waters, low-intensity maritime operations (LIMO), mine-laying operations which would include full-scale sub-surface surveillance of the coastal waters and coordinated ASW operations with aircraft, apart from search and rescue.
Equipped with light-weight torpedoes, ASW rockets and mines, close-in weapon system (30 mm gun) and 12.7 mm stabilised remote-control guns, each of the vessels has a total installed propulsion power of about 12 MW.
In his address, Vice Admiral Srinivas said the construction of the vessels are in keeping with the need to be self-reliant and prepared in view of the geo-political situation and security challenges.
Madhu S. Nair, CMD of Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL), said the shipyard was geared up to cater to the Navy’s requirements. The directors of CSL, senior Navy officers, classification-society representatives, employees and workers were among those present on the occasion.
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