The Indian Navy commissioned the newest Car Nicobar-class fast attack craft INS Tihayu at the Eastern Naval Command.
About Indian Navy :
The Indian Navy is the naval branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India serves as Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. The Chief of Naval Staff (CNS), usually a four-star officer in the rank of Admiral, commands the navy. The Indian Navy is the fifth largest in the world. It played an important role in India’s victory in the 1971 Indo-Pakistani War.
- The Indian Navy can trace its lineage back to theEast India Company’s Marine which was founded in 1612 to protect British merchant shipping in the region.
- In 1793 the East India Company established its rule over eastern part of the Indian subcontinent e. Bengal, but it wasn’t until 1830 that the colonial navy became known as Her Majesty’s Indian Navy.
- In 1858, East India Company rule gave way to the British Raj which lasted until India became independent in 1947. When India became a republic in 1950, the Royal Indian Navy as it had been named since 1934 was renamed to Indian Navy. The 17th-century Maratha emperor Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj is considered as the ‘Father of the Indian Navy’.
- The primary objective of the navy is to secure the nation’s maritime borders;India also uses its navy to enhance its international relations through joint exercises, port visits and humanitarian missions, including disaster relief.
- In recent years, the Indian Navy has undergone rapid modernisation to replace its ageing equipment currently in service, this is often seen as part of “India’s drive” to develop blue-water capabilities and enhance its position in the Indian Ocean
- As of 2016, the Indian Navy has a strength of 79,023 personnel and a large operational fleet consisting of two aircraft carriers, one amphibious transport dock, 9 landing ship tanks, 10 destroyers, 14 frigates, one nuclear-powered attack submarine, oneballistic missile submarine, 13 conventionally-powered attack submarines, 24 corvettes, 6 mine countermeasure vessels, 27patrol vessels, 4 fleet tankers and various other auxiliary vessels.
About INS Tihayu :
INS Tihayu, specifically built for meeting needs of extended coastal and offshore surveillance and patrol, has a length of 49.9 metres and maximum breadth of 7.5 meters. Named after an island in Nicobar, the vessel has an endurance of 2,000 nautical miles at 12 to 14 knots of economical speed.
- The ship, which has a 30 mm CRN 91 gun and an electronic day-night fire control system, has a crew of four officers and 41 sailors led by Commander Ajay Kashhov. It is also equipped with two 12.7 mm heavy machine guns and multiple medium machine guns besides shoulder launched air missiles to combat aerial threats.
- Vice-Admiral H C S Bisht, Flag Officer Commanding-In- Chief of the ENC, commissioned the ship, built by Garden Reach Shipbuilder and Engineers (GRSE), at the Naval Dockyard
