Andhra Pradesh - Visakhapatnam   

Nuclear submarine a feather in cap of Navy

VISAKHAPATNAM: India’s endeavour to develop a blue water Navy will gain a momentum once country’s indigenously built nuclear submarine INS Chakra slides into water off Visakhapatnam coast for a year long sea trial on July 26.

Though Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is said to have given consent to launch on July 26 the state-of-the-art vessel being built at the Shipping Building Centre here as part of Advanced Technology Vehicle Project (ATVP), there is no official confirmation either from Ministry of Navy or from Shipping.

Sources told The Hindu on Sunday that the project was directly being handled by senior mandarins in the Ministry of Defence and the launch ceremony was likely to be a quiet event. Sources in shipping indicated that the submarine was the first in series of three proposed to be built under ATVP and the Hindustan Shipyard Ltd and a private engineering firm, which was outsourced for major part of construction, played a vital role to propel India to join the nuclear submarine club.

The same sources said the submarine is named after Charlie class Russian nuclear submarine Chakra, which was positioned here in 1988 for three years on lease.

The trials and outfitting of INS Chakra, which is kept at dry dock, will be done at a special enclosure here under the direct supervision of senior naval officers.

Incidentally July 26 is celebrated as Kargil Day to commemorate India’s success over Pakistani intruders in Kargil sector.

INS Chakra belongs to Akula class.

The dream to have blue water navy – to indulge in prolonged operations in blue waters away from the bases, will be a reality with the induction of Admiral Gorshkov (Indian name INS Vikramaditya), the aircraft carrier, which is being rebuilt in Russia for delivery by 2012.

This will be followed by induction of indigenously built aircraft carrier getting ready at Cochin Shipyard for delivery by 2014.

Vizag is the headquarters of Eastern Naval Command, the submarine arm of navy and houses a training centre for marine commandos who played a key role in freeing hostages during Mumbai terror attacks.

A next generation naval base is also being set up near the city.

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