Vice President commissions INS Samarthak, Navy's first multi-purpose vessel, at Karwar

Vice President C P Radhakrishnan commissioned Samarthak, the Indian Navy’s first indigenous multi-purpose vessel, at Naval Base Karwar in Karnataka on Friday.

The ship is the first of four multi-purpose vessels being inducted into the Navy. Larsen and Toubro designed it at its Warship Design Centre and built it at its Kattupalli shipyard in Tamil Nadu, with more than 75% indigenous content. The company handed it over on 27 August.

Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Krishna Swaminathan said Samarthak was “the first major or big warship contracted to and constructed by a private shipyard” to be commissioned into the Navy. He called the induction a milestone in the drive for Aatmanirbharata, or self-reliance, and said the lessons of the build should be used to raise quality and cut delivery times.

What the Vice President said

Radhakrishnan said self-reliance in defence was “no longer merely an aspiration but an emerging reality”. He told the gathering that India’s growing shipbuilding capability would strengthen the Navy’s hand against maritime security challenges, and that artificial intelligence and unmanned systems were changing the nature of naval warfare.

He said the sea lanes of the Indian Ocean carry a large share of India’s trade and energy, which makes maritime security central to the economy. He recalled Shivaji Maharaj’s fleet, the reach of the Chola navy and the Navy’s role in the 1965 and 1971 wars with Pakistan, and pointed to Karwar’s deep natural harbour and the Project Seabird expansion, which is adding berths, a naval air station, a dockyard and logistics support.

Karnataka Labour Minister Santosh Lad attended, with Vice Admiral Sanjay Vatsayan, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Vice Admiral Sanjay Sadhu, Controller of Warship Production and Acquisition, and Rear Admiral Vikram Menon, Flag Officer Karnataka. “A new milestone in indigenous warship construction!” the Navy’s spokesperson posted on X.

What the ship will do

Samarthak will serve as a dedicated platform for trials of new weapons, sensors and emerging technologies. Its other jobs are maritime surveillance and offshore patrol, launching and recovering targets, and operating unmanned systems.

A dynamic positioning system holds the ship steady while it launches and recovers targets. It also has heavy towing gear, medical facilities and firefighting systems, and can be converted into a limited hospital ship for disaster relief, salvage work or the evacuation of civilians.

Its crest shows an Indian elephant rising from the waves. The motto, “Vijayarthama Eknishtatha”, translates as “Victory is our sole aim”.

A busy month for induction

The commissioning comes four days after the Navy inducted INS Mangrol, the third of its Mahe-class anti-submarine shallow water craft, at Mumbai. L&T is building the second vessel of the Samarthak class.