INS ''Sutlej'' (J17) is a hydrographic

survey ship A survey vessel is any type of ship or boat that is used for underwater surveys, usually to collect data for mapping or planning underwater construction or mineral extraction. It is a type of research vessel, and may be designed for the purpo ...

of the in the

Indian Navy The Indian Navy is the maritime branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. The Chief of Naval Staff, a four-star admiral, commands the navy. As a blue-water navy, it operates sig ...

, under the Southern Naval Command. Like other ships of the same class, this ship is also equipped with an Operating Theater and associated equipment needed to attend to medical emergencies at sea.

Ship history

The ship was built by

Goa Shipyard Limited Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL) is an Indian Government owned ship building company located on the West Coast of India at Vasco da Gama, Goa. It was established in 1957, originally by the colonial government of the Portuguese in India as the "Estalei ...

and commissioned into the Naval service at the

Kochi Kochi (), also known as Cochin ( ) ( the official name until 1996) is a major port city on the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea, which is a part of the Arabian Sea. It is part of the district of Ernakulam in the state of K ...

naval base. The ''Sutlej'' is equipped with a range of

surveying Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. A land surveying professional is ca ...

navigation Navigation is a field of study that focuses on the process of monitoring and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another.Bowditch, 2003:799. The field of navigation includes four general categories: land navigation, ...

al and

communication Communication (from la, communicare, meaning "to share" or "to be in relation with") is usually defined as the transmission of information. The term may also refer to the message communicated through such transmissions or the field of inquir ...

systems. The next-generation surveying systems provided on board include the multi-beam swath echo sounding system, differential global positioning system, motion sensors, sea gravimeter,

magnetometer A magnetometer is a device that measures magnetic field or magnetic dipole moment. Different types of magnetometers measure the direction, strength, or relative change of a magnetic field at a particular location. A compass is one such device, o ...

oceanographic sensors, side scan

sonar Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigation, navigate, measure distances (ranging), communicate with or detect o ...

s and an automated data logging system. These are designed to meet the stringent international/

ISO 9002 ISO is the most common abbreviation for the International Organization for Standardization. ISO or Iso may also refer to: Business and finance * Iso (supermarket), a chain of Danish supermarkets incorporated into the SuperBest chain in 2007 * Iso ...

digital survey accuracy standards required for the production of electronic navigation charts and publications. The ''Sutlej'' is powered by two diesel engines and is capable of sustained speeds. Sutlej was the first ship to enter the newly built

Karwar Karwar is a seaside city, ''taluka'', and administrative headquarters of Uttara Kannada district lying at the mouth of the Kali river on the Kanara coast of Karnataka state, India. Karwar is a popular tourist destination and with a city urba ...

naval base harbor of in 2004. This ship is the namesake of , the

sloop A sloop is a sailboat with a single mast typically having only one headsail in front of the mast and one mainsail aft of (behind) the mast. Such an arrangement is called a fore-and-aft rig, and can be rigged as a Bermuda rig with triangular sa ...

, which served in the Royal Indian Navy (RIN) during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Survey work

INS ''Sutlej'' in 2016 completed the joint Hydrographic Survey of

Mkoani Mkoani is a town located on the Tanzanian island of Pemba. It is the capital of Pemba South region, as well as Mkoani District. Mkoani now has the busiest harbour on Pemba island, most ferries from Zanzibar or the mainland arrive at Mkoani. Th ...

harbour of

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...

with the objective to prepare a navigational chart of the harbor that will be used by the port authorities and ships for navigation. In the aftermath of the

2004 tsunami An earthquake and a tsunami, known as the Boxing Day Tsunami and, by the scientific community, the Sumatra–Andaman earthquake, occurred at 07:58:53 local time (UTC+7) on 26 December 2004, with an epicentre off the west coast of northern Suma ...

, the ship was deployed to

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

to conduct a hydrographic survey off the coast of

Galle Galle ( si, ගාල්ල, translit=Gālla; ta, காலி, translit=Kāli) (formerly Point de Galle) is a major city in Sri Lanka, situated on the southwestern tip, from Colombo. Galle is the provincial capital and largest city of Souther ...

and

Colombo Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo me ...

harbours on request of Sri Lankan authorities. A medium refit of the ship was completed from 2010 to 2012 at Cochin Shipyard Ltd. On completion of the refi,t she has undertaken hydrographic surveys of Porbandar, Kandla, Kerala Coast and Lakshadweep Islands. Alongside special meteorological observations, geo-physical, tidal and tidal stream observations were carried out at

Azhikkal Azhikode is a coastal town situated in Kannur district of Kerala, India. Azhikode town is divided into Azhikode North and Azhikode South. The northern end of the Azhikode North is called Azhikkal. The place is the birthplace of Sukumar Azhikod ...

, Kannur,

Vadakara Vatakara, also spelled Vadakara (formerly Badagara), , french: Bargaret, is a Municipality in the state of Kerala, India. Vatakara is located between Kannur and Kozhikode. The municipality of Vatakara covers an area of and is bordered by Ma ...

(Murat), Beypore and Kadalundi river mouth at the request of an external agency. The ship had another medium refit from 2019 to March 2021 at Hindustan shipyard Visakhaptnam and then returned to naval base Kochi at the end of March 2021. In 2021, 4 months later, it undertook a survey of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a survey of Myanmar for 3 months in November 2021, and a survey of Port Blair. It also went for a Maldives survey in April 2022. The ship went for a Gujarat and Goa survey in December 2022. In February 2023, it went to Myanmar for a survey for 3 months.

Relief work

In the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami ''Sutlej'' alongside

sister ship A sister ship is a ship of the same class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They often share a ...

, , and was deployed as part of Operation Rainbow. The ships provided relief assistance in

in both government held and

LTTE The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; ta, தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகள், translit=Tamiḻīḻa viṭutalaip pulikaḷ, si, දෙමළ ඊළාම් විමුක්ති කොටි, t ...

held rebel areas. In mid 2016 the ''Sutlej'', was one of two Indian Navy ships sent to Colombo from Southern Naval Command in Kochi, the other being the patrol vessel , to help in relief work after

Cyclone Roanu Cyclonic Storm Roanu was a relatively weak tropical cyclone that caused severe flooding in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh during May 2016. It is the first tropical cyclone of the 2016 North Indian Ocean cyclone season, annual cyclone season. Roanu ...

. In late 2016 the ''Sutlej'' provided relief assistance to the stricken fishing vessel ''Judan'', with seven crew members on board, by towing them to the Kanyakumari port. The ship was also deployed in the aftermath of

Gujarat earthquake The 2001 Gujarat earthquake, also known as the Bhuj earthquake, occurred on 26 January, India's 52nd Republic Day (India), Republic Day, at . The epicentre was about 9 km south-southwest of the village of Chobari in Bhachau Taluka of Kutch ...

Kandla Kandla, now officially Deendayal Port Authority, is a seaport and town in Kutch district of Gujarat state in Western India, near the city of Gandhidham. Located on the Gulf of Kutch, it is one of India's major ports on the west coast. It is ab ...

port to treat the injured. The ship also won the Award of Best Ship 2022-23, unit citation 2022 and Best Survey Ship 2022-23.

References

External links

Report on archaeological dives
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sutlej, INS 1991 ships Sandhayak-class survey ships Ships built in India