INS ''Talwar '' (F40) (translated as "Sword") is the lead ship of the s of 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 ...

. Its name means "Sword" in

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

(see Talwar). She was built in

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

, and commissioned into the Indian Navy on 18 June 2003. ''Talwar'' is a multirole frigate and true to her name, has participated in various operations and exercises since her commissioning, including anti-piracy operations off the coast of

Somalia Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constituti ...

Design

''Talwar'' is the lead ship of her

class Class or The Class may refer to: Common uses not otherwise categorized * Class (biology), a taxonomic rank * Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects * Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used differentl ...

of frigates. The ''Talwar''-class guided missile frigates are modified Krivak III-class frigates built by Russia. Much of the equipment on the ship is Russian-made, but a significant number of systems of Indian origin have also been incorporated.

Operational history

''Talwar'' was built by the Baltiyskiy shipyard. She was launched in May 2000. Delivery to the Indian Navy was scheduled for May 2002 after running, state and acceptance trials. Sea trials were completed in the Baltic Sea on 29 May 2002. The ship was commissioned formally into the Indian Navy on 18 June 2003 by (later Vice Admiral)

Satish Soni Vice Admiral Satish Soni is a retired Indian Navy officer. He is a former Commandant of the National Defence Academy (NDA) and Commander-in-Chief of Southern Command and Eastern Command. Education Soni is an alumnus of the NDA and a special ...

. INS ''Talwar'' arrived home at Mumbai's Naval Dockyard on 12 August 2003, after a long journey from St. Petersburg.

Service history

INS ''Talwar'' has been deployed around the Indian Ocean, making friendly visits at various ports. She has also participated in various exercises including Malabar 2008 with the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

, multinational maritime exercise ‘Cutlass Express 2021 (CE21) and with the

French Navy The French Navy (french: Marine nationale, lit=National Navy), informally , is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the five military service branches of France. It is among the largest and most powerful naval forces in t ...

Anti-piracy measures off the Somali coast

On 28 May 2009, INS ''Talwar'', while escorting three merchant vessels - ''Maud'', ''Southern Independence'' and ''Aramis''. At around 10.20 GMT, while about east of Aden, ''Talwar'' received a distress signal from ''Maud'' about a skiff with eight armed persons on board approaching it at very high speed. The frigate immediately dispatched its Chetak helicopter armed with 7.62mm light machine guns which spotted pirates scrambling up a ladder hooked to MV ''Maud''. The helicopter fired on the two pirates on the ladder and they fell into the sea. Simultaneously, the frigate sent its naval commandos on Prahar high-speed inflatables to intercept the skiff. Six pirates were disarmed and their cache of Kalashnikov assault rifles, Katyushka rockets, a rocket launcher, flares and mobile phones were seized. Since the freighters were still in dangerous waters and needed escort, the frigate left the disarmed pirates to drift on the high seas after emptying their skiff's fuel tank and disabling it. The pirates were later arrested by warships from the global task force in a follow-up action. The ship is affiliated with the 16th Cavalry of the Indian Army and continues to be a frontline warship of the Indian Navy's Western Fleet

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Talwar (F40) Talwar-class frigates Frigates of the Indian Navy 2000 ships Ships built at the Baltic Shipyard