INS ''Vela'' (S24) is the fourth

submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...

of the first batch of six s for 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 ...

. It is a diesel-electric

attack submarine An attack submarine or hunter-killer submarine is a submarine specifically designed for the purpose of attacking and sinking other submarines, surface combatants and merchant vessels. In the Soviet and Russian navies they were and are called "mul ...

based on the , designed by French naval defence and energy group DCNS and manufactured by

Mazagon Dock Limited Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL) (IAST: ''Majhagānv Dawk Limiṭeḍ''), formerly called Mazagon Dock Limited, is a shipyard situated in Mazagaon, Mumbai. It manufactures warships and submarines for the Indian Navy and offshore platform ...

, an Indian shipyard in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

. The first cutting of steel for the submarine began on 14 July 2009, and the ship was launched on 6 May 2019. The submarine was delivered to Indian Navy on 9 November 2021, and formally commissioned into the service by Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral

Karambir Singh Admiral Karambir Singh, PVSM, AVSM, ADC (born 3 November 1959), is a former flag officer of Indian Navy, who served as the 24th Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS). The "Grey Eagle" (senior-most serving naval aviator) of the Navy, he replaced Admir ...

on 25 November. The submarine inherits its name from INS ''Vela'' (S40) which served in the Navy from 1973–2010, and was the lead ship of the Vela-class. The crew of the INS ''Vela'' (S40) was present at the commissioning ceremony of the INS ''Vela'' (S24). ''Vela'' is the name of an Indian fish from the

stingray Stingrays are a group of sea rays, which are cartilaginous fish related to sharks. They are classified in the suborder Myliobatoidei of the order Myliobatiformes and consist of eight families: Hexatrygonidae (sixgill stingray), Plesiobatidae ( ...

species known for its aggression and offensive power, and the ability to camouflage itself from predators. The submarine's crest depicts the stingray swimming across the blue seas. The ship's mascot is a sub-ray, a portmanteau of submarine and stingray. The mascot symbolises the "

metamorphosis Metamorphosis is a biological process by which an animal physically develops including birth or hatching, involving a conspicuous and relatively abrupt change in the animal's body structure through cell growth and differentiation. Some inse ...

of the submarine’s character with the qualities of a stingray".

References

2019 ships Ships built in India Kalvari-class submarines Submarines of the Indian Navy {{India-mil-stub

See also

References