Car Nicobar-class patrol vessel
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The ''Car Nicobar'' class of high-speed
offshore patrol vessel A patrol boat (also referred to as a patrol craft, patrol ship, or patrol vessel) is a relatively small naval ship, naval vessel generally designed for Coastal defence and fortification, coastal defence, Border control, border security, or law ...
s are built by
Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Ltd, abbreviated as GRSE, is one of India's leading shipyards, located in Kolkata. It builds and repairs commercial and naval vessels. GRSE also builds export ships. Founded in 1884 as a small privately ...
(GRSE) 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 ...
. The vessels are designed as a cost-effective platform for patrol, anti-piracy and rescue operations in
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
's exclusive economic zone. In 2023, one of the ships, INS Tarmugli, was donated to the Maldivian Coast Guard. The class and its vessels are named for Indian islands. They are the first water jet-propelled vessels of the Indian Navy. Unlike the
United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mult ...
's similarly sized
Sentinel class cutters The Sentinel-class cutter, also known as Fast Response Cutter due to its program name, is part of the United States Coast Guard's Integrated Deepwater System Program, Deepwater program. At it is similar to, but larger than the lengthened 1980s- ...
, the class is propelled by water jets, at up to , where the American patrol vessels conventional propulsion systems maximum stated speed is . Both classes have a mission endurance of .


Design

The ''Car Nicobar''-class vessels were designed and built by GRSE. Production of the class was fast tracked after the
2008 Mumbai attacks The 2008 Mumbai attacks (also referred to as 26/11, pronounced "twenty six eleven") were a series of Terrorism, terrorist attacks that took place in November 2008, when 10 members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, an Islamist terrorist organisation from P ...
. The vessels feature improved habitability with fully air-conditioned modular accommodation, on board
reverse osmosis Reverse osmosis (RO) is a water purification process that uses a partially permeable membrane to separate ions, unwanted molecules and larger particles from drinking water. In reverse osmosis, an applied pressure is used to overcome osmotic pre ...
plant for
desalination Desalination is a process that takes away mineral components from saline water. More generally, desalination refers to the removal of salts and minerals from a target substance, as in Soil salinity control, soil desalination, which is an issue f ...
, and a
sewage treatment Sewage treatment (or domestic wastewater treatment, municipal wastewater treatment) is a type of wastewater treatment which aims to remove contaminants from sewage to produce an effluent that is suitable for discharge to the surrounding envir ...
plant. The vessels are each powered by three HamiltonJet HM811 water jets, coupled with MTU 16V 4000 M90 engines, delivering a combined of power. An aluminium
superstructure A superstructure is an upward extension of an existing structure above a baseline. This term is applied to various kinds of physical structures such as buildings, bridges, or ships. Aboard ships and large boats On water craft, the superstruct ...
reduces weight and is designed to reduce radar cross-section. As patrol vessels, they are lightly armed. They carry various sensors, including the Furuno navigation radar and sonar. Armament on board includes a 30 mm CRN-91
automatic cannon An autocannon, automatic cannon or machine cannon is a fully automatic gun that is capable of rapid-firing large- caliber ( or more) armour-piercing, explosive or incendiary shells, as opposed to the smaller-caliber kinetic projectiles ( bu ...
with an electronic day-night fire control system of Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) and Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) origin. The vessels also mount two 12.7 mm heavy machine guns (HMG) and multiple medium machine guns, besides carrying shoulder-launched Igla
surface-to-air missile A surface-to-air missile (SAM), also known as a ground-to-air missile (GTAM) or surface-to-air guided weapon (SAGW), is a missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy aircraft or other missiles. It is one type of anti-aircraft syst ...
s to combat aerial threats. The first two vessels commissioned were initially restricted to speeds up to due to deficiency in the gearboxes, which was later rectified by KPCL. INS ''Kabra'', the eighth in the class, has a top speed of more than . The improved maneuverability and speed allows these vessels to have high-speed interdiction of fast-moving targets. The last four ships are an improved variant of the ''Car Nicobar''-class patrol boats and have been dubbed 'follow on waterjet fast attack craft' (FOWJFAC) by the Indian Navy. Improvements include an enhanced electrical power generation capacity of 280 kW and twice the reverse osmosis (RO) capacity at 4 tonnes per day.


Vessels


Operations

INS ''Car Nicobar'' and INS ''Chetlat'' are based in
Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...
under India's Eastern Naval Command. INS ''Cankarso'' and INS ''Kondul'' are based in
Goa Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...
under the Western Naval Command. INS ''Kalpeni'' is based in
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 ...
under the Southern Naval Command.Handing over of WJFAC, Yd No. 2063 (Kalpeni) โ€“ 25 Aug 10


Operation Island Watch

In January 2011, as a part of ''Operation Island Watch'', INS ''Cankarso'' and INS ''Kalpeni'' were deployed on anti-piracy patrol to the west of the
Lakshadweep Lakshadweep (), also known as Laccadives (), is a union territory of India. It is an archipelago of 36 islands in the Arabian sea, located off the Malabar Coast. The name ''Lakshadweep'' means "one lakh islands" in Sanskrit, though the Lac ...
archipelago. On 28 January, ''Cankarso'' responded to a ''Mayday'' call from a
container ship A container ship (also called boxship or spelled containership) is a cargo ship that carries all of its load in truck-size intermodal containers, in a technique called containerization. Container ships are a common means of commercial intermodal ...
. Upon reaching the site, she saw
Somali pirate Piracy off the coast of Somalia occurs in the Gulf of Aden, Guardafui Channel and Somali Sea, in Somali territorial waters and other surrounding areas and has a long and troubled history with different perspectives from different communities. I ...
skiff A skiff is any of a variety of essentially unrelated styles of small boats. Traditionally, these are coastal craft or river craft used for leisure, as a utility craft, and for fishing, and have a one-person or small crew. Sailing skiffs have devel ...
s being hoisted aboard a hijacked
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fishing trawler, ''Prantalay 14'', which was being used as a pirate mother ship. ''Cankarso'' ordered the pirated ship to stop for inspection. The pirates on board fired on ''Cankarso'' as they tried to flee west towards
Somalia Somalia, , Osmanya script: ๐’ˆ๐’๐’‘๐’›๐’๐’˜๐’•๐’–; ar, ุงู„ุตูˆู…ุงู„, aแนฃ-แนขลซmฤl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constituti ...
. ''Cankarso'' returned the fire, which hit some of the fuel drums stored on ''Prantalay 14''s deck for refuelling the skiffs. The mother ship was set ablaze and sank, even as ''Kalpeni'' and an
Indian Coast Guard The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) is a maritime law enforcement and search and rescue agency of India with jurisdiction over its territorial waters including its contiguous zone and exclusive economic zone. The Indian Coast Guard was formally esta ...
patrol vessel, ICGS ''Sankalp'', reached the site. 15 pirates were arrested, and the 20 crew of the fishing trawler were all rescued unharmed. In another operation on 13 March 2011, an Indian Navy patrol aircraft spotted the
Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moรงambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...
-registered fishing vessel, ''Vega 5'', when responding to a merchant ship reporting a pirate attack. Beira-based ''Vega 5'', owned by Spanish company Pescamar Lda, had been captured on 27 December 2010 by pirates who were demanding US$1.8 million in ransom. INS ''Kalpeni'' intercepted the pirated ship about off Kochi on India's west coast. A fire broke out on the vessel when ''Kalpeni'' returned fired after being fired upon by the pirates. 61 pirates were rescued and arrested after they jumped into the Arabian Sea to escape the fire. The crew of ''Kalpeni'' put out the fire on board ''Vega 5'', rescued her 13 crew members and escorted her to
Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay โ€” 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- ...
.
Rocket-propelled grenade A rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) is a shoulder-fired missile weapon that launches rockets equipped with an explosive warhead. Most RPGs can be carried by an individual soldier, and are frequently used as anti-tank weapons. These warheads are a ...
s and over 80 assault rifles were recovered from the pirates.


See also

* List of active Indian Navy ships


References


External links


Car Nicobar Class โ€“ Bharat Rakshak

New age ship for patrol


Video


INS Cankarso - Comprehensive Review by Autocar India



Images




Governor taking salute during commissioning ceremony

INS Car Nicobar during commissioning ceremony

INS Chetlat during commissioning ceremony
{{DEFAULTSORT:Car Nicobar Class Fast Attack Craft Ships built in India Patrol boat classes