INS Vajrabahu is an

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 ...

submarine base A submarine base is a military base that shelters submarines and their personnel. Examples of present-day submarine bases include HMNB Clyde, Île Longue (the base for France's Force océanique stratégique), Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, Na ...

of the

Western Naval Command The Western Naval Command is one of the three command–level formations of the Indian Navy. It is headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. As the senior–most of the three formations, the command is responsible for the all naval forces in the A ...

located near

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- ...

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

. It was commissioned on 1 February 1996.

History

After the Indian Navy acquired the Vela class submarines in 1973 from the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

, the submarine base operated from temporary facilities in Mumbai. The facilities for the submarine base continued to expand over time. With the commissioning of the Shishumar class submarines, a submarine base complex (SMBC) was commissioned on 22 August 1987 by the then Chief of the Naval Staff

Admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...

R. H. Tahiliani Admiral Radhakrishna Hariram Tahiliani, PVSM, AVSM (12 May 1930 – 14 October 2015) was a Flag officer in the Indian Navy. He served as the 12th Chief of the Naval Staff from 1 December 1984 until 30 November 1987. His prior commands included ...

in Mumbai for the submarine fleet of the Western Naval Command. This operations base was expanded to include submarine support facilities and commissioned as INS Vajrabahu on 1 February 1996 by Admiral VS Shekhawat. In the ensuing years, a Submarine Motion Control Simulator, Attack Simulator and a water tower building were added to the base.

Objective

The base operates and maintains a sizable part of the Submarine Arm by providing material and logistic support to the Sindhughosh Class and Shishumar Class submarines based in Mumbai. It also has a non-dieted sick bay and handles preparation and maintenance of individual escape suits for submarine personnel. INS Vajrabahu is the seat of the

Commodore Commanding Submarines (West) The Commodore Commanding Submarines (West) is an operational appointment in the Indian Navy. The COMCOS (W) is the commander of the all submarines and allied units of Western Naval Command. Based in Mumbai, Maharashtra, the COMCOS is also the Comma ...

(COMCOS (W)). The COMCOS is also the

commanding officer The commanding officer (CO) or sometimes, if the incumbent is a general officer, commanding general (CG), is the officer in command of a military unit. The commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually given wide latitu ...

of the base.

References

{{coord, 18, 55, 34.428, N, 72, 50, 11.5434, E, scale:10000_region:IN, display=title Vajrabahu

History

Objective

See also

References