The HSL-class fleet support vessels are a series of five

fleet tanker A replenishment oiler or replenishment tanker is a naval auxiliary ship with fuel tanks and dry cargo holds which can supply both fuel and dry stores during underway replenishment (UNREP) at sea. Many countries have used replenishment oilers. ...

planned to be built by

Hindustan Shipyard Hindustan Shipyard Limited (HSL) is a shipyard located in Visakhapatnam on the east coast of India. History Founded as the ''Scindia Shipyard'', it was built by industrialist Walchand Hirachand as a part of The Scindia Steam Navigation Compan ...

(HSL),

Visakhapatnam , image_alt = , image_caption = From top, left to right: Visakhapatnam aerial view, Vizag seaport, Simhachalam Temple, Aerial view of Rushikonda Beach, Beach road, Novotel Visakhapatnam, INS Kursura submarine museu ...

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 deal was signed on 25 August 2023 with an expected project completion timeline of 8 years. These ships will be an indigenous design by the

's in-house design team. The primary role of the vessels would be to replenish ships of the Indian Navy with fuel, food and various other supplies. With a length of 230 m and

displacement Displacement may refer to: Physical sciences Mathematics and Physics *Displacement (geometry), is the difference between the final and initial position of a point trajectory (for instance, the center of mass of a moving object). The actual path ...

of , these will be the heaviest and the second largest vessels to be in operation in the Indian Navy fleets before 2030.

History

The fleet support ship project was given a go ahead to augment the existing fleet in 2014. Initially, HSL planned to have a design consultancy with Hyundai Heavy Industries. However, the deal fell off due to latter's insistence of manufacturing the first ship in Korea and disagreement in procurement of major components. TAIS, Turkey emerged as lowest bidder for the project after the negotiations fell between HSL and Hyundai Heavy Industries. TAIS defeated other shipbuilding behemoths from Germany, Russia, Spain. However, the deal got stuck due to Turkey's stance on

Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir may refer to: * Kashmir, the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent * Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), a region administered by India as a union territory * Jammu and Kashmir (state), a region administere ...

. Later, Hindustan Shipyard and Indian Navy signed the contract with TAIS, Turkey. The design consultancy will be provided by Anadolu Shipyard with transfer of technology required for the manufacturing of the ship. However, after signing the deal on 25 August, 2023, it was revealed that the Turkish shipyard was dropped from the deal and now the design and development will be the sole responsibility of

Construction

The final deal is expected to be signed in October 2021 and the first ship will be delivered 4 years after the contract signing. Subsequent ships will be delivered after an interval of 10-12 months. The Government of India cleared the project for a cost of on 16 August 2023. The final contract for the five fleet support ship with

and

was signed on 25 August 2023 for a total value of . The first ship will be delivered in 4 years from the date of signing of the contract and subsequent ships will be delivered at 10 – 12 months interval. The total project completion timeline is 8 years.

Design

The ships will have a displacement of and a length of . They will have a cruising speed of with a maximum speed of and an operating range of at a speed of . The ships will be equipped with state of the art refueling facility and a hangar which can accommodate one

HAL Dhruv The HAL Dhruv is a utility helicopter designed and developed by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) in November 1984. The helicopter first flew in 1992; however, its development was prolonged due to multiple factors including the Indian Arm ...

. These ship will be able to achieve pumping rates up to 2400 TPH. The vessel will also be able to carry ammunition and victualing stores for the fleet. The ship would be equipped with weapons like anti-ship, anti-submarine and

CIWS A close-in weapon system (CIWS ) is a point-defense weapon system for detecting and destroying short-range incoming missiles and enemy aircraft which have penetrated the outer defenses, typically mounted on a naval ship. Nearly all classes of l ...

systems.

Ships of the class

Gallery

References