INS SURAT carrying out pre-commissioning trials of its armament

Once upon a time, Surat and Mumbai shaped the history of much of the world. Today, INS Surat in Mumbai will play a big role in defending India’s maritime interests

by Commander Srikant Kesnur

In a somewhat unusual but remarkable development, the Indian Navy will simultaneously commission three formidable combatant platforms on January 15, 2025, at the Naval Dockyard in Mumbai. The ‘landmark’ day will see the guided missile stealth destroyer Surat, the guided missile stealth frigate Nilgiri, and the diesel submarine Vaghsheer enter naval service, having completed all their pre-commissioning trials. All three have been built indigenously at the Mazagon Dock Limited (MDL) in Mumbai.

While the submarine is based on the French Scorpene design, the two capital ships have been designed by the Warship Design Bureau (WDB) of the Indian Navy. Describing it as a ‘historic milestone’, the Navy spokesman said that “it will provide a significant boost to the Indian Navy’s combat potential while underscoring the country’s pre-eminent status in indigenous shipbuilding”. While each of the three tells a story of technological modernity combining with history and legacy, this piece will restrict itself to INS Surat and its splendid story.

Background And Capabilities

Warship Surat (Yard 12707) is the last of the Project 15 destroyers, an ambitious programme that the Indian Navy had flagged off in the early nineties. Over the past nearly three decades, ten ships have been built, all named after major Indian cities. These comprise IN Ships Delhi, Mysore, and Mumbai in the Project 15 scheme; IN Ships Kolkata, Kochi, and Chennai under the Project 15 A scheme; and IN Ships Vishakhapatnam, Mormugao, Imphal, and Surat under the Project 15 B scheme.

While India’s indigenous warship building journey began with a small ship, INS Ajay, in 1960, gained momentum with survey ship Darshak in 1964, took a huge leap with the Leander (Nilgiri class) warships from the late 60s, and pole-vaulted with the in-house-designed Godavari class in the 80s, it became truly world-class with the Project 15, or Delhi class, destroyers. This was because the form, firepower, weapon-sensor mix, seakeeping, and other parameters in the Delhi class were comparable with global standards.

In the last 25 years, the platforms have only gotten better with further modifications and enhancements. Significantly, all ten of them have been built in Mumbai’s Mazagon Docks.

Today, as the nation looks to celebrate 75 years of being a Republic, India’s warship building programme has been a huge success, and the recent years have seen us design and build an aircraft carrier, nuclear submarines, and many other platforms. However, in all this, the destroyers remain a notable model of continuity and development, and the numbers speak for themselves. Destroyers operate at the vanguard of the fleet with inbuilt flexibility in the manner of their deployment. They can be part of the Carrier Task Force (CTF) or operate independently or in small groups as Surface Action Groups (SAG) or Search and Attack Units (SAU). With their multi-dimensional capabilities, they can essay military, constabulary, diplomatic, and benign roles of the Navy with ease and finesse. The delivery of INS Surat culminates the iconic indigenous destroyer building project of the Indian Navy. It is in this context that we must look at her induction and see what Surat brings to the table.

First, she is an awesome beast. With a displacement of 7,400 tonnes and an overall length of 164 meters, INS Surat is big and almost the size of cruisers. She is also among the most technologically advanced destroyers in the world, equipped with the latest weapons, which include surface-to-air missiles, anti-ship missiles, medium- and close-range guns, anti-submarine torpedoes, and rockets. Powered by four gas turbines delivering up to a total of 64,000 horsepower, she is capable of speeds in excess of 30 knots (about 60 km/h) and has an extended reach of over 7,500 km. The ship’s flight deck and helicopter hangars can operate two multi-role helicopters, as well as unmanned platforms (drones), which provide the much-required flexibility in tactical operations. In tandem with her bristling firepower, she also has stealth features incorporated in her design to obtain competitive advantages in combat situations.

Second, she has a wide range of cutting-edge equipment that makes her capable of being deployed across the full spectrum of naval operations. She has been outfitted with state-of-the-art sensors—radars, sonars, and electronic warfare systems—as well as advanced communication and navigation suites that enable much higher situational awareness and networking-centric operations.

The ship features a high degree of automation—software-defined radios, an integrated bridge system, a combat management system, the navy’s datalink system, and suchlike. She is also poised to be our first Al-enabled warship utilising indigenously developed Al solutions. An ‘Integrated Platform Management System’ (IPMS), designed indigenously, facilitates control and monitoring of machinery from a single point at a remote location. All of these enhance her operational efficiency manifold. In short, she can be described as the most modern ship in the Navy’s arsenal at the moment.

Third, the delivery of INS Surat showcases the nation’s design, ship construction, engineering prowess, and industrial know-how. It also reinforces Navy’s unrelenting focus on ‘Aatmanirbharta’ or self-reliance in both ship design and shipbuilding. The ship boasts of a high indigenous content of about 75 per cent. What particularly stands out is the fact that all weapons and sensors fitted onboard have been developed or manufactured in India, either directly through design and development by Indian companies or sourced through strategic tie-ups and transfer of technology with reputed international manufacturers. In addition, the project has boosted economic development through employment generation, growth of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs)—more than 200 of them were involved—and encouragement to the ancillary ecosystem in the country.

Fourth and related to the above, the ship has been delivered to the Indian Navy in 31 months from launch (May 2022) to delivery (December 2024), the fastest for a ship of its size and in line with international best practices. The ship concluded her complete suite of sea trials within a record time of just six months. These developments compare very well with global standards and one where Indian shipyards, for a variety of reasons, used to lag behind earlier.

To further emphasise, this is a benchmark that is constantly being improved upon owing to the integrated construction and advanced shipbuilding techniques coming into play. Even where pure modular construction is not undertaken, aspects of the same were utilised to the extent feasible, such as in piping, cable hangers, trunking, and so on.

Cmde Sunil Kaushik, a Navy veteran who was the Warship Production Superintendent (WPS) until recently and who has overseen the construction of many ships, says, “The P15 Bs have been delivered approximately 31 months ahead of the average time of their predecessors, ie, P15 As. Further, the launch-delivery timeline of each successive ship of the class was compressed by an average of 20 per cent over the preceding ship, with INS Surat culminating in a whopping 61 percent lesser time than INS Visakhapatnam, the first ship of the class. This catapults India among the global elite in terms of shipbuilding timelines; the benchmark for destroyers—launch-delivery timelines—hovers around 36 months, and all this while absorbing a time penalty for enhancements while the project progressed”. He further adds, “We have come a long way; shipyards have experienced the transformation and know that the set pace can reap them laurels. We have moved from being laggards to aspiring for leadership positions. Hopefully the coming generations will sustain and build on this”.

Fifth, she is a very potent platform in other myriad ways. Her four gas turbine generators and a diesel alternator produce a staggering 4.6 MW of power, which is equivalent to the power requirements of the entire Colaba area. This power is distributed across the ship over an intricate network of cables cumulatively measuring more than 17 km. Her bilge and discharge pumps comply with the latest MARPOL standards to maintain a clean maritime environment. Surat is like a mobile smart city with 120 tonnes of drinking water-generating capacity every day, with air conditioning plants of 1,100 tonnes of refrigeration, with a galley that can churn out multiple meals for more than 300 personnel every day, with a modern gymnasium equipped with the latest fitness equipment, and a sickbay that boasts of modern medical amenities including facilities for telemedicine. At the same time, cognisant of its role, the ship has been constructed to fight effectively under nuclear, biological, and chemical environments with a number of sensors onboard to provide early warning of such dangers and to take preventive actions. In addition, 500 fire detector sensors and 200 flood sensors make for a damage control prevention apparatus.

Sixth and most importantly, INS Surat has been constructed with dedicated accommodation for a sizeable complement of women officers and sailors. This move will further boost the deployment of women onboard frontline warships.

Cmde Srikant Kesnur is a Navy veteran who writes on maritime issues