Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) Ltd, a major Public Sector Undertaking under the Ministry of Defence, delivered the largest-ever hydrographic survey vessel to be built in India, INS Sandhayak, to the Indian Navy on 4 December 2023.
The vessel was built under the classification of the Indian Register of Shipping and is the ‘first of class’ in a series of four such vessels being built by GRSE for the Navy.
INS Sandhayak reincarnates an earlier ship bearing the same name, which was also the ‘first of class’ of a series of survey vessels built for the Navy by GRSE, and which was decommissioned in June 2021.
The new INS Sandhayak has been fully designed by GRSE. The ship is capable of carrying out full-scale coastal and deep-water hydrographic survey of port and harbour approaches, as well as determination of navigation channels and routes.
Sandhayak class vessels can also undertake research functions involving surveys of maritime limits and collection of oceanographic and geographical data for defence applications, which add strength to India’s maritime capabilities.
These ships can have a helicopter embarked, are designed for conducting low-intensity combat operations, and can also function as hospital ships, as well as participate in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations.
