INS Vindhyagiri

History
India
Name: INS Vindhyagiri
Commissioned: 8 July 1981
Decommissioned: 11 June 2012
Identification: Pennant number: F42
Honours and
awards:		 Served as flagship of Western Fleet
Fate: Capsized after collision
Status: Salvaged and decommissioned
General characteristics
Class and type: Nilgiri-class frigate
Displacement:
  • 2682 tons (standard)
  • 2962 tons (full load)
Length: 113 m (371 ft)
Beam: 13 m (43 ft)
Draught: 4.3 m (14 ft)
Propulsion:
  • 2 × 550 psi boilers
  • 2 × 30,000 hp motors
Speed: 28 kn (52 km/h; 32 mph)
Range: 4,000 nmi (7,400 km; 4,600 mi) @ 12 kn (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Complement: 267 (incl 17 officers)[1]
Sensors and
processing systems:
  • Signaal DA05 / BEL PFN513 radar
  • Signaal LW08 / BEL RAWL02 surface radar
  • Signaal ZW06 / BEL RASHMI navigation radar
  • Signaal M-45 navigation radar
  • Westinghouse SQS-505 / Graesby 750 sonar
  • Type 170 active attack sonar
Armament:
  • 2 × MK.6 Vickers 115mm guns
  • 4 × AK-230 30mm guns
  • 2 × Oerlikon 20mm guns
  • 2 × triple ILAS 3 324 mm torpedo tubes with Whitehead A244S or the Indian NST-58 torpedoes
Aircraft carried: 1 Westland Sea King or HAL Chetak

INS Vindhyagiri was a Nilgiri-class frigate of the Indian Navy. Vindhyagiri was commissioned on 8 July 1981. Having served in the Indian Navy for nearly thirty years, the vessel capsized after colliding with a merchant vessel on 30 January 2011. It was subsequently salvaged and then decommissioned on 11 June 2012. It served for 31 years in the navy and in its prime served as the flagship of the Western Naval Command. It was decommissioned a year earlier than envisaged due to the collision.

January 2011 collision

On 30 January 2011, Vindhyagiri collided with the Cyprus-flagged merchant ship MV Nordlake near Sunk Rock lighthouse at the entrance of Mumbai harbour at 3:30 pm. It was reported that several civilians, including family members of the crew, were on board at the time of the incident. No casualties were reported.[2] A major fire broke out due to the collision which took more than 15 hours to control. It also caused a major damage in the hull of the ship, affecting boiler room and motor room..

On 31 January 2011, the ship sank due to the damage caused by the fire.[3]

Vindhyagiri settled on the sea bed at the Mumbai Naval Dockyard due to flooding in some of its compartments. "The place where the ship is berthed hardly has enough water. It is just seven metres deep. The ship touched the bottom because of flooding in some compartments. She is on the sea bed. Of course, she can be recovered," Chief Public Relations Officer (Defence) Captain M. Nambiar told the newspaper The Hindu.[4]

After spending close to five months on the seabed at Berth No 5 in Mumbai Naval Dockyard, the ship was raised from the seabed with the assistance of the salvage company Titan Salvage with the help of naval architects, Salvage Master and a 24-hour diving crew. The hull was patched and by the use of multiple pumps to remove water from inside the wreck, letting air gain its space removing weight. The use of a giant floating crane[5] was to hold the wreck while the lifting process by the Titan salvage crew was performed.

Decommissioning

On 8 May 2012, the Bombay High Court granted permission to the Indian Navy to decommission and destroy the ship after one ammunition chamber could not be emptied. It was due to be expended as a target.[6] The ship was decommissioned subsequently on 11 June 2012.

References

  1. ↑ "Surface Ships". Indian Navy. Retrieved 1 February 2011.
  2. ↑ "INS Vindhyagiri goes down". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 1 February 2011.
  3. ↑ Naik, Yogesh (31 January 2011). "Navy warship INS Vindhyagiri capsizes". The Times of India. Retrieved 28 May 2013.
  4. ↑ Vinaya Deshpande (31 January 2011). "States / Other States : INS Vindhyagiri lists, touches sea bed due to flooding". The Hindu. Chennai, India. Retrieved 1 February 2011.
  5. ↑ Kavitha Iyer (22 June 2011). "INS Vindhyagiri rises from sea". The Indian Express. Retrieved 22 November 2012.
  6. ↑ "INS Vindhyagiri, stuck with ammunition, to be destroyed; court informed of accord". The Hindu. 9 May 2012. Retrieved 9 May 2012.


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