Y 12705 (Mormugao), the second ship of Project 15B stealth guided missile destroyers was delivered to the Indian Navy on Thursday, almost 3 months prior to the contractual date.
The Ministry of Defence in a statement said that the delivery of Mormugao is an affirmation of the impetus being given by the Government of India and the Indian Navy towards ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ as part of celebration of the ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’.
The contract for four ships of Project 15B was signed on 28 January 2011. INS Visakhapatnam, the first ship, was commissioned into the Indian Navy on 21 November 2021.
Mormugao had sailed out for her maiden sea sortie on 19 December 2021 to coincide with the Goa Liberation Day, the Ministry said.
#Mormugao, 2nd of the 4 indigenous P15B Stealth Guided Missile Destroyer being built at MDL, #Mumbai delivered to the #IndianNavy on #24Nov 22.
Yet another testament to the impetus given by the GoI & Navy towards #AatmaNirbharBharat & further enhancing Navy’s #CombatReadiness. pic.twitter.com/Ckr9zgIPaq— SpokespersonNavy (@indiannavy) November 24, 2022
163 metres long and 17 metres wide, the destroyer displaces 7400 tonnes when fully loaded and has a maximum speed of 30 knots. It was designed by the Warship Design Bureau, Indian Navy’s in-house organisation and built by M/s Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd, Mumbai.
The Defence Ministry stated that apart from myriad indigenous equipment in the ‘Float’ and ‘Move’ categories, the destroyer is also installed with major indigenous weapons – the Medium Range Surface-to-Air Missiles (BEL, Bangalore), BrahMos Surface-to-Surface Missiles (BrahMos Aerospace, New Delhi), Indigenous Torpedo Tube Launchers (Larsen & Toubro, Mumbai), Anti-Submarine Indigenous Rocket Launchers (Larsen & Toubro, Mumbai) and 76mm Super Rapid Gun Mount (BHEL, Haridwar).
The four ships of the Project are christened after major cities from all four corners of the country – Visakhapatnam, Mormugao, Imphal and Surat.
