Indian Navy commissions anti-submarine warfare vessel ‘Androth’

⁠The Indian Navy on Monday commissioned INS Androth, the second of its next-generation Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Craft (ASW-SWC), designed to detect enemy submarines operating close to the coast.

The warship was commissioned at the Naval Dockyard in Visakhapatnam by Vice Admiral Rajesh Pendharkar, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Eastern Naval Command.

The first ship of the class called INS Arnala was commissioned in June this year. INS Androth derives its name from an island in the Lakshadweep archipelago.

The ship is built by Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE), Kolkata, in collaboration with L&T’s Kattupalli shipyard in Tamil Nadu.

The Navy has contracted 16 such ships at an overall cost of nearly Rs 13,000 crore, with Cochin Shipyard Limited and GRSE manufacturing eight each.

The primary role of these ships is to detect, track and prosecute enemy submarines, particularly in coastal and shallow water regions. Equipped with advanced underwater sensors, such as the hull-mounted sonar Abhay, an underwater acoustic communication system and a low-frequency sonar, the vessel can carry out comprehensive underwater surveillance.

To neutralise underwater threats, the ships feature a state-of-the-art weapon suite, including lightweight torpedoes, rockets, anti-torpedo decoys and advanced mine-laying capabilities.

The 77.6-metre-long vessel has a displacement of 1,490 tonnes.

The Androth incorporates more than 80 per cent indigenous content. Major Indian defence firms such as Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), L&T, Mahindra Defence and MEIL have supplied advanced systems for the ship. The project has also engaged over 55 Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), promoting domestic industry and generating related economic activity.