Navy commissions water jet fast attack craft INS Karuva
26 Aug 2011
Visakhapatnam: The Indian Navy's coastal patrolling, anti-pirate, anti-smuggling, search and rescue operations received a boost on Thursday with the commissioning of INS Karuva, a water jet fast attack craft (WJFAC) at the naval base here. INS Karuva is the last of the 10 such vessels built by the Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) of Kolkata.
These vessels boast of 90 per cent indigenous content.
The ship was commissioned by commander-in-chief of the Strategic Forces Command, Air Marshal KJ Mathews. This marks the first time that an air force officer has commissioned a naval ship.
The ship would be based at INS Kadamba at the upcoming Karwar naval base under the operational command of the Western Naval Command and will be deployed for operations along the Konkan coast and the Lakshadweep Islands.
Flag officer commanding-in-chief of the Eastern Naval Command, Vice-Admiral Anup Singh said commissioning of INS Karuva indicated that the Navy was becoming a builders' Navy from a buyers' Navy.
Calling this ship and other fast attack crafts (FACs) as greyhounds, he said they would provide seamless protection in the forward line.
