Indian Naval Ship (INS) ‘Chennai’ joins Indian Navy

Defence Minister has inducted Kolkata-class guided-missile destroyer, INS Chennai into the Indian Navy. After completion of additional sea trials, the ship would be assigned to the Western Fleet and would be based in Mumbai. It is one among the largest destroyers indigenously constructed in India. The ship has a length of 164 meters and displacement of over 7,500 tonne.

INS Chennai, manufactured by Mazagaon Dock Shipbuilders Limited, Mumbai marks the end of the Project 15A to build Kolkata-class guided-missile destroyers.

The Project 15A Kolkata class are a class of stealth guided missile destroyers built for Indian Navy. These destroyers are follow-on of the legendary Project 15 ‘Delhi’ class destroyers which entered service in the late 1990s. The class comprises of three ships. INS Kolkata, the first ship of the class got commissioned on August, 2014. The second ship, INS Kochi, got commissioned on September, 2015.

The ship is capable of undertaking a full spectrum of maritime warfare. The ship has the formidable prowess of missile technology and has been armed with supersonic surface to surface ‘BrahMos’ missiles and ‘Barak-8’ long-range surface to air missiles.

The ship can be truly classified as a ‘Network of Networks’ as it is equipped with sophisticated digital networks, such as ATM based Integrated Ship Data Network (AISDN), Auxiliary Control System (ACS), Automatic Power Management System (APMS) and Combat Management System (CMS).