Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) has launched Shreyas, the third offshore patrol vessel built for the Indian Navy in five months, adding momentum to the country’s maritime surveillance and domestic warship construction capacity. The vessel was launched at GRSE’s dock in Kolkata on Saturday in the presence of Indian Navy Vice Chief Vice Admiral Ajay Kocchar.
The construction of Shreyas is about 68% complete, according to the report. GRSE’s latest launch follows a production cycle in which the shipbuilder has put one vessel into the water roughly every 45 days. Vice Admiral Kocchar congratulated the shipyard’s workforce and described the pace as evidence of the growing speed, scale and capability of India’s warship-building system.
“ This success reflects the tireless efforts of GRSE employees and their willingness to work around the clock,” Kocchar said at the event. He added that the next generation of offshore patrol vessels would strengthen the Navy’s ability to maintain a sustained presence at sea at a time when maritime security demands have increased.
The vessels are intended to support maritime surveillance, anti-piracy operations, search and rescue, disaster response and other security and military missions. Their operational role is linked to India’s long coastline, large exclusive economic zone and dependence on maritime routes for trade and energy. Recent instability in the Red Sea and continuing tensions in West Asia have also increased the importance of monitoring critical sea lanes and commercial shipping routes, the report said.
Kocchar also emphasised the need to develop warships using domestic technology and manufacturing capacity. More than 42 vessels are currently under construction at shipyards across India, while work on around 78 ships and submarines and 127 fast interceptor craft is progressing at different stages under 10 major projects, according to figures cited at the event.
The Navy’s emphasis is not limited to launching vessels on schedule. Kocchar said ships must be fully capable of performing their designated roles from the day they are commissioned. That requires the weapons, sensors, communication systems and other equipment to function as intended. He also called for lessons from earlier vessels and similar platforms built at shipyards across the country to be incorporated into every new construction programme.
GRSE has delivered more than 100 vessels so far, including warships for the Indian Navy and vessels for overseas customers. Its international work has included patrol vessels for Mauritius and Seychelles, a cargo vessel for Guyana and patrol craft for Bangladesh.
The launch is not the final stage of Shreyas’s construction. Equipment installation, trials and other tests must still be completed before commissioning. GRSE is expected to deliver the vessel to the Indian Navy and support its commissioning in the coming months, subject to the completion of these remaining stages.
