Deepak-class fleet tanker

For other ships with the same name, see Deepak class tanker.
INS Shakti (A57) underway
Class overview
Builders: Fincantieri
Operators:  Indian Navy
Preceded by: Aditya class
Planned: 2
Completed: 2
Active: 2
General characteristics
Type: Replenishment Fleet Tanker
Displacement: 27,500 tons full load
Length: 175 m (574 ft)
Beam: 25 m (82 ft)
Draught: 9.1 m (30 ft)
Propulsion: 10,000 kw diesel engine
Speed: 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph)
Range: 12,000 miles (19,000 km) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Complement: 248[1]
Armament: 4 × AK-630[2]
Aviation facilities: Flight Deck for operating Seaking and Chetak helicopters

The Deepak class is a class of fleet replenishment tankers of the Indian Navy built by Fincantieri. Two ships were ordered and the first one joined the fleet on 21 January 2011, while the second joined on 1 October 2011.[3]

History

INS Deepak construction programme by Muggiano Shipyard of Fincantieri, involved three different shipyards of Fincantieri, Italy, using state-of-the-art ship construction methods and concepts with extensive parallelism and concurrent engineering to deliver the ship, in a challenging time frame of two years. The ship is in double hull configuration which provides greater safety against accidental oil spillages in accordance with latest MARPOL regulations.

Costs and offset clause

Fincantieri announced in Oct 2008 that it won an order to build a fleet tanker, with an option for another, against competitive bidding from leading international players, especially from Russia and Korea. The contract, worth about 139 million euro includes a second vessel under an option clause which was signed in March 2009. According to an interview published in Defenseworld.net in May 2009, senior BEL executives stated that as part of the offsets for the first fleet tanker, Fincantieri, in 2008, placed an order worth 14.3 million euros for the supply of Composite Communication System, Versatile Communication System, ESM System, Electric Opto Fire Control System and their integration on board the fleet tanker. Bharat Electronics (BEL) will implement this order in 2009.

Ships of the class

Name Pennant Homeport Launched Commissioned Status
INS Deepak A 50 Karwar 12 February 2010 21 January 2011[4] Commissioned
INS Shakti A 57 Visakhapatnam 11 October 2010 1 October 2011[5] Commissioned

On 12 February 2010, the first ship of the class INS Deepak was launched. The CAG (Comptroller and Auditor General) reported that substandard steel was chosen which helped Fincantieri to bag the contract quoting lower cost.[6] On 21 January 2011, INS Deepak was commissioned in a ceremony at the Naval Dockyard, Mumbai by the Defence Minister of India.[4]

INS Shakti (A57) is the second Deepak class fleet tanker. It was launched on 11 October 2010 and commissioned on 1 October 2011.[4][7][8]

See also

References

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