Mangaluru: Indian Coast Guard Ship Vikram, which was commissioned by Union Minister of State for Defence, Dr Subash Bhamre on April 11 at Chennai arrived at its base Port, New Mangalore on May 13.
ICGS Vikram has been designed and built by M/s Larsen & Turbo Ltd, Chennai. This is the ‘first in class’ of seven new generation Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPVs) contracted by Ministry of Defence (MoD) to L&T in March 2015, under Government’s initiative of ‘Make in India’.
The ship’s keel was laid in March 2016 and the construction, including trials and commissioning was completed in 25 months.
The commissioning of the indigenously designed and built ICGS Vikram was also rendered a befitting curtain-raiser to the “Make in India” theme during recently conducted DEFEXPO – 2018 at Chennai.
The ship is 98 m long, 15 m wide, has 3.6 m draught, 2140 tons displacement and a range of 5,000 NM. It can attain a sustained speed of up to 26 knots. It is built with Integrated Platform Management System to enable special control capabilities.
The ship has been fitted with most advanced state of the art navigation and communication equipment, sensors and machineries. It also features a 30 mm gun and 12.7 mm gun with FCS giving an edge to her fighting efficiency. The ship is also designed to carry one Twin Engine Light Helicopter and stage through of twin engine heavy helicopter with night flying capabilities. It also has the capabilities to carry pollution response equipment to contain oil spill contamination at sea.
Vikram meaning ‘Valour’ with a complement of 14 Officers and 88 men is commanded by Commandant Rajkamal Sinha.
ICGS Vikram’s arrival at Mangalore will be a major milestone in augmenting maritime security of Karnataka. The ship will enhance Indian Coast Guard’s operational capabilities to discharge multifarious maritime tasks on Western Seaboard in general and the Maritime States of Karnataka in particular.
