A credible submarine rescue capability is integral to submarine operations because of the nature of the platform and its operating medium hundreds of metres below the surface of the sea.
51 long years after India commissioned its first submarine on 08 December 1967, the Indian Navy finally established its own submarine rescue capability with the commissioning of its first Deep Submergence Rescue Vessel (DSRV) on 12 December 2018 at Mumbai. The delay in acquiring this capability which should be integral to any submarine operating navy was also acknowledged by the former Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Sunil Lanba at the commissioning ceremony. Speaking on the occasion he said “The induction of the DSRV…marks the culmination of years of… effort in acquiring this niche submarine capability”. The Indian Navy has procured two DSRVs from Messrs James Fisher Defence, a UK firm which is the global leader in untethered DSRVs. The second DSRV is based in Visakhapatnam.Read More…
