Launching of P-15A Yard 12703 Chennai
Launching of P-15A Destroyer Yard 12703 Chennai on 01April2010 at MDL
M. Mazumdar
The third and last of three P-15A destroyers, Yard 12703 was launched by the Defence Minister’s wife, Mrs. Elizabeth Antony amidst chanting of Vedic hymns at Mazagon Dock Ltd (MDL) on 01April2010 as the Chennai. . Her keel was laid down on 21Feb2006 and she is expected to commission into the Indian Navy in August2013.
Start of Production on the 15A project commenced with plate cutting for Yard 12701 on 12 March 2003 followed by keel laying in Sep 2003 and launching on 30March2006. The plan was to commence work on each ship at 13-14 month intervals but for various reasons, work on the second ship, Yard 12702, did not commence until March 2005. Keel laying took place on 25 Oct 2005 with the launch taking place nearly four years later on 18 September 2009. MDL has absorbed lessons learnt in building each successive vessel and applied these to the follow on vessels. Consequently, managing project timelines have become easier and MDL’s management is quite confident of adhering to project timelines. For instance, the launch of Yard 12703 took place a little over 6 months after Yard12702 was launched. .
Like the second ship in the series,Yard12703 was launched using a ‘Pontoon Assisted Launching’ method which enabled MDL to launch the vessel with a launch weight of 4060 tons or 60% of the ships full displacement of 6700-6800 tons. In this method, pontoons are welded to the ships hull at the fore and aft sections to provide added buoyancy and a reduction in the draft. Owing to tidal constraints and inadequate channel depth, MDL was previously constrained to launching ships with only the hull and some upper works. For example, leadship of the P-15A could only be launched with a launch weight of around 2900 tons. Russia’s Baltisky Zavod Shipyard provided the technical assistance to MDL for the pontoon assisted launch concept. Going forward, future launchings will use the pontoon assisted method along with other modular construction techniques.
According to MDL, the estimated cost of these destroyers, less ammunition and helicopters, should not exceed Rs. 3500 crores. Actual cost figures will not be available until the first of class is completed.
As of April01, the first of class, Yard12701 (Kolkata) is about 60% complete. At the time of writing Brahmos launchers were waiting to be installed on the Kolkata. The plan is to commence sea trials in another 1.5 years time. Crucially, being the first of class and given that a brand new radar and missile system - the Elta EL/M 2248 MF-STAR and the 80km range Barak LRSAM - is being installed in these ships, it would not be unreasonable to expect integration issues. It is understood that both these systems will commence testing shortly. India’ DRDO is the nodal agency for the radar-missile combination. Installation of the radar missile combo onto the lead ship is expected to commence sometime this year. When these ships begin to commission they will impart new fleet air defence capabilities to the Indian Navy.
There are several measures to determine the degree of indigenous content in a warship. Some of these are cost, weight, labor hours, equipment sourcing. According to some sources, the indigenous content is no more than 60% in terms of labour connected inputs.
Principal particulars include a LOA of 163.2m, beam of 17.4m, depth of 9.8m, max. draft of 6.8m. Displacement is around 6800 tons. Max speed is in excess of 30 knots. Ships complement is to be 312. Endurance is 3300nm at 18 kts.
While the design of these ships was largely by the Surface Ship Group of the Navy’s inhouse design organization, under the leadership of now Rear Admiral KV Vaidyanathan, Mazagon Docks own design team is responsible for much of the integration of the vertical launch missile systems, the multi function radar and the bow mounted sonar.
During the launch ceremony, the CNS said that MDL must try to reduce the build times of warships to norms prevailing elsewhere in the world. As a case in point, the Navy would like destroyer sized ships to be built in less than four years. The Defense Minister echoed this sentiment. The Asst Sec of Defence also mentioned that all the shipyards were undergoing modernization to enable them to utilize modular construction techniques.
While four follow-on P-15B destroyers have been approved, details of these ships are scant other than they will be an improvement over the P-15A. It is likely that the main gun will be different. It is also likely that greater platform integration will be incorporated. Some sensors are likely to be different. As of April01, MDL was yet to receive a formal order. The plan is to utilize modular construction for these ships. This necessarily means that work can only commence in earnest after the yard modernization project is complete.
BR is grateful to MDL PRO Parvez Panthaky for providing access to this event
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