Overview
- INS Mahe was commissioned at Mumbai’s Naval Dockyard in a ceremony presided over by Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi and hosted by Vice Admiral Krishna Swaminathan.
- The first of eight Cochin Shipyard–built ASW Shallow Water Craft, Mahe was delivered to the Navy on October 23 and will operate on the Western Seaboard as a “Silent Hunter.”
- Reported capabilities include a length of about 78 metres, top speed near 25 knots, range around 1,800 nautical miles, and endurance suited for shallow-water operations.
- The ship fields an indigenous suite of sensors and weapons, including a hull-mounted sonar, anti-torpedo decoy system, triple-tube torpedo launchers, a 12-barrel ASW rocket launcher, and Super Rapid Gun Mounts.
- The programme stems from April 2019 contracts for 16 ASW-SWC vessels split between CSL and GRSE, with media reporting Mahe’s construction cost at over ₹700 crore and noting multi-mission roles such as patrol, mine-laying, HADR and search and rescue.