The Indian Navy commissioned a new warship into service during a ceremony in Visakhapatnam on Saturday, July 11.
INS Mahendragiri is the seventh and final Nilgiri-class stealth frigate to be acquired by the Indian Navy. She and three of her sisters were built by Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders of Mumbai while the remaining three frigates in the class were constructed by Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers.
Design work on the Nilgiri-class frigates was undertaken by the Indian Navy’s own Warship Design Bureau. The ships' missions include anti-surface warfare, anti-submarine warfare, and anti-air warfare.
The 149-metre-long Nilgiri-class frigates are notable for being among the first Indian Navy surface ships built using the integrated modular construction methodology. Through this approach, entire blocks are already pre-assembled and pre-outfitted with some of the essential onboard systems and then integrated with each other to form the hull.
To reduce their radar cross-sections, the ships utilise composite material on areas of the hull and the superstructure and radar-absorbent exterior coatings, while fluid injection helps reduce the plumes from the propulsion exhaust, thereby giving them significantly reduced infrared signatures.
Two MAN 12V28/33D STC four-stroke engines and two GE LM2500 gas turbines in a combined diesel and gas configuration will drive controllable-pitch propellers to deliver a top speed of 32 knots and a range of 5,500 nautical miles at cruising speeds of between 16 and 18 knots.
The armament on each frigate includes an OTO Melara 76mm naval gun; two AK-630M 30mm close-in weapon systems; 32 Barak surface-to-air missiles housed in vertical launch system (VLS) cells: eight BrahMos anti-ship missiles also housed in VLS cells; torpedoes; 72 anti-submarine rockets deployed via RBU-6000 launchers; and two Browning M2 12.7mm machine guns fitted on remotely controlled weapons mounts.
Although Mahendragiri is the final ship in the Nilgiri-class, she was commissioned into service ahead of the sixth ship, the future INS Vindhyagiri, which is nearing completion.