Goa Shipyard holds keel laying ceremony of the second of the New Class Offshore Patrol Vessels
Keel Laying ceremony of the Second of the New Class Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPVs) indigenously designed in–house and being built by Goa Shipyard Ltd (GSL) for the Indian Coast Guard was held at GSL on 28th Jan 2013, according to press release.
VAdm MP Muralidharan AVSM & Bar, NM Director General Indian Coast Guard, did the honours in the presence of RAdm (Retd) Vineet Bakhshi VSM, Chairman and Managing Director, GSL, IG SPS Basra YSM, PTM, TM, Commander Indian Coast Guard Region ( West), DIG S D Bhanot ,TM COMDIS(Goa) , Senior officials of the Coast Guard and GSL.
The Keel laying ceremony for the Second of the New Class OPVs comes on the heels of Commissioning of the Indian Navy’s largest Patrol vessel ‘INS Saryu’ at GSL on 21st January 2013.
It is noteworthy that the contract for the construction of six nos. OPVs for the Indian Coast Guard was signed on 9th May 2012. The first keel laying ceremony to mark the commencement of the series construction of the new class OPVs for the Indian Coast Guard was held at GSL on 28th September 2012.
These vessels for the Indian Coast Guard are based on in- house design of Goa Shipyard Ltd. When commissioned, these vessels will be the most advanced Patrol Vessels in service with the Indian Coast Guard.