New Delhi: The Indian Navy today commissioned a new amphibious warfare craft at Port Blair, the capital port of a strategically important island territory of the nation close to the Malacca Strait, a maritime choke point in the Indian Ocean Region.

Tri-services Andaman and Nicobar Command‘s Commander-in-Chief Lieutenant General P. S. Rajeshwar commissioned the INLCU-75, the seventh in a series of Landing Craft Utility (LCU) Mk-IV class of vessels, into the Indian Navy.

The ship has been indigenously designed and built by Kolkata-headquartered Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE), a state-run shipyard that showcases India’s warship construction prowess and capability for indigenousdesign and shipbuilding.

The amphibious vessel’s designated primary role is of transporting and deploying Main Battle Tanks, Armoured Vehicles, troops and equipment from the ship to the shore.

Based at the Andaman and Nicobar Command, these ships can be deployed for multirole activities like beaching operations, search and rescue, disaster relief operations, supply and replenishment and evacuation from distant islands.

The ship, commanded by Lieutenant Commander Harshvardhan Venugopal, has a complement of five officers, 45 sailors and is capable of carrying 160 troops in addition.

The ship, displacing 830 tonnes, is capable of transporting various kinds of combat equipment such as Main Battle Tanks Arjun, T72 and other vehicles. The ship is fitted with state-of-art equipment and advanced systems, like Integrated Bridge System (IBS) and Integrated Platform Management System (IPMS).

The last ship of the same class is at an advanced stage of construction at GRSE and is scheduled to be inducted by this year end. It is anticipated that induction of these ships will contribute to the nation’s maritime security needs, in consonance with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi‘s drive for ‘Make in India‘.