Navy to launch warship 'Mormugao' on Saturday: All you need to know about the P15B destroyer

The second ship of the Project 15B, a guided missile destroyer christened ‘Mormugao’ for Indian Navy, will be launched in Mumbai on 17 September. The navy aims to take the level of indigenisation to 68 percent in this project. [caption id=“attachment_3006262” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Screenshot from YouTube video[/caption] Noting that in the last one year the Indian Navy has inducted five ships, which includes three warships, Vice Admiral GS Pabby said this is the first time the naval forces have built so many ships of a class — 10 ships of 15, A and B class — and this process has helped in indigenisation. In 2011, the government had sanctioned four 15B ships at the cost of Rs 29,700 crore. The first ship of the project, guided-missile destroyer ‘Visakhapatnam’, was launched on 20 April last year. The hull of the 7,300-tonne ‘Mormugao’ warship, which is constructed on dry area, will be floated on water for the first time — which is a milestone event for any vessel. According to NDTV, the Mormugao is 163 metres long and is powered by four Ukranian gas turbine engines to achieve speeds over 56 km per hour. Fitted with the Barak-8 long-range missiles, it has been named after the picturesque Mormugao port of Goa, the home state of Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar. The key sensor of the destroyer is its Israeli-designed Multi-Function Surveillance Threat Alert Radar (MF-STAR), which has been designed to find targets in the air hundreds of kilometres away. The Mormugao is also armed with the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile. The Mazgoan Shipyard, which is building the ship will also outsource work for 10 blocks to involve private ship building yard in the programme. For the first time in its history, Mazagon Dock in 2015-16 achieved a value of production (VOP) above Rs 4,000 crore with an operating profit of Rs 218 crore. Detailed design of the futuristic stealth frigates, P17A, is currently in progress and work on it is expected to start early 2017. With inputs from agencies