INS Godavari
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History | |
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India | |
Name: | INS Godavari |
Namesake: | Godavari River |
Builder: | Mazagon Dock Limited |
Laid down: | 3 November 1978 |
Launched: | 15 May 1980 |
Commissioned: | 10 December 1983 |
Decommissioned: | 23 December 2015 |
Status: | Awaiting disposal. |
Badge: | |
General characteristics | |
Class and type: | Godavari-class frigate |
Displacement: |
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Length: | 126.4 m (414 ft 8 in) |
Beam: | 14.5 m (47 ft 7 in) |
Draught: | 4.5 m (14 ft 9 in) |
Propulsion: | 2 turbines with 30,000 hp (22,000 kW) motors; 2 550 psi boilers; 2 shafts |
Speed: | 27 knots (50 km/h) |
Range: | 4,500 mi (7,200 km) at 12 knots (22 km/h) |
Complement: | 313 (incl. 40 Officers & 13 Aircrew) |
Sensors and processing systems: |
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Armament: | |
Aircraft carried: |
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INS Godavari (F20) was the lead ship of her class of guided-missile frigates of the Indian Navy. Built by Mazagon Dock Limited in Mumbai, she was the first Indian warship to be indigenously designed and built. She was commissioned on 10 December 1983, and decommissioned on 23 December 2015 after a 32-year career.
During the mid-1970s, the Navy's Directorate of Naval Design developed a concept for the next generation of frigates, which would supplant the British-designed Nilgiri-class frigates. The new Godavari-class frigates would be the first indigenously designed and built frigates, with vastly improved speed and firepower. As the lead ship of her class, Godavari was laid down on 3 November 1978 by the Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Jal Cursetji, and was launched on 15 May 1980. She was commissioned on 10 December 1983.
Notable operations involving INS Godavari include Operation Jupiter in 1988 (Sri Lanka), Operation Shield and Operation Bolster in 1994 (de-induction of Indian Army from Somalia), Patrol of Gulf of Aden (PoG) in 2009, and 2011 anti-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden. The ship also visited New York harbour in July 1986 on the occasion of the bicentennial celebrations of the Statue of Liberty.
In 1988, following an attempted coup d'état against Maldivian President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom by Sri Lankan mercenaries, India launched Operation Cactus to restore the democratically elected government. After Indian paratroopers restored the presidency, the mercenaries captured Maldivian hostages on board a freighter and fled towards Sri Lanka. INS Godavari and INS Betwa successfully intercepted the freighter, rescued the hostages and arrested the mercenaries off the Sri Lankan coast.