What is INS Sandhayak?

After 40 years of service, the Indian Navy’s INS Sandhayak, the first of its class indigenously designed and built Hydrographic Survey Ship, will be decommissioned on Friday, June 21. The decommissioning ceremony for the INS Sandhayak will take place at Naval Dockyard Visakhapatnam and will be a low-key affair with only in-station officials and sailors in attendance, all in strict compliance with COVID protocols. 

Sandhayak was conceived by Rear Adm FL Fraser, AVSM, Padma Shri, then Chief Hydrographer to the Government of India, who had a great desire for indigenously designed and built hydrographic survey vessels in India. Naval Headquarters approved the design, and the ship’s construction began in 1978 at GRSE Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) with the keel laying. Vice Adm MK Roy, AVSM, then Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Naval Command, commissioned the ship into the Indian Navy on February 26, 1981. Since her commissioning, she has served as the alma mater for the Indian Navy‘s hydrographers, laying the groundwork for complete hydrographic coverage of the peninsular seas. In addition, the success of her design opened the way for all of the Indian Navy’s survey ships, which have been modified in various ways till recently. 

During her commissioned service, the ship completed about 200 major hydrographic surveys and several minor surveys over the country’s east and west coasts, as well as the Andaman and Indian Oceans and neighbouring nations. Apart from survey missions, the ship has participated in a number of significant operations, including Operation Pawan, which assisted the Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka in 1987, Operation Sarong, and Operation Rainbow, which provided humanitarian assistance following the 2004 tsunami, and the first joint INDO-US HADR Exercise ‘Tiger-Triumph.’ 

The ship had 22 commanding officers during its illustrious 40-year career, with the last commanding officer taking command on June 17, 2019. In the presence of Vice Adm Ajendra Bahadur Singh, AVSM, VSM Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief ENC, the Naval Ensign and the Commissioning Pennant will be taken down for the last time onboard INS Sandhayak at sunset on Friday, symbolising the decommissioning.

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