The Indian Navy has decommissioned its first indigenously built missile corvette, INS Khukri, after serving for 32 years.
A ceremony was held in the Indian city of Visakhapatnam on 23 December. It was attended by Eastern Naval Command flag officer commanding-in-chief vice admiral Biswajit Dasgupta.
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Some of the ship’s serving and retired former commanding officers, as well as Gorkha Brigade president lieutenant general PN Ananthanarayan also attended the event.
During its active service, the corvette travelled a distance of more than 6,44,897nm. The distance is equal to navigating the globe 30 times or equivalent to three times the distance between Earth and Moon.
It was commanded by 28 commanding officers.
The corvette was affiliated with the Indian Army’s Gorkha Brigade and was part of the Indian Navy’s Western and Eastern fleets.
Mazagaon Dock Shipbuilders laid the keel on 27 September 1985 and launched it on 3 December 1986.
The vessel was commissioned into service in Mumbai on 23 August 1989. It was the second ship to carry the name Khukri.
The first vessel with the same name sunk after it was hit by two homing torpedoes during the India-Pakistan war in 1971.
INS Khukri is 91.1m long and has a displacement capacity of 1,350t. Powered by two diesel engines, it can cruise at a speed of 25k.
The corvette is equipped with four P-20M (SS-N-2D) anti-ship missiles, two Strela-2M (SA-N-5) surface-air-missile, one AK–176 76mm gun and two 30mm AK-630 guns.
