The people in Kuwait had a rare and wonderful opportunity to view the three great Indian naval warships - INS Tarkash (F50), INS Delhi (D61) and INS Deepak (A50) that arrived here at 11th and stayed till 14th May. These ships were here so that they could boost their defense relations with Kuwait. Many students from various schools were invited to view these great battleships.

I along with other students got the opportunity to visit the three ships from my school, Gulf Indian School and I was extremely grateful for this opportunity.

We were taken to these ships and told about every detail and also the inner workings of them all. All the crew members were dressed in their immaculately white uniforms with the proud symbol of the naval flag on their shirts. They were coming straight from Dubai and were very friendly sort of chaps.

Here are some interesting details about the deadly war machines we saw

INS Tarkash

Tarkash belongs to the Talwar class of the guided missile frigates. These are modified Krivak III-class frigates built by Russia. The main difference between Tarkash and the earlier Talwar-class ships is the use of BrahMos missiles in place of the Klub-N missiles in the earlier ships. It is the second of the three frigates built in Russia as a follow-up order to the first batch of Talwar-class frigates. The captain of INS Tarkash is Pradeep Singh. The length of this ship is 126m .It was launched on 23 June 2010 and commissioned in 9 November 2012.Tarkash remains one of the latest platforms for the Indian Navy and is a work horse for the Western Fleet. Its weapon package includes surface-to-surface missiles, surface-to-air missiles, advanced torpedo launchers, anti-missile defense and the vessel's main gun is a forward-fitted AK-190. The 100mm gun incorporates stealth technology to reduce the radar signature of the ship. It has a firing rate of 60 rounds a minute and can engage targets within a range of 15.2km.. It is thus capable of accomplishing a wide variety of naval missions, primarily finding and eliminating enemy submarines and large surface ships. This ship can afford one helicopter and can cruise at a maximum speed of 30 knots.

INS Delhi

INS Delhi is the lead ship of her class of guided-missile destroyers of the Indian Navy. She was built at the Mazagon Dock Limited in Mumbai and commissioned on 15 November 1997. This class is among the largest warships to be designed and built in India. INS Delhi was the first ship designed in India itself, with 6,700 tons guided missile destroyers. It is a multipurpose command and control platform capable of operating in a multi-threat environment. It was launched on 20 March 1992 and commissioned in 15 November 1997. The length of this ship is 163m. The ship is equipped with four quad launchers for the Uran anti-ship missile system. The Uran system launches the Kh-35 (Nato designation SS-N-25) anti-ship cruise missile, which uses an inertial guidance system to steer the missile towards the target area. In the main air defense role, a pair of 2 3S-90 launchers – one installed forward of the bridge and the other atop the dual helicopter hangar – are fitted with the Shtil SAM system. The Shtil system consists of the Russian Shtil missile and 24 such missiles are carried in a below-decks magazine. The ships also have a quadruple 533 mm torpedo launcher, which can also be used to launch SS-N-15 'Starfish' or possibly SS-N-16 'Stallion' ASW missiles, so is capable of hitting targets ranging from 50 km to 120 km. This ship can support two helicopters - Dhruv advanced light helicopter (ALH) or Chetek helicopter as it has two hangars. The maximum speed of this ship is 32 knots. INS Delhi is commanded by Captain Sandeep Singh Sandhu.

INS Deepak

INS Deepak is a Deepak-class fleet tanker built by Fincantieri. Deepak was launched on 13 February 2010 and commissioned on 21 January 2011.INS Deepak can also be deployed in the transportation and supply of ammunitions, materials etc. The length of this ship is 175 meters. The Deepak-class tanker can carry 17,900 tons of cargo, including 15,500 tons of liquid cargo and 500 tons of solid cargo. It supplies diesel to the other two ships on every 10th day. The ship has hoses and cranes which help in the transfer of fuel while moving. INS Deepak is armed with four AK-630 close-in weapon system (CIWS) for close-point defense against low flying aircraft and smaller surface vessels. The AK-630 CIWS can fire at a rate of 4,000 to 10,000 rounds a minute. The gun fire is controlled by a high-tech fire control system. Its top speed is 20 knots. INS Deepak is commanded by Captain Sujit Kumar Chhetri.

I was awe-struck seeing such giant war machines in front of me that served as great evacuation systems in past wars and saved many lives. This inspired me to follow a long forgotten childhood dream of doing something great in the ranks of a naval officer.

Sources: Factual information about the naval ships is taken from http://www.naval-technology.com/projects/delhi-class-destroyers/

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