INDIA launched a state-of-theart ocean research vessel, ORV Sagar Manthan, to expand indigenous oceanographic research and maritime capabilities, an official statement said on Wednesday. The vessel was launched at Rishi Bankim Shipyard in Kolkata at the virtual presence of Dr Jitendra Singh, Minister of Earth Sciences, and his spouse Manju Singh, named the vessel, keeping with the tradition. The ship was designed, engineered and constructed by defence public sector undertaking Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Limited (GRSE) for the National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR), under the Ministry of Earth Sciences. Dr Singh praised the team for achieving the launch within just two years of contract signing and barely five months after keel laying, hailing it as an exceptional display of efficiency. The vessel features advanced equipment and is integrated with dynamic positioning, multibeam bathymetry, multichannel seismic systems, subbottom profiling, weather radar, drop keels, and deployment facilities for Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROV) and Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV). It will support multidisciplinary exploration along the Indian Ocean mid-oceanic ridges to identify multi-metal hydrothermal sulphide mineralisation, establish environmental baselines, collect upper-air data, and undertake CTD profiling.

 

It is engineered to operate in extreme oceanic environments, including the Southern Ocean, with a projected service life of 30 years. The vessel will gradually replace the 43-year-old ORV Sagar Kanya as India’s advanced oceanographic platform, said Dr Singh, commending MoES plans to acquire more oceanographic vessels and a Polar Research Vessel in the near future. “This fine ship is India’s first advanced Ocean Research Vessel built by GRSE, displaying the required thrust towards Atmanirbharta and selfreliance,” the minister said. “Solid data collected by vessels like ORV Sagar Manthan will allow India to lead the global path in disaster prevention, take corrective environmental measures, and play a pivotal role in global ocean geopolitics,” he added. Dr T. Srinivasa Kumar, Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences, expressed pride in India’s policy shift from acquiring research platforms abroad to building them domestically. Ocean research is the foundation for understanding climate challenges, predicting tsunamis, and strengthening maritime capabilities, Kumar said, adding that the new ORV will feature underway swath multibeam surveys, geophysical profiling, atmospheric observations, and water column sampling.