INS Shakti (A57) (lit. Strength) is a in service with the Indian Navy. She was built by Fincantieri, an Italian shipbuilding company based in Trieste. She is the second and final ship of her class. Shakti, along with her predecessor , is one of the largest ships of the Indian Navy.
The construction of the vessel began in November 2009 and she was launched in October 2010. She was handed over to India by September 2011 and was commissioned on 1 October 2011. The construction of the vessel was completed in a record time of 27 months, after the contract worth was signed in April 2008.
INS Shakti can refuel four ships at a time, with a fuelling speed of 1,500 tonnes per hour while her predecessors had a speed of 300 per hour. She is also equipped with state-of-the art electronics, medical facilities and storage spaces. According to Admiral Nirmal Verma, Shakti would significantly add to the Indian Navy's ability to conduct and sustain operations distant from the coast.
Design and description
General characteristics and propulsion INS Shakti has a length of overall, a beam of and a draught of . The ship displaces about at full load. The complement is about 200, including 20 officers.
The ship is powered by two MAN diesel engines providing a total power of . This allows the ship to reach a maximum speed of and an endurance of at .
To help prevent accidental oil spills, the ship features a double hull configuration in compliance with MARPOL 73/78.
Capacity The Deepak-class tanker can carry of cargo, including of liquid cargo (water, ship and aircraft fuel) and of solid cargo (food and ammunition). The modern cargo handling facility on board the ship enables transfer of heavy solid cargo via a capacity deck crane, and simultaneous fuelling of multiple ships at sea at the rate of per hour. Workshop facilities on the ship can support other ships of the fleet and are capable of supporting heavy helicopters.
Self-defence systems The ship has self-defence capabilities and is equipped with an indigenous anti-missile defence chaff system. On-board systems include fully automatic engine controls, power management and battle damage control systems. According to the navy, the ship was designed to operate as a command platform. The ship is fitted with four AK-630 close-in weapon systems, which can fire at a rate of 4,000 to 10,000 rounds a minute.
Construction and service Fincantieri was awarded the contract to construct Shakti in April 2008 at a cost of . The Deepak-class tankers were the first warships constructed for India by Fincantieri. The construction of the ship began in November 2009 at Fincantieri's Sestri Ponente shipyard in Italy. The sea trials started in December 2010. The ship was formally handed over to the Indian Navy on 23 September 2011, in under two years. Admiral Nirmal Verma, the chief of the Naval Staff, commissioned the tanker at Visakhapatnam, the home of the Eastern Naval Command, and noted that the ship had enhanced the reach of the navy well beyond the limits of the Indian Ocean.
There were allegations of the then ruling UPA government having engaged in corruption by allowing Fincantieri to build Shakti and Deepak using commercial grade steel, instead of military grade steel as is the norm. The Comptroller and Auditor General of India had questioned why the order was not given to Rosoboronexport, which had offered to use military grade steel for the construction of the tankers. India Today reported that the Defence Minister of the succeeding government, Manohar Parrikar, had ordered a probe into the matter. The Defence Ministry issued a press release the next day, clarifying that no probe had been ordered, and that steel of an inferior quality had not been used, but did not clarify why military grade steel was not used. The same day, Kirit Somaiya, an MP on the Public Accounts Committee, demanded a probe into the matter.
Shakti is the third tanker in the navy with the same name. The first Shakti had a displacement of and was commissioned during World War II. She was in service with the Indian Navy from 29 January 1954 and decommissioned on 31 December 1967. The second Shakti, a large ship built by the German shipyard Bremer Vulkan, was commissioned on 21 February 1976 and decommissioned on 21 July 2007, after more than 31 years of naval service.
2012 Malabar 2012 In April 2012, Shakti took part in the Indian Navy's annual maritime exercise with the US Navy, Malabar 2012, in the Bay of Bengal. During these exercises, the ship replenished , the flagship of the US Navy's Carrier Strike Group 1.
South China Sea and the North-West Pacific In May 2012, Shakti, as part of a battle group of four ships, began a sustained operational deployment to the South China Sea and the North West Pacific Ocean. The other three ships were , a guided missile destroyer, , a stealth frigate, and , a corvette. This battle group was under the command of Rear Admiral P Ajit Kumar, Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet. According to the Ministry of Defence, the two-month deployment, far from India's usual area of operations, along with naval exercises with a number of countries, aimed to demonstrate the Indian Navy's operational reach.
During the deployment, the battle group participated in passage exercises with the navies of the countries visited. The passage exercises focused on maritime security cooperation, which included humanitarian aid and disaster relief (HADR) operations and Visit, Board, Search and Seizure (VBSS) drills for anti-piracy operations. These exercises aimed to increase naval inter-operability, enabling the two navies to function with enhanced coordination during possible HADR operations. In addition, during the port visits, the fleet commander along with the commanding officers of the ships met high-ranking officials of the navy, state administration, port management, coastal security organisation, police, and other stakeholders of maritime security in the countries visited, to share professional experiences and exchange best practices in areas of mutual interest.
JIMEX 2012 The ship was deployed in the Northwest Pacific for JIMEX 2012 (Japan-India Maritime Exercise) with the four ship group, and took part in India's first bi-lateral maritime exercise with Japan. The Japanese Maritime Self-Defence Force (JMSDF) was represented by two destroyers, one maritime patrol aircraft and a helicopter.
The four ships paused at Tokyo on 5 June 2012 after visiting Singapore, Vietnam, Philippines and South Korea. The flotilla stayed in Tokyo for three days. This visit coincided with the commemoration of 60 years of diplomatic relations between India and Japan. Vice Admiral Anil Chopra, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Naval Command also visited Tokyo to witness the first JIMEX.
South-east Asia After the deployment in the North Pacific, the battle group was deployed in the South China Sea. As part of India's Look East policy, the ships visited Shanghai Port on 13 June 2012, for a five-day goodwill tour. Shakti served as the fuel and logistics tanker for the three destroyers in her group. The ships left the port on 17 June 2012, after having conducted routine passage exercises with the People's Liberation Army Navy.
After the visits to Singapore, Vietnam, Philippines, Japan, South Korea and China, the ships visited Port Klang, Malaysia. This was the last port call of the battle group, after which it returned to the Eastern Fleet of the Indian Navy, after being on a two-month-long deployment which started in May 2012.
2013 TROPEX 2013 Shakti was part of a seven-ship fleet which represented Eastern Naval Command at the Indian Navy's annual TROPEX exercise which concluded on 1 March 2013. TROPEX 2013 was a month-long theatre level exercise which was conducted off India's west coast. The navy conducted manoeuvres, weapon fire drills and tactical evaluations.
The other ships in the flotilla were the destroyer Rana, amphibious dock , corvettes , Karmuk and . The flotilla was led by the under the command of Admiral Ajith Kumar P, Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet. This flotilla made a port call at Kochi on 4 March 2013, en route to its forward deployment.
South China Sea and Western Pacific The ship was part of a four-vessel fleet on a regular operational deployment to the South China Sea and the Western Pacific during May–June 2013, after departure from India on 20 May 2013. The fleet led by Rear Admiral Ajit Kumar consisted of the stealth frigate , Rajput-class destroyer INS Ranvijay, corvette and Shakti, and carried more than 800 crew members combined. Shakti, along with Ranvijay sailed from Port Blair, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, on 21 May. They were joined by Satpura and Kirch, which arrived from Singapore after participating in a maritime exhibition and a bilateral naval exercise. The ships made a five-day port call at Malaysia's Port Klang on 25 May 2013.
The ships conducted passage exercises and practiced both conventional wartime drills and cooperative military action against unconventional sea threats with the Royal Malaysian Navy. They made further port calls at Da Nang, Vietnam and Manila, the Philippines. They returned to India by the end of June 2013. The fleet was deployed in the South China Sea and the Western Pacific from mid-May to end June to reinforce military ties with ASEAN countries, in addition to showcasing India's naval capabilities.
2014 Western Pacific In July 2014, an Indian Navy task force consisting of Ranvijay, Shivalik, and Shakti visited the Russian Pacific Fleet at Vladivostok for the Indra-2014 exercises. The Russian fleet consisted of the guided-missile cruiser , the flagship of the Pacific Fleet; the destroyer , the large landing craft Peresvet and several auxiliary ships, naval aircraft and helicopters. The exercise took place from 17 to 19 July in the Peter the Great Gulf in the Sea of Japan. The ships conducted tactical maneuvering, artillery and missile firing drills, as well as helicopter deck-landing drills.
After exercising with the Russian Navy, the task force moved to the Pacific Ocean to exercise with the Japanese and the US Navy during Malabar 2014. A carrier group centered on the aircraft carrier , and a nuclear submarine, two destroyers and one tanker represented the US Navy. The JMSDF was represented by two destroyers, the and , and US-2 amphibious warfare aircraft. The harbour phase of the drills was conducted in Sasebo, Japan. Some exercises carried out were maritime patrol, underway replenishment and liaison officer exchange and boarding.
Bay of Bengal The naval ships Ranjit, Shivalik, Shakti and were deployed by Eastern Command to transport personnel and relief material as part of the rescue and relief mission during Cyclone Hudhud, which made first landfall near Visakhapatnam.
2015
Shakti deployed with other ships of the Eastern Fleet to the Andaman & Nicobar Command, to exercise in the Andaman Sea and then deployed overseas to exercise with other navies of the region from Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia, Thailand and Australia, as part of India's Act East policy. This task force sailed under the command of Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet (FOCEF), Rear Admiral Ajendra Bahadur Singh, who commanded from Satpura. The other ships in the task force were , the then-newly commissioned anti-submarine corvette , the destroyers and INS Ranvijay and missile corvette . The ships made port calls at Jakarta (Indonesia), Fremantle (Australia), Kuantan (Malaysia), Sattahip (Thailand) and Sihanoukville (Cambodia). They exercised for four days with the Singaporean frigate RSS Supreme and submarine RSS Archer along with the fighters, patrol aircraft and helicopters of the Singaporean Navy from 24–27 May as part of the SIMBEX 2015 exercise.