Three vessels join Navy to protect offshore assets

Visakhapatnam: Three support vessels – IN ISV T38, IN ISV T39 and IN ISV T40 – joined the 84th ISV Squadron of the Indian Navy in the Eastern Naval Command. The second batch of the three ISVs was commissioned by Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Eastern Naval Command Vice Admiral Satish Soni at a ceremony held in the Naval Dockyard here on Tuesday.

Now the Eastern Naval Command has its full complement of six ISVs. The project is a joint collaboration between Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, the ship builders and the Indian Navy. The ISVs would be based at Visakhapatnam and by turn two ISVs would be patrolling the nation’s assets in Offshore Development Area off Kakinada, Vice Admiral Satish Soni said. “We are proud of our partnership with the ONGC and the Navy would do everything to protect the nation’s assets,” he said in his speech.

Thanking the ONGC for the partnership, the C-in-C requested the oil exploration major to continue its support in maintenance of the six vessels in the squadron. “The three ISVs are in addition to the first batch of ISVs commissioned on June 4, 2014 and will constitute the 84th Immediate Support Vessel Squadron based at Visakhapatnam,” said Satish Soni.

“Two ISVs have been built by Rodman Spain and one has been built by the Abu Dhabi Ship Builders Congratulating the commanding officers of the three vessels – Lt Shobhit Saxena, Lt Jai Kishore and Lt Vaibhav Bhardwaj – the Vice Admiral asked the crew to exhibit exemplary behaviour as they would be setting the traditions for the ships.