SUDARSHINI

Biography

INS Sudarshini is a sail training ship built by Goa Shipyard Ltd for the Indian Navy. The ship is a follow on class of INS Tarangini which was commissioned in 1997. “Sudarshini” means “beautiful lady Sundari” after the younger half-sister of Buddha. The ship has been designed by Colin Mudie^.

Sudarshini is a three-masted barque. It is 54 metres long and has 20 sails, 7.5 km of rope and 1.5 km of steel wire rope. Her sails have a total area of approximately 1,035 square metres (11,140 sq ft). Capable of operations under sail or power, and with a complement of 5 officers, 31 sailors with 30 cadets embarked for training, she can remain at sea for at least 20 days at a time.

Sudarshini‘s steel hull was laid on 25 January 2011 on the West Coast of India at the port town of Vasco da Gama, Goa, and by then the major portion of work had been completed. It was commissioned into the Indian Navy on 27 January 2012 by Vice Admiral K.N. Sushil, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Southern Naval Command. Built for worldwide operations, it will be used as a basic seamanship and character building platform.

She recently completed a 127 day voyage, visiting 13 ports in the nine countries forming the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), namely Brunei, Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore, Myanmar, Lao PDR, Vietnam and the Philippines.  She trained 150 cadets during the voyage which retraced a centuries’ old trade route used by erstwhile traders, and was warmly received at all ports, with wide media publicity.

Further information:  www.aseanindia.com/navy.