The second ship of the Project 15B, a guided missile destroyer christened 'Mormugao' for Indian Navy, will be launched here on September 17.
The first ship of the project, guided-missile destroyer 'Visakhapatnam', was launched on April 20 last year.
"On Saturday, Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd (MDL) will be launching the second ship of the Project 15B, i.E. Visakhapatnam Class ships. The second ship is being named as Mormugao and will be launched ahead of schedule," a Defence spokesperson said today.
"During the launching ceremony, the hull of the ship, which is constructed on dry area, is floated on water for the first time. It is a milestone event for any vessel," the spokesperson said in a statement here.
"The last six years can be called the golden years of Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders. Since 2010, the yard has delivered one major warship platform to Indian Navy almost every year.
"Commencing with the high-end stealth frigate INS Shivalik, delivered in 2010, the yard dedicated to the nation INS Satpura and INS Sahyadri in the same class.
"This was followed by the highly acclaimed stealth destroyer INS Kolkata sporting a unique silhouette afforded by MF STAR antenna and INS Kochi in subsequent years. The third and last destroyer in this series, Chennai was delivered to the Navy in August 2016 and will be commissioned shortly," it said.
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Admiral Sunil Lanba, Chief of Naval Staff will be the chief guest for the September 17 function.
"Today, with P15A class guided missile destroyers (Kolkata class) achieving very high level of technology and capability, Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited is also constructing four follow-on destroyers, christened as P-15B.
"Detailed design of the futuristic stealth frigates, P17A is currently in progress with. Work on this will commence in early 2017. This will be the first time MDL will be using the integrated construction methodology by leveraging the new infrastructure in the yard.
"This will be a paradigm shift in the way ships will be built in India in the years to come," the spokesperson said.
MDL is also constructing six Scorpene class submarines for the Indian Navy under a transfer of technology from DCNS of France. The first boat in this class, Kalvari, will be commissioned into the fleet soon. The launch of the second boat is slated later this year.
The yard is now ready with the augmented facility created recently for a second line of submarines.
For the first time in its history, Mazagon Dock in 2015-16 achieved a value of production (VOP) above Rs 4,000 crore with an operating profit of Rs 218 crore.
