According to information released by the Indian Ministry of Defense on October 31, 2021, Y 12704 Visakhapatnam, the lead ship of Project 15B stealth guided missile destroyers being built at Mazgaon Docks Limited (MDL), was delivered to the Indian Navy on October 28, 2021. The contract for four ships of Project 15B, as the Visakhapatnam class ships are known, was signed on 28 January 2011. This project is a follow-on of the Kolkata class (Project 15A) destroyers commissioned in the last decade.
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The new Visakhapatnam, the lead ship of Project 15B stealth guided missile destroyer for the Indian Navy. (Picture source India MoD)
Designed by Directorate of Naval Design, Indian Navy’s in-house design organization; and built by M/s Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd, Mumbai; the four ships are christened after major cities from all four corners of the country viz. Visakhapatnam, Mormugao, Imphal and Surat.
The keel of Visakhapatnam was laid in October 2013 and the ship was launched in April 2015. The design has largely maintained the hull form, propulsion machinery, many platform equipment and major weapons and sensors as the Kolkata class to benefit from series production.
The Visakhapatnam-class or P-15 Bravo-class are guided-missile destroyers currently being built for the Indian Navy. The ship shares similar dimensions to the previous Kolkata-class Project 15A, however the former incorporates a flush deck, a better acoustic signature, and infrared signature reduction systems.
The Visakhapatnam destroyer has a lenght of 163m, a beam of 17.4m, a draft of 6.5m and a fully loaded displacement of 8,100 tons. She is powered by a Combined Gas Turbine and Gas turbine (COGAG) propulsion system that includes two Zorya M36E gas turbines, with four DT-59 reversible gas turbines and two RG-54 gearboxes, two Bergen/GRSE KVM-diesel engines, 9,900 hp (7,400 kW) each with four MWe Wärtsilä WCM-1000 generator sets driving Cummins KTA50G3 engines and Kirloskar 1 MV AC generators. The ship able to reach a top speed of 30 knots (56 km/h) with a maximum cruising range of 4,600 nautical miles at 14 knots (26 km/h).
The overall indigenous content of the project 15B is approx. 75%. Apart from myriad indigenous equipment in the ‘Float’ and ‘Move’ categories, the destroyer is also installed with major indigenous weapons that include Medium Range Surface-to-Air Missiles (BEL, Bangalore), BrahMos Surface-to-Surface Missiles (BrahMos Aerospace, New Delhi), indigenous Torpedo Tube Launchers (Larsen & Toubro, Mumbai), Anti-Submarine Indigenous Rocket Launchers (Larsen & Toubro, Mumbai) and 76mm Super Rapid Gun Mount (BHEL, Haridwar).
