INS Ranjit (D53)

INS Ranjit is the third of the five Rajput-class destroyer built for the Indian Navy. Ranjit was commissioned on 15 September 1983 and remained in service till 6 May 2019, when it was decommissioned.[2]

For other ships with the same name, see INS Ranjit.

INS Ranjit
History
India
NameRanjit
Builder61 Kommunara Shipbuilding Plant
Launched16 June 1979
Commissioned24 November 1983
Decommissioned6 May 2019
HomeportVisakhapatnam
Identification
FateSunk during TROPEX-21
General characteristics
Class and typeRajput-class destroyer
Displacement
  • 3,950 tons standard,
  • 4,974 tons full load
Length147 m (482 ft)
Beam15.8 m (52 ft)
Draught5 m (16 ft)
Propulsion4 x gas turbine engines; 2 shafts, 72,000 hp (54,000 kW)
Speed35 knots (65 km/h)
Range
  • 4,000 mi (6,400 km) at 18 knots (33 km/h)
  • 2,600 miles (4,200 km) at 30 knots (56 km/h)
Complement320 (including 35 officers)
Sensors and
processing systems
  • Navigation: 2 x Volga (NATO: Don Kay) radar at I-band frequency,
  • Air: 1 x MP-500 Kliver (NATO: Big Net-A) radar at C-band or 1 x Bharat RAWL (Dutch Signaal LW08) radar at D-band (installed on INS Ranjit),
  • Air/Surface: 1 x MR-310U Angara (NATO: Head Net-C) radar at E-band, replaced by 1 x EL/M-2238 STAR[1]
  • Communication: Inmarsat,
  • Sonar: 1 x hull mounted Vycheda MG-311 (NATO: Wolf Paw) sonar replaced with Bharat HUMSA during MLR, 1 x Vyega MG-325 (NATO: Mare Tail) variable depth sonar
Armament
Aircraft carried1 x HAL Chetak helicopter

Construction and service

Ranjit was laid down by Indian request under the Soviet name Lovkiy at the 61 Kommunara Shipbuilding Plant in Nikolayev, Ukraine on 29 June 1977 with the serial number 2203. She had previously been planned to be named Porazhayushchy on 16 May of that year, and was built as a Project 61MZ large anti-submarine ship (NATO reporting name Kashin-class destroyer). The destroyer was launched on 16 June 1979 and added to the list of ships of the Soviet Navy on 30 October 1981.[3]

She was commissioned on 15 September 1983 in the erstwhile USSR with then Captain Vishnu Bhagwat in command. She completed post commissioning trials and set sail from Poti in USSR on 14 November 1983 and entered Mumbai on 22 Dec 1983. She visited ports in Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Egypt during her maiden voyage to India. She joined the Western Fleet and operated under the Flag of FOCWF till April 1999. In May 1999, she changed her home port to Vishakhapatnam to become a part of the Eastern Fleet.[4]

INS Ranjit was decommissioned at the naval dockyard in Visakhapatnam on 6 May 2019 after serving for 36 years.[5] Her last commanding officer was Captain Vikram C Mehra.[2]

During TROPEX-21 exercise of the Indian Navy, the decommissioned Ranjit was sunk by a torpedo.[6][7]

References
  1. Friedman, Norman (2006). The Naval Institute guide to world naval weapon systems (5th ed.). Annapolis, Md: Naval Institute. p. 243. ISBN 1557502625.
  2. "INS Ranjit Sails into Sunset Culminating 36 years of Glorious Era". PIB. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
  3. Releases, DP Press (3 May 2019). "Indian Navy to Decommission Its Rajput-Class Destroyer, INS Ranjit, on May 6". DefPost. Archived from the original on 8 May 2019. Retrieved 13 April 2020.
  4. Lt Cdr Phani, Venkata. "JEET JEET RANJIT - The beginning of the end of an Era" (PDF). Quarterdeck 2019. Directorate of Ex-Servicemen Affairs, Indian Navy, Government of India. 2019: 50–53.
  5. "INS Ranjit Decommissioned". ZEE News. ZEE News. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
  6. Indian Navy's Combat-Readiness Exercise Tropex-21 Underway In Indian Ocean Region. Republic TV. 10 February 2021. Archived from the original on 19 December 2021. Retrieved 13 February 2021.
  7. "Theatre Level Operational Readiness Exercise (TROPEX 21) Indian Navy's Largest War Game". Indian Navy. Retrieved 13 February 2021.

Bibliography
  • Berezhnoy, S.S. (January 1995). "Советский ВМФ 1945-1995: крейсера, большие противолодочные корабли, эсминцы" [Soviet Navy, 1945–1995: Cruisers, large anti-submarine ships, and destroyers]. Морская коллекция [Morskaya kollektsiya] (in Russian) (1). OCLC 831205953.
INS Ranjit
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