Frigate Keel laid at GRSE .

Kolkata, 29 January (HS): Vice Admiral G Ashok Kumar,  Vice Chief of Naval Staff  today ceremonially laid the  ‘Keel’ of the second of the advanced stealth frigates (P17A) for the Indian Navy at a colorful function at the dockyard of the public sector Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Limited (GRSE) here in presence of Rear Admiral GK Harish, Director-General Naval Design and several other dignitaries.

GRSE which has received the order from the Indian Navy for three such advanced stealth frigates, to be delivered by 2024, has already handed over the first such vessel last year, built at a cost of several hundred crores of rupees with mostly indigenous technology.

Speaking on the occasion Vice Admiral Kumar said these ships were state-of-the-art guided missile frigates with a displacement of 6670 tonnes and a length of 149 meters. These ships were built using the Integrated Construction methodology to reduce construction time, he said adding they were named after the prestigious first major warships ever built in India’.