Kolkata: GRSE launches fifth FPV for Coast Guard

Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) has launched a fifth Fast Patrol Vessel (FPV) for the Indian Coast Guard (ICG).

Named Kanaklata Barua after a freedom fighter from Assam, the vessel is the last of the five FPVs built by GRSE for the Coast Guard.

The entire design of the ship was developed in-house by GRSE as per the requirement of the ICG.

The ship was launched on Saturday by Veena Ajay Kumar, wife of Ajay Kumar, Secretary Defence (Production), in the presence of Rear Admiral VK Saxena (Retd), Chairman and Managing Director, GRSE and Inspector General Rajan Bargotra, Commander Coast Guard Region (North-East) among others.

The vessel is 50 metres long and 7.5 metres wide with a displacement of around 308 tonnes. It is equipped with three main engines, advanced communication and navigational systems.

Designed for a maximum speed of 34 knots, with an endurance of more than 1500 nautical miles at cruising speed of 12-16 knots, it is ideal for undertaking multifarious close-coast missions such as surveillance, interdiction, search and rescue and medical evacuation, the ICG said.

The first ship of this class-- ICGS Priyadarshini -- was commissioned on March 27 this year.