200 Million Liter Seawater can be Drained in Just 2.5 Hours — All About Navy’s Swanky Aircraft Carrier Dry Dock

New Delhi: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will be commissioning the second Kalvari class submarine INS Khanderi on Saturday. And while INS Kalvari is likely to grab the limelight for being a stealthy addition to Indian Navy’s sub-surface fleet, what is equally significant is the inauguration of the aircraft carrier dry dock meant to service Navy’s mighty aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya.

The mammoth dock will facilitate the much needed underwater repairs quickly and efficiently. Touted as the ‘edifice of modern India’ by the Indian Navy, the gigantic dry dock has been constructed over 40 lakh man days. According to a video released by the Navy, the megastructure has been constructed using 80,000 metric tons of steel — equivalent to that used to build the Eiffel tower.

Five lakh tonnes of concrete used for the construction of the dry dock is 1.5 times the quantity of cement used for building Mumbai’s iconic Bandra-Worli sea link. Interestingly, both the structures have been built by the Hindustan Construction Company (HCC).

When flooded, the dock can accommodate 200 million litres of seawater. According to reports, 2.23 lakh ton silt was removed from the dock — enough to construct 90 football fields. Interestingly, the state of the art facility is equipped to drain the 200 million litres of water within 2.5 hours.

The dock will facilitate the maintenance of India’s aircraft carriers — currently INS Vikramaditya — and the other ones which will be commissioned in due course of time along with other surface ships such as destroyers and frigates.

Source:TNN

Image Courtesy: The Indian Express