INS Ranjit: Indian Navy’s Kashin-class Destroyer to be Decommissioned After 36 Years on May 6

When the sun sets on May 6, the Naval Ensign and the Commissioning pennant will be lowered for the last time onboard INS Ranjit, symbolising end of the Ranjit era in the Indian Navy. The third of the five Kashin-class destroyers built by erstwhile USSR, INS Ranjit, is getting decommissioned at a ceremony at Naval Dockyard, Visakhapatnam, in the presence of Admiral Devendra Kumar Joshi (Retd), Lieutenant Governor Andaman & Nicobar, retired officers and sailors who served onboard the ship.

In her 36 years of glorious service to the nation, the ship has raised and groomed many admirals who even went on to become the Chiefs of Naval Staff and has been manned by 27 commissions with the last commission taking charge of the ship in June 2017. According to the official spokesperson of the Indian Navy Captain DK Sharma, in her maiden sortie, INS Ranjit ship has traversed through Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea, Red Sea and the Arabian Sea.

This frontline missile destroyer of the Indian Navy was commissioned in 1983 and has been in service in the Indian Navy for over 36 years. And was constructed at Yard 2203 in the 61 Communards shipyard in the town of Nikolev in present day Ukraine, where the keel of the ship was laid in June 1977 and she was launched in June 1979. The ship was given its Russian name “Lovkly” which means “Agile”and was commissioned in the Indian Navy as INS Ranjit on September 15, 1983 with Captain Vishnu Bhagwat at the helm, who later became the chief of the naval staff.

Says Sharma, Sharma the ship has the distinction of serving in both Western and Eastern seaboard and has been Flag Ship of both the Western and Eastern Fleets.

With a motto of Sada Rane Jayate or Ever Victorious in Battle, INS Ranjit has also been at the forefront in keeping the nation secure. In 1991-92, it took part in PASSEX with US Navy which was a precursor to the Malabar series of exercises with the US Navy.

In the many firsts, INS Ranjit also took part in the first INDRA (India-Russia) exercise with the Russian Navy in 2003 and in the first ever SAREX with PLA Navy in November 2003. In 2007 took part in the first ever Malabar exercise in the Pacific Ocean as well as the first ever INDRA series of exercises in Russian waters. During its service, the ship participated in a number of operations aimed at keeping the nation secure including IPKF operations, Op Talwar during Kargil conflict.

While it has been deployed off Mozambique in 2003 to provide security cover to the African Union Summit, it has also been actively deployed in relief operations post 2004 Tsunami and cyclone Hudhud in 2014. It has also been awarded Unit Citation in 2003-04 and 2009-10.

Source: FE

Image Courtesy: Shipspotting