Missile specialist to navigation expert: The crew of country's latest destroyer

The spanking new and highly capable guided missile destroyer ÎNS Imphal will enable the Indian Navy to confront challenges in distant seas, including China's carefully calculated power play for influence in the Indo-Pacific, defending the rules-based international order, the Arabian Sea emerging as a new front with Red Sea tensions escalating and counterpiracy in the Gulf of Aden, officials aware of the matter said.

- Rahul Singh

Its sister ship, INS Mormugao, is among the five frontline warships that the navy has deployed in the Arabian Sea in the face of rising threats, including the recent attacks on two Indiabound merchant vessels (MV) by Iran-backed Houthi rebels and the resurgence of piracy, the officials said.

That the navy will play a critical role in the region was amply evident when defence minister Rajnath Singh on December 26 warned those behind the attacks on MV Chem Pluto and MV Saibaba, saying India "will hunt them down even from the depths of the ocean".

In response to these incidents, the navy has "substantially enhanced" the surveillance effort in central and northern Arabian Sea and augmented force levels, the navy said in a statement on Sunday.

"Task groups comprising destroyers and frigates have been deployed to undertake maritime security operations and render assistance to merchant vessels in case of any incident. Aerial surveillance has been enhanced too," it added.

INS Imphal and INS Mormugao have been built under the ₹35,000-crore Project-15B class of four guided missile destroyers. INS Visakhapatnam and INS Mormugao were commissioned into service in 2021 and 2022, and Surat, the fourth one, is under construction at the Mumbai-based Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd and is expected to join the naval fleet next year.

As INS Imphal prepares for operational deployment to further boost the navy's readiness in the vast strategic expanse, HT gets you upclose with the crew whose job is to ensure that the destroyer is battle ready at all times.

Captain Kamal Kumar Choudhury, Commanding Officer