1
The Indian Navy’s first Fleet Support Ship entered the Bay of Bengal on Tuesday after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh launched it at Hindustan Shipyard Limited (HSL) in Visakhapatnam.
On his first visit to the shipyard, Singh also laid the keel of the fifth ship of the class and inaugurated an upgraded slipway and a 300-tonne crane.
“With the upgraded Slipway and 300-tonne Goliath Crane, HSL is ready to build larger, more complex ships,” Singh told the gathering. “The launch of FSS-1 and keel laying of FSS-5 show Aatmanirbharta taking shape in steel, extending our Navy’s reach across the Indian Ocean.”
A ship that keeps other ships at sea
FSS-1 is the first of five Fleet Support Ships that HSL is building for the Navy. It was launched 18 months after its steel was first cut.
The 43,500-tonne ships will refuel and resupply warships at sea. This lets the fleet stay out longer and operate farther from home across the Indian Ocean Region.
HSL designed and built the ship in India. The class has enhanced capacity for cargo and fluids, onboard maintenance workshops, a deck for multi-role helicopters, and self-defence systems.
Laila Swaminathan, President of the Navy Wives Wellness Association, performed the traditional honours and named the ship. It then entered the water to cheers from the gathering.
Laying the keel of FSS-5 moves the five-ship programme towards series production, HSL said.
Room to build bigger ships
The upgraded Slipway-4 is longer and can bear heavier loads than before. HSL can now build and launch ships of up to 45,000 deadweight tonnes (DWT).
The 300-tonne Goliath Crane spans Slipways 3 and 4. L&T Geostructure designed and manufactured it with Konecranes under the Make in India initiative, according to the press note.
The crane has programmable controls, remote diagnostics and condition monitoring, and can lift in tandem. HSL said this allows heavier sections of a ship to be handled faster and with more precision.
What the minister and the shipyard said
Singh described the shipyard as a pillar of India’s maritime strength. He said every ship leaving HSL carries not just a name on its hull, but the name of Hindustan itself.
“Andhra Pradesh is poised to be a principal architect of India’s maritime future, and today we laid its keel,” he said.
Rear Admiral C Raghuram (Retd.), Chairman and Managing Director of HSL, called the visit “a moment of immense pride and inspiration for every member of HSL”.
“Today’s milestones reflect the dedication of our employees, the trust of the Indian Navy and the support of our business partners,” Raghuram said. He added that HSL “stands ready to deliver next-generation ships for the nation and for the world”.
Admiral Krishna Swaminathan, Chief of the Naval Staff, attended the events. So did Sribharat Mathukumilli, Member of Parliament for Visakhapatnam, and Sanjeev Kumar, Secretary (Defence Production).
Fifteen months of milestones
The launch comes five weeks after the Navy commissioned INS Nipun, a Diving Support Vessel built by HSL, on 30 August. The first vessel of the type, INS Nistar, was commissioned in July 2025.
HSL describes Nistar as India’s first indigenously designed and built Diving Support Vessel, with more than 80 per cent indigenous content.
The shipyard also reported its best-ever year in 2025–26. Value of production reached ₹1,969 crore, up 34 per cent, and total income rose 29 per cent to ₹2,295 crore. Profit before tax was ₹479.47 crore.
Founded in 1941, HSL is a Miniratna Category-I Defence Public Sector Undertaking under the Ministry of Defence. In 1948 it launched Jala Usha, the first ship built by independent India.
