NE NEWS SERVICE
VISAKHAPATNAM, MAY 22
INS Rajput, the first destroyer of the Indian Navy, was decommissioned at Naval Dockyard here on Friday after serving the country for 41 years. The decommissioning was done in a low-key ceremony. The National Flag, naval ensign and the decommissioning pennant were lowered in the presence of Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Naval Command Vice Admiral Ajendra Bahadur Singh.Ajendra Bahadur Singh also released a special postal cover to mark the occasion. INS Rajput, the lead ship of the Kashin-class destroyers built by the erstwhile USSR, was commissioned on May 4, 1980, says a Defence release.
Video Clip of the Decommissioning Ceremony
Courtesy @indiannavy @dprohyd pic.twitter.com/5Al6vXClt8
— PRO Defence Gujarat (@DefencePRO_Guj) May 22, 2021
It was built at the 61 Communards Shipyard in Nikolaev (now in Ukraine) under original Russian name ‘Nadezhny’ meaning ‘Hope’. The keel of the ship was laid on September 11 in 1976 and she was commissioned on September 17, 1977. The ship was commissioned as INS Rajput on May 4, 1980 at Poti in Georgia by then Ambassador of India to USSR IK Gujral.Captain Gulab Mohanlal Hiranandani was its first Commanding Officer. Over its four decades of glorious service to the nation, the ship had the distinction of serving in both Western and Eastern Fleets. Rajput was based in Mumbai till June 1988 and thereafter it was rebased at Visakhapatnam as part of the Eastern Fleet.
Indian Navy’s first destroyer INS Rajput was decommissioned at Naval Dockyard Visakhapatnam after serving nation for 41 glorious years on Friday, 21 May 21. Ship was decommissioned in a solemn & low key event due to COVID Pandemic@indiannavy @shripadynaik @IDSAIndia @PIB_India pic.twitter.com/BSpGY26NPV
— PRO Defence Gujarat (@DefencePRO_Guj) May 22, 2021
Endowed with menacing looks, the ship was equipped with an array of weapons and sensors which included, surface-to-surface missiles, surface-to-air missiles, anti-aircraft guns, torpedoes, and anti-submarine rocket launchers. INS Rajput was also the first ship to be fitted out to fire the supersonic cruise and long-range BrahMos missile. She was also the first Indian Naval ship to get affiliated with an Indian Army Regiment ‘the Rajput Regiment’.
Apart from participating in various naval operations like Op Pawan, Operation Aman, Operation Cactus, and various multinational exercises, the ship was a flag bearer of the Indian Navy’s benign role by participating in various relief operations which include cyclone relief operations off Odisha Coast in 1999, relief operations post Tsunami in Andaman & Nicobar Islands in 2004 and HADR mission after the earthquake at Jakarta.
In her glorious service to the nation, the ship has been helmed by 31 Commanding Officers. The ship since its commissioning has sailed a distance of over 7,87,194 nautical miles which is equivalent to navigating around the world 36.5 times and 3.8 times the distance from Earth to Moon.
The decommissioning ceremony was attended by very few officers and sailors from the Eastern Fleet and other organisations of ENC whilst adhering to the COVID protocols. The event was live-streamed on the internet and Naval intranet for the benefit of a larger audience viz., serving personnel, veterans, and outstation ex-crew who had served onboard the ship. The virtual attendees included Vice Adm Atul Kumar Jain, Chief of Integrated Defence Staff to the Chairman Chiefs of Staff Committee, former Commanding Officers and, Officers and Sailors of the Commissioning Crew.
