INS Jamuna (J16)

INS Jamuna (J16) is a hydrographic survey ship in the Indian Navy, under the Southern Naval Command. Jamuna is equipped with a helicopter, a Bofors 40 mm gun, four survey motor boats, and two small boats. The ship has the distinction of being associated with relief work in the wake of the Gujarat earthquake, Tsunami 2004, as well as Operation Vijay during the Kargil war. Jamuna was also awarded a Mention in Dispatches.[2]

INS Jamuna in the foreground
History
India
Name: INS Jamuna
Builder: Garden reach shipbuilders & Engineers
Launched: 4 September 1989
Commissioned: 31 August 1991
Identification:
Status: in active service
Badge:
General characteristics [1]
Type: Hydrographic survey ship
Displacement: 1,929 long tons (1,960 t) full
Length: 87.8 m (288 ft 1 in)
Beam: 12.8 m (42 ft 0 in)
Draft: 3.3 m (10 ft 10 in)
Speed: 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph)
Range:
  • 6,000 nmi (11,000 km; 6,900 mi) at 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph)
  • 14,000 nmi (26,000 km; 16,000 mi) at 10 kn (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement: 18 officers + 160 enlisted
Armament: 1 × Bofors 40 mm gun
Aircraft carried: 1 × HAL Chetak helicopter
Aviation facilities: Helipad

Ship history

Built by Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers and commissioned into the Naval service at Kochi in 1991, Jamuna is the Indian Navy's third hydrographic survey ship of the Sandhayak-class survey ships to have been indigenously designed and constructed. The ship is the namesake of HMIS Jumna, a Black Swan-class sloop, which served in the Royal Indian Navy (RIN) during World War II.

The new Jamuna is equipped with a range of surveying, navigational and communication systems. The next-generation surveying systems provided onboard include the multi-beam swath echo sounding system, differential global positioning system, motion sensors, sea gravimeter, magnetometer oceanographic sensors, side scan sonars, and an automated data logging system. These are designed to meet the stringent international/ISO 9002 digital survey accuracy standards required for the production of electronic navigation charts and publications as laid down by the International Hydrographic Organisation.

The primary tasks of INS Jamuna include hydrographic surveys, nautical chart preparation, cartography, and training. The ship is also equipped with ROV, AUV and USV, similar to other sister ships of the Sandhayak class. Jamuna is powered by two diesel engines and is capable of sustained speeds. The ship is one of the most versatile survey vessels in the world. It can undertake a variety of tasks under trying conditions. After the tsunami of 2004, INS Jamuna undertook relief operations for the people of Sri Lanka when it was converted into a hospital ship.[3]

Search for INS Khukri

INS Jamuna was instrumental in locating the wreckage of INS Khukri (F149), a British Type 14 (Blackwood-class) frigate of the Indian Navy, which was the first warship sunk in action by a submarine since World War II. The ship sunk off the coast of Diu, Gujarat, India by the Pakistan Navy Daphné-class submarine PNS Hangor on 9 December 1971 during the Indo-Pakistani War. Furthermore, it also remains the post-Independence era Indian Navy's only warship to be lost in war to date.[4][5]

Between 4 February and 6 February 2009, INS Jamuna was dispatched to search for Khukri. The survey ship deployed its side scan sonar, to take a picture of the bottom of the sea. One of the images obtained was of a large silt-covered hump on the seabed. This was located 80 metres (260 ft) below the sea surface and close to Khukri's last reported position. Jamuna's magnetometer also confirmed the presence of steel inside this hump. The object was nearly 300 feet (91 m) long, had a north-east-southwest orientation and seemed to be sitting on its keel with its mast sticking out of the silt, confirming that it was the sunken ship.[6]

Survey work

In 2013, INS Jamuna conducted a hydrographic survey off the Kenya coastline on the request of the Kenyan government to survey Manda Bay and Kiwaiyu Bay. Subsequently, the "first updated navigational charts" of the areas were presented to Kenyan authorities in 2014 by the Chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral RK Dhowan.[7][8] The ship also conducted a hydrographic survey off the Dar es Salaam port in Tanzania.[9]

Ship upgrade

INS Jamuna is set for refit/upgrade by Reliance Defence and Engineering as part of the Rs 300 crores, 3 naval warship refit deal the company won in 2016. The refit is to be carried out at a facility at Pipavav in Gujarat. Apart from INS Jamuna, the two other warships to be refit are fleet tanker INS Deepak and offshore patrol vessel INS Savitri. The refit work is expected to be completed by April 2017.[10]

References
  1. "J 16 Sandhayak Class". globalsecurity.org. 2012. Retrieved 24 February 2012.
  2. "Mangalore: Excited Locals Throng NMPT to View Anchored Ships, Return Disappointed".
  3. "Navy continues salvage operations".
  4. "The warship's sunken secret".
  5. "Indian Navy's story of supreme valour : Remembering Captain M N Mulla and his ship INS Khukri". Archived from the original on 13 March 2012.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  6. "The warship's sunken secret".
  7. "NATIONAL REPORT TO REGIONAL HYDROGRAPHIC COMMISSION" (PDF).
  8. "from-india-to-kenya-updated-navigational-chart-courtesy-survey-ship-ins-jamuna".
  9. "TPDF, Indian navy survey Dar port".
  10. "Reliance Defence Bags Rs 300 Crore Naval Warship Refit Contract".
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