INS Mangrol commissioned into the Indian Navy on Monday at the Naval Dockyard in Mumbai, becoming the third Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Craft (ASW-SWC) built by Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL), Kochi, to join the fleet.

The ship is built to find and hunt submarines in shallow coastal waters, where larger warships find it harder to operate.

Vice Admiral Sanjay Sadhu, Controller of Warship Production and Acquisition, linked the induction to recent events at sea. "The continuing conflict in West Asia and the recent attacks on commercial shipping around the Strait of Hormuz have reminded the country like never before that maritime security is energy security, and energy security is national security," he said.

He added that this had reinforced the need for a capable, vigilant and self-reliant Navy, backed by a strong Indian warship-building base.

INS Mangrol commissioned with over 80 percent Indian content

Vice Admiral Sanjay Vatsayan, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Naval Command, presided over the ceremony, which the Navy had announced last week. Addressing the gathering, he said the ship's indigenous content of more than 80 percent showed India's engineering capability, technological progress and national resolve.

Senior naval and defence officials attended, along with representatives of the Ministry of Defence and CSL, veterans, and the Indian firms that supply the ship's weapons and sensors.

Vice Admiral Sadhu, commissioned in 1987, took charge as Controller of Warship Production and Acquisition on 28 November 2025. He earlier served as Chief Staff Officer (Technical), Western Naval Command, and as Additional General Manager (Production) at the Naval Dockyard, Mumbai, the same yard where Monday's ceremony was held. He was also involved in the acquisition of the aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya from Russia.

Vice Admiral Sadhu traced the ship back to a long national effort. "The Indian Navy, backed by the Government of India, embarked decades ago on a mission to build warships in India, with ships designed by our own naval design bureaus and constructed at our own shipyards," he said.

Sonars, torpedoes and rockets for coastal anti-submarine work

The ship carries advanced sonars, torpedoes and anti-submarine rockets to track and attack submarines in coastal waters. It can also lay mines.

Beyond anti-submarine warfare, the vessel is fitted for underwater surveillance, search and rescue, and Low Intensity Maritime Operations (LIMO), according to the Indian Navy. Published details of the class put its length at around 78 metres and its draught at around 2.7 metres, with the ship meant to operate up to around 200 nautical miles from the coast. Diesel engines drive waterjets, which let the craft work in shallow and confined waters. Its sensors include the DRDO-developed Abhay hull-mounted sonar and a low-frequency variable-depth sonar towed behind the ship. The weapons fit includes an RBU-6000 anti-submarine rocket launcher, triple launchers for the Advanced Light Weight Torpedo, and a 30 mm naval gun.

Key systems come from Indian suppliers, including Bharat Electronics Limited, L&T Defence, Mahindra Defence Systems and the Naval Physical and Oceanographic Laboratory, along with smaller firms.

Delivered at Kochi in August

CSL delivered the ship to the Navy on 21 August 2026 at its Kochi yard. The delivery protocol was signed by Dr Harikrishnan S, Director (Operations), CSL, and Commander U Sharan Kumar, named as the ship's Commanding Officer (Designate), in the presence of CSL Chairman and Managing Director Jose VJ. Her keel had been laid on 21 February 2023. The ship was designed and built to the classification rules of Det Norske Veritas (DNV).

Third of eight Mahe class ships from Cochin Shipyard

The Ministry of Defence signed the contract with CSL for eight ASW-SWCs on 30 April 2019. The Navy has ordered 16 ASW-SWCs in all, split between CSL and Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers, Kolkata. Mahe is the lead ship of the CSL class.

Malvan, the second, was delivered on 31 March 2026 and commissioned on 22 July at Karwar, the first Indian naval ship ever commissioned there. With INS Mangrol commissioned, five more ships remain at various stages of construction in Kochi. Four of them carry the names Malpe, Mulki, Magdala and Machilipatnam. The keel of the eighth and last ship was laid on 29 May 2025.

The class is named after ports along India's coast.

Named after a Gujarat fishing harbour

Mangrol is a coastal town and fishing harbour in Gujarat's Junagadh district, on the Saurashtra coast facing the Arabian Sea. Its port supports fishing and local maritime trade.

The new ship carries forward the name of the earlier INS Mangrol (M85), a minesweeper that served the Navy until 7 April 2004, when she was decommissioned at Kochi. Built in the Soviet Union and commissioned in 1983, the earlier Mangrol was used for inshore minesweeping, harbour defence and coastal patrol. She covered close to 55,000 nautical miles in nearly 21 years of service.