First indigenously designed, constructed diving support vessel ‘Nistar’ delivered to Indian Navy

INS Nistar, India’s first home-built diving support vessel, has been delivered to the Navy. Designed for deep-sea rescue and submarine emergencies, it supports missions up to 1000 meters and is a major step under ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ in naval defence

New Delhi: Nistar, the first indigenously constructed diving support vessel that is highly specialised and can undertake deep-sea diving and rescue operations, has been delivered to the Indian Navy, officials said on Wednesday.

The ship will also serve as the ‘Mother Ship’ for Deep Submergence Rescue Vessel (DSRV) to rescue and evacuate personnel in case of an emergency in a submarine underwater, they said.

“Nistar, the first indigenously designed and constructed Diving Support Vessel, was delivered by Hindustan Shipyard Limited to the Indian Navy on July 8 at Visakhapatnam,” a Navy spokesperson said.

The ship is highly specialised and can undertake deep-sea diving and rescue operations — a capability with select navies across the globe, he said. The warship has been designed and built as per classification rules of the Indian Register of Shipping (IRS).

The name ‘Nistar’ originates from Sanskrit and it means liberation, rescue or salvation. The ship, measuring 118 m with a tonnage of nearly 10,000 tonnes, is installed with state-of-the-art diving equipment and has the capability to undertake deep-sea saturation diving up to 300 m depth, the spokesperson said.

The ship also has a side diving stage for undertaking diving operations up to 75 m depth. It is equipped with a combination of remotely operated vehicles to undertake diver monitoring and salvage operations up to a depth of 1000 m, the Navy spokesperson said.

The delivery of Nistar’ with nearly 75 per cent indigenous content is yet another milestone in the Indian Navy’s quest for indigenous construction, and is in line with the government of India’s vision of ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ and the ‘Make in India‘ campaign, he said.