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The Indian Navy on Friday commissioned INS Nistar at the Naval Dockyard in Visakhapatnam.
Indigenously designed and constructed by Hindustan Shipyard Limited, Nistar is the first of two diving support vessels (DSVs) that were ordered by the Navy in 2018. Its sister ship, Nipun, was launched in 2022, and is expected to be commissioned in the near future.
Meant to support deep-sea diving and submarine rescue operations, these DSVs will enhance India’s operational preparedness in the underwater domain and reinforce the country’s strategic maritime posture across the Indian Ocean Region (IOR), the Navy said.
The original INS Nistar was a submarine rescue vessel acquired by the Indian Navy from the erstwhile Soviet Union in 1969, and commissioned in 1971. It remained in service till 1989, during which time it was the centrepiece of the Navy’s diving and submarine rescue operations.
The new Nistar will carry forward this legacy. But unlike its predecessor, it comprises more than 80% indigenous content, with about 120 MSMEs having participated in its construction. This makes Nistar the first indigenously designed and constructed diving support and submarine rescue vessel in India.
“Nistar is testimony to the growing capability and maturity of our maritime industrial base, and another shining example of Aatmanirbhar Bharat,” Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi said during the commissioning ceremony.
With a displacement of around 10,500 tonnes, length of almost 120 metres, beam of more than 20 metres, and an endurance of more than 60 days at sea, the new Nistar is also larger and more capable than its 800-tonne predecessor.
According to the Navy, Nistar’s specialised onboard diving complex has both air and saturation diving systems, which are complemented by underwater remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) and side scan SONARs. Moreover, Nistar will be the mothership of an advanced deep submergence rescue vehicle (DSRV). The Indian Navy acquired two DSRVs from the UK’s M/s James Fisher & Sons in 2018 and 2019 — one each for Nistar and Nipun.
Nistar can also carry a 15-tonne subsea crane, and support helicopter operations. Aboard Nistar is an operation theatre, an intensive care unit, and an eight-bedded hospital with hyperbaric medical facilities, all critical towards meeting the vessel’s operational roles, the Navy said.
The induction of Nistar into the Navy after the successful integration of the two DSRVs is a major milestone for India’s deep-sea capabilities.
With the Navy continuing to expand its submarine arm, it has to reckon with increased operational risks of operating in the deep sea. These risks demand a technologically capable platform for submarine rescue operations — the primary mandate of the Nistar-class vessels.
Officials told The Indian Express that Nistar is built to be both a diving support and a submarine rescue vessel, making it a strategic platform which strengthens India’s position as a net maritime security provider within the IOR and beyond.
With the induction of the two DSRVs in 2018-19, India entered a groupd of only 12 nations with these dedicated capabilities, and one of the very few possessing DSRVs that can be requisitioned by another country and airlifted for rapid international deployment during emergencies.
Until now, however, the Navy relied on commercially leased platforms for the deployment of DSRVs, limiting its instant-deployment capabilities and round-the-clock rescue readiness. Nistar (and Nipun) will change this.
The vessel’s dynamic positioning and diving support features mean that the vessel can operate autonomously in the high seas. Officials said that its high transit speed ensures rapid deployment during emergencies, drastically reducing response time in scenarios where every minute counts.
Based in Visakhapatnam, Nistar will serve as the DSRV mothership in the Eastern Seaboard, and Nipun, based in Mumbai, will serve in the Western Seaboard, completing the Navy’s dual-coast operational posture.
This arrangement guarantees simultaneous, high-readiness submarine rescue coverage across both maritime frontiers. This strategic capability would be particularly crucial in various maritime humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) operations carried out by the Navy.
Through bilateral agreements and Memorandums of Understanding with other navies, India has committed to sharing its submarine rescue expertise, and providing actual rescue support during emergencies world wide.
“It positions India as a credible first responder in undersea contingencies and amplifies its soft power through the projection of maritime goodwill,” an official told The Indian Express. The officer added that the development sends a signal that India’s growing naval capabilities are aligned with the shared security interests of its partners and neighbours.
“In a world where underwater operations are becoming more complex and risks more unpredictable, INS Nistar ensures that India not only safeguards its own interests but is also ready and equipped to serve the greater good of global maritime safety,” the official said.
