Indian Navy Retires INS Astravahini

In a ceremony held at the Ship Building Centre (V) on 16 July 2015, Indian Navy’s INS Astravahini, an indigenously built Torpedo Launch and Recovery Vessel was decommissioned.

The ceremony commenced with a guard of honour and culminated in hauling down of Naval Ensign for the last time at sunset.

An auxiliary vessel of the TLRV (torpedo launching and recovery) class, the ship was ordered to be built by NSTL in October 1981 for Defence Research and Development Activities. The Ship was commissioned on November 5, 1984 at Visakhapatnam and decommissioned after serving the nation for almost 31 years.

The only one of its class, the ship was extensively used by NSTL as a test platform to launch and recover experimental torpedoes prior to their induction into the Navy.

Image: Indian Navy