All about Indian submarine INS Sindhurakshak

Zee Media Bureau/Ajith Vijay Kumar

Mumbai: INS Sindhurakshak, the Indian Navy submarine that was gutted by fire early Wednesday, is a Russian-made vessel commissioned in 1997.

The 238 ft long boat was built by Russian shipbuilding giant Sevmask; in 2010 INS Sindhurakshak (S63) had undergone a major refit at Russia's Zvezdochka shipyard.

With a top speed of knots (35 km per hour) and diving depth of 300 metres, the NATO Kilo-class submarine is armed with Russian missile system Klub-S with 200-km range, SAM launcher, active-passive homing torpedo, Indian USHUS hydro-acoustic (sonar) system and hi-tech radio communication systems.

It has a snorting range of 9,700 km and can travel upto 640 km when submerged.

The submarine can carry 52 crew members for 45 days without break.

As part of the refit, the submarine’s cooling system was modified; a new radio-locater was fitted as well.

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Besides Sindhurakshak, Zvezdochka has also refitted four other Indian submarines -- Sindhugosh (S55), Sindhudvhaj (S56), Sindhuvir (S58) and Sinduratna (S59).