Shakti was launched with the recitation of Vedic hymns by the Warship Production Superintendent in Italy and breaking of coconut by Mrs Homai Saha, Wife of His Excellency Shri Debabrata Saha, the Indian Ambassador in Rome, who was the Chief Guest on the occasion. In accordance with the Italian tradition, a bottle of champagne was also broken at the ship’s bow by the ‘God Mother’ Mrs Homai Saha. The Controller Warship Production and Acquisition of Indian Navy, Vice Admiral NN Kumar along with senior Italian Navy, Indian Navy and MOD officials were present at the launching ceremony.
Deepak was the first of the two Fleet Tankers to be designed and built in Italy and is in advanced stage of trials and delivery to Indian Navy. The second Fleet Tanker Shakti is being constructed at the Sestre Ponente shipyard of Fincantieri, Italy using many modern and state-of-the-art ship construction methods and concepts with advanced outfitting to deliver the ship, in a challenging time frame of two years.
The Fleet Tankers will be the first warships in Indian waters made by Fincantieri , the premiere shipbuilder in Europe. The ships are in double hull configuration that provides greater safety against accidental oil spillages in accordance with latest MARPOL regulations. The first Fleet Tanker is scheduled for delivery in end 2010 in India, post completion of trials in Italy.
The trials of ‘Shakti’ will start in Dec 2010, and delivery of the ship and commissioning is scheduled in India in mid 2011, post trials in Italy.
What is beyond understanding is that L&T Shipyard is facing losses due to lack of defence proejcts whereas this italian shipyard has a contract.??
Its not like L&T Will not stick to its deadline or gieva sub standard product.
A pessimistic viewpoint but important one nonetheless..
Hope this one makes it to the blog posts. Last 10 did not make it
MOD should have assigned these projects to Indian companies so that indigenisation of products can de delivered to Indian Navy within time frame and let Indian companies flourish and grow with these deals which can help reduce cost cutting too.
Kind request to MOD to understand and let indegenized products be delivered to IN please
Don't know what to believe any more.
http://www.stratpost.com/cag-pokes-finger-at-inferior-steel-in-navy-tankers
CAG pokes finger at inferior steel in navy tankers
August 21, 2010
By Saurabh Joshi
The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India has criticized the acceptance of inferior-grade steel used in the manufacture of fleet tankers of the Indian Navy by Italian firm, Fincantieri, saying it amounted to ‘undue favor to a foreign vendor in (the) procurement of fleet tankers’.
Not just the steel, the CAG also has a problem with the ‘excess provisioning of spares worth more than INR 300 million (USD 6 million) and under realization of offset benefit to Indian industry’ in the procurement worth INR 9.36 billion (USD 200 million).
The CAG’s report says the original Request For Proposal (RFP) had a mandatory stipulation requiring the use of ‘DMR 249A or equivalent grade steel’ in the construction of two fleet tankers, which it says is ‘almost double the cost of ordinary steel’.
The report recaps, “In order to maintain its approved force levels, Indian Navy’s Ship-building Plan envisaged addition of two fleet tankers (tanker) by 2008 and 2011 respectively. Accordingly, a Request for Proposal (RFP) was issued to 12 firms in November 2005. In response to the RFP, only three firms responded, namely M/s Rosoboronexport, Russia (ROE), M/s Hyundai Heavy Industries Limited (HHIL) and M/s Fincantieri, Italy.”
It says, “Out of the three firms, only ROE offered a technical proposal for using DMR 249A/ or equivalent steel. The offer of HHIL was rejected due to noncompliance with RFP provisions which included non-usage of DMR 249A steel. Fincantieri’s proposal was stated to be compliant with the RFP conditions. However, the firm proposed to use DH 36 steel in place of DMR 249A steel.”
The justification offered by Fincantieri for selection of DH 36 grade steel to the Technical Evaluation Committee (TEC) of the Ministry of Defense included problems in sourcing DMR 249A steel, the normal use of ordinary steel for tankers and that high resilience performance of DMR 249A was not necessary for the ship.
“According to the firm’s own admission, DH 36 grade steel has less weight and less resilience when compared to DMR 249A. The chemical compositions of DH-36 grade steel and DMR 249A steel are different and they cannot be treated as equivalent to each other. The prices of these two grades of steel are also different in as much as DMR 249 A grade is more expensive than DH-36 grade steel,” says the report, adding, “Nonetheless, the TEC opined that the DH 36 steel was equivalent to DMR 249A grade steel and accepted the technical bid of Fincantieri without taking cognizance of the offer made by the other two bidders. The Technical Oversight Committee also recommended the offer of Fincantieri. Later, when the commercial bids were opened, Fincantieri emerged as L1 (lowest bid) with a quote of Rs 723 crore. The offer of ROE was rejected as it was costlier, being based upon the prices of DMR 249A / or equivalent steel.”
Check this link out. Don't know what to believe any more.
http://www.stratpost.com/cag-pokes-finger-at-inferior-steel-in-navy-tankers
For Indians, using left hand on any auspicious work is considered not holy.
Look at her, whoever is writing 'Om' on Ship is using left index finger. I guess, she is afraid of getting 'Tilak' on her right index finger.
In my personal opinion, this is ignorance. Why do you need to give that opportunity to someone who might not understand the value of it.
mathi man @ 4:59 PM
A very valid point raised by you, but perhaps it was a turnkey design n build contract n hence outsourced. May be fleet tanker design capability is not yet available in-house.
Anon @ 6:12 PM
Do not believe CAG when it comments on technical aspects. It is not within their domain/expertise. Also, do not believe in the politicians; but do believe in your defense forces and rip them apart if there is any goof up.
anon@7:07
Just exactly what I felt…
Left hand and index finger! Why give them the "honor" to inaugurate ? At least, train them with some basics, forget about the metaphysical reasons behind it, consider as cultural protocol.
Disgusting and dishonorable.
L&T shipyard was not up and running when these contracts were awarded. It would have been difficult for them to build this at Hazira.
– Manne
Praise the Defence Ministry! Thanks to their Socialist policies under Antony and Pallam, private shipyards like L & T and Pipavav, who regularly kick the PSU shipyards' backsides in commercial contracts, are left fuming as the crores they spent for the Navy's needs go wasted and MDL and GRSE continue their long monopoly over Navy contracts despite incessant delays and the Navy's own demands to give private shipyards a chance.
So to compensate for the capacity limits of the PSU shipyards we are ordering tankers from foreign PRIVATE shipyards like these. This is OK because it cannot compete directly with the almighty PSUs.
Note: This is the cue for some of the PSU lovers to bash me with their private-sector PCs and internet connections.
is it not more honrible to use your left foot?
To summarise, I have always been of the opinion that contrary to what the Navy has said India HAS the shipbuilding capacity and expertise to produce ships at the rate and quantity desired by the Indian Navy: the only problem is it's not ALLOWED TO USE IT.
Take the Project 17A frigates for instance. The Navy wants as many as 20, if possible. But since only Mazagon Docks and Garden Reach Shipbuilders have built warships in the past, only they are being allowed to do so at present by Antony and Pallam. Flimsy excuses like delays are raised, but the PSU shipyards have don't exactly have a neat track record on that front themselves. Imagine if L & T AND ABG Shipyards AND Pipavav were ALL allowed to build 3 frigates and 2 destroyers each IN ADDITION to MDL and GRSE. But the PSU shipyards refuse to entertain even the potential of competition.
anon@7:07 PM wrote:
"For Indians, using left hand on any auspicious work is considered not holy."
Are you sure? There are certain Hindu rituals (before mix-up) or Vedic cultural proceedings where one has to use the left hand. In some instances left is more auspicious than the right.
If you said "Om", discover the connection with left hand from the attributes of Lord Vishnu:
A conch shell or Shankha, named "Panchajanya", held by the upper left hand, which represents Vishnu's power to create and maintain the universe. The Panchajanya represents the five elements or Panchabhoota – water, fire, air, earth and sky or space. It also represents the five airs or Pranas that are within the body and mind. The conch symbolizes that Vishnu is the primeval Divine sound of creation and universal maintenance. it also represented as Om. In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna avatara states that of sound vibrations, 'He is Om'.
Unrelated but curious point:
A mace or Gada, named "Kaumodaki", held by the lower left hand, symbolizes Vishnu's divine power is the source all spiritual, mental and physical strength.
My respect to Mrs. Saha.
– nanovacuum (US)
So the navy has named these two italian built tankers, "Deepak" and "Shakti"
I wonder what'll happen to the current INS Deepak and INS Shakti tankers in service with IN?
we need to get someone better lookign to do this
nanovacuum @ 4:29 AM
really enjoyed your "left vs right" piece. Just goes to show how truly little knowledge can be dangerous. Also, am truly intrigued by your adopted pseudonym; rather quite like it.
thanks amigo! great post!.