INS Darshak

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INS Darshak is a hydrographic survey ship in the Indian Navy, under the Eastern Naval Command.

The Ship

Built by Goa Shipyard Limited and commissioned into the Naval service at Visakhapatnam under the command of Capt SS Karnik in 2001, Darshak is the Indian Navy's eighth hydrographic survey ship to have been indigenous designed and constructed. Incidentally, the first indigenously built survey ship of the Navy, inducted in 1964 and decommission in 1990, was also named INS Darshak.

The new Darshak is equipped with a range of surveying, navigational and communication systems. The next-generation surveying systems provided onboard include the multibeam swath echo sounding system, differential global positioning system, motion sensors, sea gravimeter, magnetometer oceanographic sensors, side scan sonars and an automated data logging system. These are designed to meet the stringent international/ISO 9002 digital survey accuracy standards required for the production of electronic navigation charts and publications.

The Darshak is powered by two diesel engines and is capable of sustained speeds. The ship's multi-role capability places her in the league of the most versatile survey vessels in the world. It can undertake a variety of tasks under trying conditions.

Archaeological Investigations

INS Darshak was used to investigate historically significant shipwrecks off the coast of Tamil Nadu. This included exploring the......
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