Shreyash Jadhav asked: What does the number 75 represent in Project 75 of the Indian Navy? Also, what does the term 'class' mean when a ship, for instance, is called Kolkata Class?

Abhay Kumar Singh replies: During the developmental stage of a ship or a submarine, specific projects are generally assigned a numerical character as a unique identifier to the project. The number 75 in Project 75 refers to such unique identifier which was assigned to a programme for series production of submarines in India. Based on the specifications drawn for Project 75, the Scorpene class submarine from France, chosen under the project, is being constructed at the Mazagon Dock Limited (MDL) in Mumbai. Two submarines of Project 75, i.e., INS Kalvari and INS Khanderi, have already been commissioned and four other submarines (Karanj, Vela, Vagir and Vagsheer) are in various stages of trials and construction.

In a series production of the warship construction project, all ships/submarines of the series have common design characteristics and capabilities. The first ship of the serial construction project provides a class name to all warships in the project for common reference. The term ‘class’ in the Kolkata Class refers to a series of warships constructed under Project 15A which includes Indian naval ships INS Kolkata, INS Kochi and INS Chennai. Similarly, all six submarines constructed under Project 75 are referred to as Kalvari Class of submarines.

Other examples of project and class references of Indian Naval Ships are as:

• Project 15 Destroyers – Delhi Class (Delhi, Mysore, and Mumbai)
• Project 16 Frigates – Godavari Class (Godavari, Ganga and Gomti)
• Project 16A Frigates – Brahmaputra Class (Brahmaputra, Betwa and Beas)
• Project 17 Stealth Frigates – Shivalik Class (Shivalik, Sahyadri and Satpura)
• Project 28 Anti-Submarine Corvettes – Kamorta Class (Kamorta, Kadmatt, Kiltan and Kavaratti)

Posted on March 25, 2020

Views expressed are of the expert and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Manohar Parrikar IDSA or the Government of India.