On 8 July the Indian Navy commissioned INS Nistar. She is the Navy’s first indigenously designed and constructed Diving Support Vessel with a local material content of about 75%. The ship’s name, ‘Nistar’ in Sanskrit means liberation, rescue or salvation.
Nistar was built by Hindustan Shipyard Limited and was designed and built as per classification rules of the Indian Register of Shipping. The ship is 118m in length with a tonnage of nearly 10,000 tonnes. The second and final ship in the class, the Nipun, is in the course of fitting out in Mumbai.
Nistar can undertake deep sea diving and rescue operations.and has the capability to undertake deep sea saturation diving up to 300m in depth. She has a side diving stage for undertaking diving operations down to 75m. The ship will also serve as the ‘Mother Ship’ for two Deep Submergence Rescue Vessel (DSRV) to rescue and evacuate personnel, in case of an emergency in a submarine underwater. Nistar is also equipped with two Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) to undertake diver monitoring and salvage operations down to a depth of 1000m. A helicopter deck is fitted forward of the bridge.
Source: IN
