1. Aircraft Carrier: An aircraft carrier is a warship with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers allow a naval force to project airpower worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations. Thus aircrafts can be flown from the sea. India’s Possession: Centaur-class aircraft carrier INS Viraat, Modified Kiev-class Aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya, and two Vikrant Class carriers. One is in service.
2. Submarines: A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. Submarines are especially used to infiltrate enemy sea without being detected and destroy the major ships of the enemies. Indian Navy basically has two types of submarines, Attack Submarines and Ballistic Missile Submarine. They can be conventionally (diesel-electric) powered or Nuclear Powered. Attack Submarines or hunter-killer submarine is a submarine specifically designed for the purpose of attacking and sinking other submarines, surface combatants and merchant vessels. They are also used to protect friendly surface combatants and missile submarines. Some attack subs are also armed with cruise missiles mounted in vertical launch tubes, increasing the scope of their potential missions to include land targets. A ballistic missile submarine is a submarine equipped to launch submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) with nuclear warheads. Virtually all ballistic missile submarines are nuclear powered and are therefore nuclear submarines. India’s Possession: Attack Submarine: Chakra (Akula II)-class, Sindhughosh-class, and Shishumar-class submarines, out of which the first one is nuclear powered and other two are conventionally powered. India has Arihant class ballistic missile submarine which is nuclear powered. Totally 14 submarines are in service.
3. Destroyer: A destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. India’s Possession: India owns three classes of Guided Missile Destroyers which are Rajput, Delhi, and Kolkata Class. A guided missile destroyer is a destroyer designed to launch guided missiles. Many are also equipped to carry out anti-submarine, anti-air, and anti-surface operations. 8 are in service.
4. Frigate: It is a warship with a mixed armament, generally lighter than a destroyer (in the US navy, heavier) and of a kind originally introduced for convoy escort work. They are armed with guided missiles and used as an escort for aircraft carrier. It is also used for shore bombardment and other combat functions. India’s Possession: India Possesses in total 4 classes of frigates and stealth ships, out of which Shivalik and Talwar class are multi-role stealth frigate and Brahmaputra and Godavari Class are Guided Missile Frigates. 15 are in service.
5. Corvette: It is a fast, lightly armed warship which is generally smaller than a destroyer and larger than a coastal patrol craft often armed for antisubmarine operations and other combat operations. India’s Possession: India’s possess 4 classes of corvettes Kamorta, Kora, Khukri and Veer Class corvettes. 24 are in service.
6. Mine countermeasure Vessels: It included Minesweeper. A minesweeper is a small naval warship designed to counter the threat posed by naval mines. Minesweepers keep waterways clear for shipping. India’s Possession: India possesses one class of mine sweeper which is Pondicherry class. 7 are in service.
7. Amphibious transport dock: An amphibious transport dock, also called a landing platform/dock (LPD), is an amphibious warfare ship, a warship that embarks, transports, and lands elements of a landing force for expeditionary warfare missions. The ships are generally designed to transport troops into a war zone by sea, primarily using landing craft, although invariably they also have the capability to operate transport helicopters. India Possesses one Austin class amphibious ship, from which only one is in service.
8. Landing Ships: It is a naval vessel which is used to transport large number of vehicles, cargo and troops directly to the shore. India has 3 class of such ships Shardul class, Magar class and Kumbhir class out of them 9 ships are in service.
9. Patrol Vessels: These are the small naval vessels and are used for patrolling the coastal area and to stop the law-breaking activities like smuggling, piracy and stopping illegal immigrants to enter the area. Patrol boats are also used in rescue operation. Indian Navy has 6 classes of petrol vessels, which are Saryu, Sukanya, Car-nicobar, Bangaram, Trinkat and Super Dvora Class. Out of these classes 31 patrol vessels are in service.
10. Auxiliary Ship: An auxiliary ship is a naval ship which is designed to operate in any number of roles supporting combatant ships and other naval operations. Auxiliaries are not primary combatants, although they may have some limited combat capacity, usually of a self-defense nature. Auxiliaries are extremely important for navies of all sizes, as without them, the primary fleet vessels cannot be effective. Their roles include replenishment, transport and repair. Indian Navy has three classes Deepak, Jyoti and Aditya class which produce auxiliary ships. 4 such ships are in service.
11. Research Vessels: A research vessel is a ship designed and equipped to carry out research at sea. Research vessels carry out a number of roles. One such role is survey. A survey vessel is any type of ship or boat that is used for mapping. India has two classes of such vessels whichare Sagardhwani and Sandhayak Classes. They produce various ships out of which 10 are in service.
12. Training Vessels: Used for training Cadets and Officers, they are INS Tir, INS Varuna, INS Tarangini and INS Sudarshini.

Also Read

• www.nausena-bharti.nic.in Official Website of Indian Navy
• Indian Naval Academy

 Tashi Mishra, Editorial Team

She is a defense aspirant from Varanasi completed her BCA. She has attended SSB Interview at 1 AFSB Dehradoon and has more SSB coming up. She is confident about joining Defence Forces one day. Here, she is sharing her views and experience. Mail us to join our editorial team now.