INS Sandhayak decommissioned
- Hydrographic survey ship INS Sandhayak, the first of its class indigenously designed and built, was decommissioned after 40 years of service, at the Naval Dockyard Visakhapatnam.
- According to the Navy, the ship had undertaken approximately 200 major hydrographic surveys and numerous minor surveys in both the east and west coasts of the country, the Andaman seas, and neighbouring countries too.
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The ship was conceptualized by the then Chief Hydrographer to the Government of India, Rear Adm FL Fraser, who had a strong desire for indigenously designed and built hydrographic survey vessels in India.
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The design was finalized by Naval Headquarters and the construction began at Garden Reach Ship Builders Limited (GRSE) Kolkata (then Calcutta) by laying the keel in 1978.
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The ship was commissioned into the Navy on February 26, 1981, by Vice Adm M.K. Roy.
- The ship has also been an active participant in many significant operations such as Op Pawan – assisting the Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka in 1987, Op Sarong, Op Rainbow - rendering humanitarian assistance post-2004 Tsunami and participation in the maiden joint Indo-US HADR Exercise ‘Tiger-Triumph’.