India’s first indigenously built missile corvettes, INS Khukri (P49), was decommissioned after 32 years of service at Visakhapatnam on December 24, 2021.

Highlights

• During the decommissioning ceremony, the national flag, the decommissioning pennant and naval ensign were lowered at sunset.
• INS Khukri was built by the Mazagon Dock shipbuilders on August 23, 1989.
• It had the distinction of being part of Western as well as Eastern Fleets.
• In her service to Indian Navy, the ship was commanded by 28 commanding officers.
• It traversed a distance of more than 6,44,897 nautical miles, equivalent to navigating across the world 30 times or three times the distance between the Moon and the Earth.
• The ship was affiliated with the Gorkha Brigade of the Indian Army.

About INS Khukri (F149)

INS Khukri was a Type 14 (Blackwood-class) frigate, serving into the Indian Navy. The ship was sunk off the coast of Diu in Gujarat in December 1971, by the Pakistan’s Daphne-class submarine Hangor during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. INS Khukri was the first warship sunk by a submarine since World War II. It is the only warship of Indian Navy, to be lost in war till date.

By: Brijesh Kumar