The Indian Navy will be re-inducting a refurbished 22-year-old fast attack craft, INS Tarmugli, on Thursday in a ceremonial commissioning ceremony at the naval dockyard, Visakhapatnam, more than seventeen years after she was gifted to Maldives which used it for years and returned to India in May this year.
“The ship has a unique distinction of having served under the flag of two nations with three names during her distinguished service till date,” said a Navy spokesperson. Commissioned in the Indian Navy as INS Tillanchang, a Trinkat Class ship, she was in active service till 2006, and thereafter gifted to the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) by the Govt of India, as part of diplomatic outreach in the Indian Ocean Region, the spokesperson stated.
Served Maldives
The ship, according to the Indian Navy, was commissioned into MNDF as MCGS Huravee on 16 April 2006, and served there till its decommissioning in May 2023. Before handing over to India, Huravee was refitted at naval dockyard, Visakhapatnam, in November 2018 by the Indian Navy to boost diplomatic ties with Maldives which has now nosedived after Mohamed Muizzu won elections in September.
President Muizzu, who is more inclined towards China, had also asked India to take back its armed forces stationed in his country for providing security. India has agreed to take back its 75 personnel, Muizzu told media on December 3.
The ship, meanwhile, was returned to the Indian Navy, which also provided an in-service waterjet fast attack craft, INS Tarmugli, to MNDF as the new MCGS Huravee.
“After detailed examination of the returned ship, a decision was taken to refurbish, repair and re-induct her into the force levels of the Indian Navy,” the spokesperson said. The ship has undergone extensive repair and upgradation by the Indian Navy at Naval Dockyard, Visakhapatnam, over the last six months, and is scheduled to be commissioned as ‘INS Tarmugli’ at a ceremony with the chief guest as Vice Admiral Sandeep Naithani, Chief of Materiel.
The vessel was originally designed and constructed by Kolkata-based Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers and was commissioned into the Indian Navy on March 17, 2001.