INS Jalashwa
INS Jalashwa underway
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| History | |
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 India
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| Name: | INS Jalashwa |
| Namesake: | Sanskrit/Hindi for Hippopotamus |
| Laid down: | 8 August 1966 (as USS Trenton) |
| Launched: | 3 August 1968 (as USS Trenton) |
| Acquired: | 17 January 2007 |
| Commissioned: | 22 June 2007 |
| Homeport: | Visakhapatnam |
| Identification: | Pennant number: L41 |
| Motto: | "The fearless pioneers" |
| Status: | in active service |
| Badge: |  |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Austin-class amphibious transport dock |
| Displacement: |
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| Length: | 173.7 metres (570 feet) overall, 167 metres (548 feet) waterline |
| Beam: | 30.4 metres (100 feet) extreme, 25.6 metres (84 feet) waterline |
| Draught: | 6.7 metres (22 feet) maximum, 7 metres (23 feet) limit |
| Propulsion: | Two boilers, two steam turbines, two shafts; 24,000 shaft horsepower (18,000 kW) |
| Speed: | 20 knots (40 km/h) |
| Boats & landing craft carried: |
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| Complement: |
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| Armament: |
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| Aircraft carried: | 6 × UH-3 Sea King helicopters |
INS Jalashwa (Sanskrit/Hindi: Hippopotamus) is an amphibious transport dock currently in service with the Indian Navy. Formerly USS Trenton, she, along with six Sikorsky SH-3 Sea King helicopters were procured from the United States by India for a total of US$90 million in 2005. She was commissioned on 22 June 2007. INS Jalashwa is the only Indian naval ship to be acquired from the United States. She is based in Visakhapatnam under the Eastern Naval Command.
Jalashwa features a well deck, which can house up to four LCM-8 mechanised landing craft that can be launched by flooding the well deck and lowering the hinged gate aft of the ship. She also has a flight deck for helicopter operations from which up to six medium helicopters can operate simultaneously. The deck can also be used to operate vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft like the Sea Harrier, in special circumstances. She is also capable of embarking over 1,000 troops, and is fully equipped with extensive medical facilities including four operation theatres, a 12-bed ward, a laboratory and a dental centre.
The Indian Navy felt the need for better amphibious landing capability in the aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, when the Navy's rescue and humanitarian efforts were hampered by inadequacy of existing amphibious ships in its fleet. In 2006, the Indian government announced it would purchase the US Navy's retired Austin-class landing platform dock USS Trenton for approximately ₹ 228 crore ($48.44 million). Her sister ship USS Nashville was also offered, but India declined the offer.
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Wikipedia