INS Kirch

INS Kirch is a Kora-class corvette, currently in active service with the Indian Navy.^[1]

INS Kirch during Milan Exercise
History
India
Name	INS Kirch
Namesake	"Sword"
Builder	Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers, Mazagon Dock Limited
Laid down	31 January 1992
Launched	5 October 1995
Commissioned	22 January 2001
Identification	Pennant number: P62
Status	in active service
General characteristics
Class and type	Kora-class corvette
Displacement	1,400 tons full load
Length	91.1 m (299 ft)
Beam	10.5 m (34 ft)
Draught	4.5 m (15 ft)
Propulsion	2 diesel motors with 14,400 hp 2 shafts
Speed	25 knots (46 km/h)
Range	4,000 mi (6,400 km) at 16 knots (30 km/h)
Complement	134 (incl 14 officers)
Sensors and processing systems	1 × MR 352 Pozitiv-E radar Bharat 1245 navigation radar Bharat Vympel IPN-10 combat data system
Armament	16 × Kh-35 Uran-E SSM 2 × Strela-2M (SA-N-5) SAM 1 × 76.2mm OTO-Melara SRGM gun 2 × 30mm AK-630 guns
Aircraft carried	1 HAL Chetak or HAL Dhruv helicopter

Service history

In early 2011, the ship was part of a fleet of warships from the Eastern Fleet which went on an operational deployment in South East Asia and the Western Pacific.^[2] The flotilla was composed of the INS Delhi, INS Ranvijay, INS Ranvir, INS Jyoti and INS Kirch, and carried 1,400 naval personnel on board. They were commanded by Rear Admiral Harish Chandra Singh Bisht. The flotilla, along with an Indian Navy maritime reconnaissance aircraft took part in a five-day exercise SIMBEX 2011 with the Singapore Navy in the South China Sea. Four naval ships including a submarine of the Singapore Navy were commanded by Rear Admiral Joseph Leong, Fleet Commander of the Republic of Singapore Navy. The Indian fleet then proceeded on its forward deployment, and made port calls at Alava pier in Subic Bay (Philippines),^[3] Vlapostok (Russia), Manila (Philippines), Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam), Bandar Seri Begawan (Brunei), Kota Kina Balu (Malaysia) and Jakarta (Indonesia).^[2] The ships also visited China, Japan and South Korea.^[4][5][6] After exercising with the U.S. Navy, the fleet conducted drills at Vladivostok with the Russian Navy's Pacific Fleet. This was the second time the Indian Navy had made a port call at Vladivostok.^[7][8][9]