Context: Chief Admiral inaugurated a 350-m-long major pier for Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPVs) at Naval Base at Karwar in Karnataka as part of Project Seabird.
More information from the news:
- The naval base at Karwar can accommodate 32 ships and submarines, 23-yard craft, a dual-use naval air station, a full-fledged naval dockyard, four covered dry berths and logistics for ships and aircraft.
- The pier would also provide strategic depths and operational flexibility on the western seaboard, especially against Pakistan.
- The naval base is being expanded with the aim to make it the largest facility in Asia.
(Naval Bases in India)
INS Kadamba or Naval Base Karwar or Project Seabird:
- It is an Indian Navy base located near Karwar in Karnataka.
- The first phase of construction of the base, code-named Project Seabird, was commissioned in 2005.
- Kadamba has become India’s third largest operational naval base, after Mumbai and Visakhapatnam.
- The Navy's aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya is based at Karwar.
- The base also has the country's first sealift facility, a unique shiplift and transfer system for docking and undocking ships and submarines.
- Significance:
- During the Indo-Pakistan War of 1971, the Indian Navy faced security challenges for its Western Fleet in Mumbai Harbour due to congestion in the shipping lanes from commercial shipping traffic, fishing boats and tourists.
- At the end of the war, various options were considered to address these concerns.
- Karwar base is a dedicated naval base, between the hills of the Western Ghats and the Arabian Sea.
- The location had significant advantages as being very close to the world's busiest shipping route between the Persian Gulf and east Asia and out of range of most strike aircraft from neighbouring countries.
- It also offered a natural deep-water harbour and significant land area for expansion, allowing larger aircraft carriers to berth.
Project Seabird:
- In 1999, following Pokhran-II, Project Seabird was approved, to pursue the construction of the new naval base at Karwar.
- The Binaga Bay was dredged and its rock outcrops blasted to allow even large aircraft carriers to turn inside the bay.
- Anjadip Island is one of the two islands to which the breakwaters are linked for reinforcement.
- Located in the Arabian Sea, near the coast of Canacona, Goa.
- It is politically part of Goa state but geographically the nearest mainland is the coastal Kanara subregion of Karnataka.
- It was part of the Portuguese Indian settlements until 1961.
- Phase I:
- Phase I of INS Kadamba was commissioned in May 2005.
- Key facilities: ship lift, a ship transfer system for dry docking at the Naval Ship Repair Yard.
- Phase-II:
- The Phase-IIA expansion approval was obtained from the Cabinet Committee on Security in 2012, after getting approval from then Defence Minister.
- New facilities and infrastructure were inaugurated including, two major piers and residential towers.
- Phase II-B: INS Kadamba will be able to base 50 front-line warships and will be the biggest naval base east of the Suez-canal.