India to retire Rajput-class destroyer INS Ranjit

The Rajput-class destroyer INS Ranjit. Photo c/o Wikimedia Commons.

The Indian Navy (IN) is scheduled to retire the third ship of its Russian-built Rajput-class guided missile destroyer, the INS Ranjit (D53) on 6 May 2019.

The ceremonies will be held at the Naval Dockyard in Visakhapatnam, India, and will be graced by current and former officers and sailors of the ship.

The ship has been in service since 1983 and would have served 36 years with the Indian Navy when it retires. The entire class are based on the Soviet Kashin-class destroyers, modified to Indian Navy specifications. It also has the distinction of being the flagship of both the Western and Eastern fleets of the Indian Navy.

This also marks the start of the replacement of the entire class with a new generation destroyer design, the upcoming Visakhapatnam-class stealthy destroyers.

INS Ranjit was built in 61 Communsards Shipyard in Nikolev, USSR (now part of Ukraine), and had its keel laying on 29 June 1977. The destroyer was launched on 16 June 1979, and was named “Lovkiy” and added as part of the Soviet Navy in 30 October 1981. The ship was then transferred and commissioned with the Indian Navy as the INS Ranjit on 24 November 1983.

No information was provided on the fate of the ship once it is decommissioned.



[1] United News of India
[2] Deccan Herald