Indian Government provides another naval vessel to Sri Lanka
 

The official handing over of an Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV), which had earlier belonged to the Indian Coast Guard, to Sri Lanka took place yesterday (05 September 2017) at the Port of Kochi, India. The vessel after assigning the pennant number CG 60 will join the Sri Lanka Coast Guard.

The ship was officially handed over to the Director General of the Sri Lanka Coast Guard, Rear Admiral Samantha Wimalathunge by the Director General of the Indian Coast Guard, Vice Admiral Rajendra Singh at a ceremony attended by the Chief of Staff of the Sri Lanka Navy, Rear Admiral Sirimevan Ranasinghe, the Additional Director General of the Indian Coast Guard, Mr. K. Natarajan, the Chief of Staff of the India’s Southern Naval Command, Rear Admiral RJ Nadkarni and senior officers of the Indian and Sri Lanka Navies as well as Coast Guards.

The OPV, which is 74.10m in length and 11.4m in breadth, has a displacement of 1,180 tons. The ship can sail at 22 nautical miles per hour and has a crew of 10 officers and 98 sailors. The vessel, with a helipad onboard to accommodate latest light helicopters, can cover 8,500 nautical miles at a speed of 16 nautical miles per hour.

The ship will be used by the Sri Lanka Coast Guard for patrolling and surveillance in Sri Lanka waters, humanitarian assistance and disaster response operations, prevention of maritime pollution as well as training purposes. The ship under the command of Captain Neville Ubayasiri is set to sail from India for Sri Lanka on 14 September upon completion of the familiarization of vessel’s operational and technical procedures.