Indian Navy Commissions Landing Craft Utility Ship

Indian Navy has inducted a landing craft utility (LCU) ship L52 which will be deployed for transporting battle tanks, other heavy weapons systems besides troops.

The ship, which would be based in the Andaman and Nicobar command, can also be deployed for multirole activities like search and rescue as well as disaster relief operations, Indian Ministry of defense announced Monday.

The ship - LCU L52 - was commissioned by Lt Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands Jagdish Mukhi at an event in Port Blair.

The LCU L52 is the second Landing Craft Utility (LCU) Mk-IV class to be inducted into the Indian Navy. The ship has been locally designed and built by Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE), Kolkata.

The primary role of LCU MK-IV ship is to transport and deploy main battle tanks, armoured vehicles, troops and equipment from ship to shore.

 The remaining six ships of the same class are in advanced stages of construction at GRSE, Kolkata and are scheduled to be inducted in the next two years.