INS Full Form

The full form of INS is known as Indian Navy Ships. After India became Republic in the year 1950, the Royal Indian Navy was renamed to Indian Navy after continuing with the same name since 1934. As per the records of June 2019, the Indian Navy has a fleet of 137 warships, 67,252 personnel, and 235 aircraft, which are all in service to date. The Indian Navy Ships (INS) plays an important role in the Indian Navy and warships by performing various underwater and surface fleet missions. 

At Present, Naval Warfare Can Be Broadly Divided Into Three Operational Areas:

• Anti-surface warfare (ASUW)

• Anti-air warfare (AAW), and 

• Anti-submarine warfare (ASW)

Here, we will discuss INS long form along with various navy ships in India. This page will thus, help you in understanding the different types of Indian Navy Ships that are categorized based on their functions. 

(Image will be uploaded soon)

Types of Indian Navy Ships

Warships or INS have a major role to play in the Indian Navy’s surface fleet and thus, come in a variety of shapes and sizes. The Indian Navy Ships are majorly categorized into three types depending on their capabilities and functions. They are given below:

• Surface Ships: Also known as Surface combatants or surface vessels, they are a type of Indian Navy Ships (INS) that are designed for warfare on the surface of the water. They are generally built with their own weapons and armed forces to fight other ships, submarines, aircraft, or land targets. The main purpose of the surface combatants is to engage space, air, surface, and submerged targets with their built-in weapons from the ship, rather than having to carry them in person. These ships also have the ability to carry out several other missions such as counter-narcotics operations and maritime interdiction.

• Submarines: A submarine is a watercraft that can undergo an operation independently underwater. It can also be modified for performing some specialized functions which include search-and-rescue missions or underwater cable repair. Most of the submarines have a cylindrical body with conical ends and a vertical structure. They are also largely used in tourism and undersea archaeology and consist of communications and sensing devices.

The INS Submarines Are of Two Types-

• Nuclear Powered Submarine: Arihant and Chakra are the two nuclear-powered submarines currently present in India.

•  Conventionally Powered Submarine: Sindhughosh and Shishumar are two types of conventionally powered submarine.

• Auxiliary Ship: An auxiliary ship is a type of Indian Navy Ship (full form of INS). This category of INS is built specifically to operate in support of surface combatant ships and several other naval operations. They are very important for navies of all sizes, as the primary fleet vessels will not be effective without an auxiliary ship. Therefore, almost every navy maintains an extensive fleet of auxiliaries. However, the shape and size of these auxiliary vary depending on the type of each navy and their main purpose. Smaller navy coasts often have smaller auxiliary vessels that focus more on the role of cargo support and training. Whereas, larger blue-water navies tend to have large auxiliary fleets along with longer-range fleet support vessels which are built to provide support far beyond territorial waters.

Surface Ships in India

Indian Navy Ships, also known as INS full form consists of different navy ships or warships that are categorized into surface ships, submarines, auxiliary ships, and even aircraft carriers depending on their functions. Mostly surface ships or combatants are designed for warfare occurring on the surface of the water and use their own in-built weapons and armed forces. Surface ships mostly include cruisers, destroyers, frigates, and corvettes. Aircraft carriers, amphibious assault ships, and mine hunters don’t fall under this category as they generally do not use in-built weapon systems.  India currently has two INS aircraft carriers. They are INS Viraat and INS Vikramaditya. 

Some of the Different Types of Surface Ships Used by the Indian Navy Are Given Below:

• Destroyers: This type of Indian Navy Ships play an important role by serving as the first line of defense and are equally important in the anti-submarine line of defense. Some of the Navy Ships that fall under this category are:

• INS Kolkata

• INS Kochi

• INS Chennai

• INS Delhi

• INS Mysore

• INS Mumbai

• Rajput Class

• Frigates: It is an anti-submarine escort vessel that is larger than the corvette but is considered smaller than the destroyer navy ship. 

• Corvettes: They are the smallest class of warships. Corvette is the first indigenously developed Indian Naval Warship that was built with special grade high-tensile steel produced by the Steel Authority of India. One example of Corvettes warships is INS Kamorta. 

• Offshore Patrol Vessels: They are highly versatile ships that are specifically designed and built for performing economic exclusion zone management roles. These roles include providing effective disaster relief and maritime security to coastal areas. 

Apart from all these four types of surface ships, INS also includes the Landing and Transport Ships, Patrol Vessels, and Torpedo Recovery Vessels which are equally important surface combatants in every Navy.