Navy to Commission 'Mangrol': India's Third Home-Built Shallow Water Submarine Hunter from Cochin Shipyard
Mangrol, an Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Craft (ASW-SWC), is set to be commissioned (formally made part of the Navy) into the Indian Navy on 12 October 2026 at the Naval Dockyard, Mumbai.
It is the third of eight such craft being built by Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL), Kochi, a public sector shipyard under the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways. CSL delivered the ship to the Navy on 21 August 2026.
The ship is built to hunt enemy submarines in coastal (shallow) waters. It can also lay sea mines, and do search and rescue and low intensity maritime operations (small-scale security tasks at sea, like patrolling).
It carries lightweight torpedoes, indigenous anti-submarine rockets and advanced shallow-water sonars (underwater "ears" that find objects using sound). It is pushed by diesel engines driving waterjets instead of normal propellers.
About 80% of its content is indigenous (made in India). The ship is named after Mangrol, a coastal town in Gujarat.
It follows INS Mahe (commissioned November 2025) and Malvan, the first two ships of CSL's batch, which is called the Mahe class.
Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW): How Navies Hunt Submarines
Anti-submarine warfare, or ASW, is the set of methods, ships, aircraft and weapons a navy uses to find, track and destroy enemy submarines. A submarine is dangerous because it hides under water, where radar and eyesight do not work. So ASW is mainly a contest of sound: the hunter tries to hear or "echo-locate" the submarine before the submarine can attack. Every major navy, including India's, treats ASW as one of its most important jobs.
Mangrol is a specialist ASW ship for the shallow coastal layer of India's submarine defence. Its shallow-water sonars, lightweight torpedoes and ASW rockets are the classic sense-and-strike kit of ASW, sized for the noisy, tricky waters close to India's ports.
Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Craft (ASW-SWC) Programme
The Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Craft (ASW-SWC) programme is the Indian Navy's project to build 16 small warships that hunt submarines close to the coast. Eight are built by Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE), Kolkata (the Arnala class) and eight by Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL), Kochi (the Mahe class). Both shipyards are public sector companies. The ships replace the old Abhay-class corvettes and are among the biggest home-built shipbuilding orders the Navy has given.
Mangrol is the third Mahe-class ship from CSL to join the Navy under this programme. Its commissioning at Mumbai adds one more home-built coastal submarine hunter to the western seaboard.
Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP) 2020
The Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP) is the Ministry of Defence's rulebook for buying weapons, ships and aircraft for the armed forces. DAP 2020 came into force on 1 October 2020. It ranks buying categories so that Indian-designed and Indian-made equipment gets first preference. The aim is to cut imports and grow India's own defence industry.
Mangrol, with about 80% Indian content and built at an Indian public sector yard, is the kind of outcome these procurement rules aim for: Indian shipyards building front-line warships for the Navy.
- Mangrol: third ASW-SWC built by Cochin Shipyard Limited, Kochi; commissioning on 12 October 2026 at Naval Dockyard, Mumbai
- Delivered to the Indian Navy on 21 August 2026; about 80% indigenous content
- Named after Mangrol, a coastal town in Gujarat
- Weapons and sensors: lightweight torpedoes, indigenous ASW rockets, shallow-water sonars; also mine laying
- Propulsion: diesel engine with waterjet
- Programme: 16 ASW-SWCs (8 GRSE Arnala class + 8 CSL Mahe class); contracts signed April 2019, about ₹6,311 crore each
- Earlier commissionings: INS Arnala (18 June 2025), INS Mahe (24 November 2025)