Navy Commissions Mangrol, Third Mahe-Class Anti-Submarine Shallow Water Craft: Coastal Submarine Hunting and Defence Indigenisation
The Indian Navy commissioned Mangrol, its third Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Craft (ASW-SWC) of the Mahe class, in Mumbai on 12 October 2026. Commissioning is the ceremony where a ship formally joins the Navy.
The ship was built by Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL), Kochi. The ceremony was led by the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Naval Command.
It is built to find and attack enemy submarines in shallow coastal waters, where large warships cannot work well. It can work with maritime patrol aircraft, helicopters and other warships to protect ports, harbours and coastal sea routes.
It carries the Abhay hull-mounted sonar (an underwater sound sensor fitted in the bottom of the ship), lightweight torpedoes, an indigenous anti-submarine rocket launcher and the Maareech Advanced Torpedo Decoy System. Three diesel engines drive waterjets, which make it easy to turn quickly in shallow water.
The ship has over 80% indigenous content. It can also do underwater surveillance, low-intensity maritime operations and mine warfare tasks.
It is named after Mangrol, a coastal town and fishing harbour in Junagadh district, Gujarat. It continues the name of the earlier INS Mangrol (M85), a minesweeper that served until April 2004.
Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Craft (ASW-SWC) Programme
The 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, and are called the Arnala class. The other eight are built by Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL), Kochi, and are called the Mahe class. They replace the old Abhay-class corvettes, which were commissioned around 1989 to 1991.
Mangrol is one more step in completing the 16-ship programme. Each new craft adds to the Navy's ability to guard harbours and coastal sea lanes, a job the ageing Abhay-class corvettes can no longer do well.
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. Shallow coastal waters are especially hard, because the sea floor, waves and busy shipping create a lot of noise that confuses sonar.
Mangrol brings together the main tools of coastal ASW: a sonar to find the submarine, torpedoes and rockets to attack it, and a decoy to protect itself. It fills the shallow-water layer of India's anti-submarine shield.
Defence Indigenisation: The Positive Indigenisation Lists
A Positive Indigenisation List (PIL) is an official list of defence items that India's armed forces and defence companies must buy only from Indian makers after a fixed date. Once the deadline for an item passes, importing it is stopped (embargoed). The idea is simple: if the government promises Indian firms that it will buy these items only from them, those firms get the confidence to invest in designing and making them. The lists are a key tool of Aatmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India) in defence.
Mangrol, with over 80% indigenous content, shows the indigenisation policy at work in shipbuilding. It was built by an Indian public sector shipyard and carries Indian-designed sonar and torpedo decoy systems. Each such ship reduces the Navy's need to import coastal warships and builds skills in Indian shipyards and their suppliers.
- Ship: Mangrol, third Mahe-class ASW Shallow Water Craft; commissioned 12 October 2026 in Mumbai.
- Builder: Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL), Kochi; delivered 21 August 2026.
- Indigenous content: over 80%.
- Sensors and weapons: Abhay hull-mounted sonar, lightweight torpedoes, indigenous anti-submarine rocket launcher, Maareech Advanced Torpedo Decoy System.
- Propulsion: three diesel engines with waterjets.
- Name: after Mangrol, Junagadh district, Gujarat; earlier INS Mangrol (M85) minesweeper served until April 2004.
- ASW-SWC programme: 16 ships (8 Arnala class by GRSE, 8 Mahe class by CSL).
- Ceremony led by the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Naval Command.