Arnala-class corvette

Arnala class was an Indian designation for the Petya III class vessels of the Indian Navy.

Although these vessels were classified as frigates in the Soviet Navy, they were classified by the Indian Navy as anti-submarine corvettes due to their role and smaller size. Vessels of the class were named for Indian islands.

Vessels
The corvettes of this class constituted the 31st Patrol Vessel Squadron of the Eastern Naval Command and the 32nd Patrol Vessel Squadron of the Western Naval Command.

Operational history
INS Kiltan and INS Katchall were part of the taskforce for Operation Trident during the Indo-Pakistan War of 1971.

The hulls of this class were of relatively inferior quality, requiring the vessels to undergo major refit every 5 years. The Indian Navy constructed the Naval Dockyard at Visakhapatnam, primarily to service Russian vessels. But given the lack of engineering support from Russia there were inordinate delays in completing the servicing facility. This resulted in considerable delay of the second refit for INS Andaman, which was in poor repair and subsequently was lost at sea in storm conditions, 140 mi east of Visakhapatnam on 21 August 1990.