INS Sudarshini

INS Sudarshini is a sail training ship built by Goa Shipyard Limited for the Indian Navy. The ship is a follow on class of INS Tarangini which was commissioned in 1997. "Sudarshini" means "beautiful lady Sundari" after the younger half-sister of Buddha. The ship has been designed by Colin Mudie, a naval architect and yacht designer from the United Kingdom.

Sudarshini is a three-masted sailing ship with a barque rig. Its length is 54 metres and have 20 sails, 7.5 km of rope and 1.5 km of steel wire rope. Her sails have a total area of approximately 1035 m2. Capable of operations under sail or power, and with complement of five officers, 31 sailors with 30 cadets embarked for training, and can remain at sea for at least 20 days at a time.

Sudarshini's steel hull was launched on 25 January 2011 on the West Coast of India at the port town of Vasco da Gama, Goa, and by then the major portion of work had been completed. Thereaafter it was commissioned in Indian Navy on 27 January 2012 by Vice Admiral K.N. Sushil, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Southern Naval Command. Built for worldwide operations, it will be used as a basic seamanship and character building platform.

Operations
INS Sudarshini started its first nine nation voyage of ASEAN countries on 15 September 2012 to trace the ancient route taken by Indian mariners to South East Asia. During the course of the 12,000 mile expedition of INS Sudarshini, she visited 13 ports in 9 countries in ASEAN Countries. The ship visited the ports of Padang, Bali, Manado in (Indonesia), Port Muara in (Brunei), Cebu, Manila in (Philippines), Da Nang in (Vietnam), Sihanoukville in (Cambodia), Bangkok, Phuket in (Thailand), Singapore, Port Klang in (Malaysia) and Sittwe in (Myanmar). While on the Voyage, the ship's embarked Indian Naval and Coast Guard cadets along Cadets from ASEAN countries. During the ASEAN Expedition Skipper of INS Sudarshini, Commander N Shyam Sundar, wrote live blogs from the sea describing different sea states and experiences. This was the first time Indian Navy used social media to promote a diplomatic naval expedition. The ship returned to its home port, Kochi, on 25th March where it was received by the Defence Minister of India A. K. Antony, Chief of Southern Naval Command Vice Admiral Satish Soni, Ambassadors and Heads of Missions of ASEAN nations.