SLNS Sayura

SLNS Sayura (Sayura, in Sinhalese: Sea) is the flag ship and an offshore patrol vessel (OPV) of the Sri Lanka Navy.

She was formerly, INS Sarayu, a Sukanya-class patrol vessel of the Indian Navy sold to Sri Lanka in 2000. She was upgraded with new armament in India before being delivered to the Sri Lanka Navy. India also committed to providing maintenance and refit of the ship.

Operations
Sayura is tasked with deep sea patrolling both within the Sri Lankan territorial waters and in international waters to curb ongoing arms smuggling by the LTTE. In recent months after undergoing a major refit in India, Sayura, along with other OPVs of the Sri Lankan Navy, has successfully intercepted several ships smuggling arms for the LTTE. In all these cases the ships were sunk when the LTTE Sea Tigers attacked the naval vessels with mortars. Sayura also participated in the Cadex 2009 military training exercises with the Indian Navy after the war.

INS Sarayu
Commissioned 10 April 1991, INS Sarayu (P54) served with the Indian Navy until she was sold to Sri Lanka on 1 November 2000.