INS Anjadip: The story behind the Navy’s latest warship name

The Indian Navy on Friday (February 27, 2026) commissioned INS Anjadip, a warship aimed at augmenting its anti-submarine warfare capabilities and coastal surveillance and one that comes with state-of-the-art combat features.

Chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi commissioned the ship at the Chennai Port, alongside the presence of senior Navy and key government officials.

This is the third of the eight vessels being built under the anti-submarine warfare shallow water craft project. INS Anjadip, undertook an approximately 4 years and 2 months for completion. On April 29, 2019, Ministry of Defence signed a contract with Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers (GRSE). Three years later on June 17, 2022, GRSE started the keel laying work at the Kattupalli shipyard, involving physical assembly of the slipway.

Eventually, the warship was launched on June 13, 2023, in Kattupalli.

Why ‘Anjadip’?

The warship ‘Anjadip’ is named after the island off Karwar in north Karnataka. Strategically, the decision to name ‘Anjadip’ is to bolster Navy’s capacity to safeguard India’s vast maritime interests along coastal Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.

The ship is packed with an indigenous, cutting-edge Anti-Submarine Warfare weapons and sensor package, including the hull-mounted sonar Abhay, and armed with Lightweight Torpedoes and ASW Rockets. The 77-metre-long ship features a high-speed water-jet propulsion system, enabling it to achieve a top speed of 25 knots for rapid response and sustained operations.

Built by Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers, Kolkata, INS Anjadip is a state-of-the-art vessel specifically designed to address the challenges of the littoral combat environment–coastal and shallow waters vital for the nation’s security, the Navy said.

Besides the Anti-Submarine Warfare role, the warship is also equipped to take up coastal surveillance, Low-Intensity Maritime Operations and Search and Rescue operations.

Why is it called Dolphin Hunter?

INS Anjadip is nicknamed as “Dolphin Hunter” due to its specialised focus on the detection, tracking, and neutralisation of enemy submarines in coastal areas. The vessel has in-built advanced sonar systems, especially the Hull Mounted Sonar Abhay, which operates by using acoustic principles similar used by dolphins to navigate and hunt underwater.

INS Anjadip is engineered to operate stealthily for littoral (near-shore) combat unlike large destroyers that struggle in “noisy” coastal environments. Significantly, it can eliminate the background noise to find “silent” diesel-electric or midget submarines that hide in the shallow seabed.

In addition, INS Anjadip’s water-jet propulsion system enables it to achieve speeds of 25 knots and provides high manoeuvrability, giving it ample scope to “hunt” and weave through compact coastal corridors just as a dolphin would.

Anjadip joins the Indian Navy as a befitting successor to her illustrious predecessor, the last of the Petya-class corvettes, which served the nation with distinction across varied operational deployments for nearly three decades from 1972 to 2003, Admiral Tripathi pointed out.

“Beyond the ship, Anjadip also resonates deeply in our naval history as it bears the name of an island, that stood witness to decisive action by the Indian Navy in Dec 1961 as part of Operation Chutney that culminated in the liberation of Goa. That spirit of resolve, valour, bold action and safeguarding national maritime interests at any cost— is the enduring legacy that this Anjadip carries forward,” Admiral Tripathi added.

India’s count of warships

The Indian Navy has an operating fleet of approximately 145 to 150 commissioned ships and submarines till February 2026. The number however changes due to ongoing phases of commission and decommisioning.

In a major boost to India’s defence strength, the Navy is on track to commission 19 warships in 2026, the highest ever in the history.

(With PTI Inputs)