INS Vindhyagiri (F42)
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| History | |
|---|---|
 India | |
| Name | INS Vindhyagiri |
| Namesake | Vindhyagiri Hill |
| Launched | 12 November 1977 |
| Commissioned | 8 July 1981 |
| Decommissioned | 11 June 2012 |
| Identification | Pennant number: F42 |
| Honours and awards | Served as flagship of Western Fleet |
| Fate | Capsized after collision, 2011 |
| Status | Salvaged and decommissioned |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | Nilgiri-class frigate |
| Displacement |
|
| Length | 113 m (371 ft) |
| Beam | 13 m (43 ft) |
| Draught | 4.3 m (14 ft) |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 28 kn (52 km/h; 32 mph) |
| Range | 4,000 nmi (7,400 km; 4,600 mi) @ 12 kn (22 km/h; 14 mph) |
| Complement | 267 (incl 17 officers)[1] |
| Sensors & processing systems |
|
| Armament |
|
| Aircraft carried | 1 Westland Sea King or HAL Chetak |
INS Vindhyagiri was a Nilgiri-class frigate of the Indian Navy. Vindhyagiri was commissioned on 8 July 1981. After nearly thirty years of service, she sank a few hours after colliding with a German merchant vessel on 30 January 2011. Although she was subsequently salvaged, the navy decommissioned her on 11 June 2012, a year before her envisaged decommissioning date. Vindhyagiri served for 31 years, including a period as the flagship of the Western Naval Command.
In 1986, there was a series of coup attempts against President René led by the Seychelles Minister of Defence, Ogilvy Berlouis. This included a plot in June 1986, codenamed Operation Distant Lash, which involved some 30 mercenaries and 350 Seychellois.[2]
When New Delhi was informed of an impending coup by intelligence sources, Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi personally contacted the Indian Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Radhakrishna Hariram Tahiliani, with a verbal request to provide assistance to René. Coincidentally, the Indian Navy had already dispatched the Vindhyagiri on a scheduled visit to Seychelles. It was decided that on arrival Vindhyagiri would report an engineering defect requiring an extended stay in Port Victoria. A senior Indian naval officer was then sent to the Seychelles on a commercial airline to command the operation and an "engineering" team of 20 sailors trained in weapons was readied for dispatch to Port Victoria. The extended presence of the Vindhyagiri in Port Victoria averted the planned coup.
