Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh launched the Indian Navy’s first indigenously built Fleet Support Ship FSS-1 named Surya and laid the keel for the fifth vessel of the series FSS-5 at Hindustan Shipyard Limited (HSL) in Visakhapatnam on Tuesday (October 6, 2026).

The Indian Navy operates four fleet tankers: INS Shakti and INS Jyoti on the eastern coast under the Eastern Naval Command in Visakhapatnam and INS Deepak and INS Aditya on the western coast. These tankers refuel and resupply warships at sea so that they do not have to return to port.

The ceremony was attended by Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Krishna Swaminathan, Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh, HSL Chairman and Managing Director Rear Admiral C. Raghuram, Visakhapatnam MP M. Sribharat and Roads and Buildings Minister B.C. Janardhan Reddy among others.

Mr. Singh also inaugurated HSL’s newly modernised Slipway No. 4, which is 235 metres long and 37.5 metres wide, and a 300-tonne Goliath crane. The upgrades expand the shipyard’s covered building dock capacity to 80,000 DWT and allow it to build naval platforms of up to 45,000 DWT, HSL said.

Built for self-reliance

The five Fleet Support Ships are being built under a single contract with 82% indigenous content. HSL has used integrated modular construction to cut build times while meeting naval specifications.

Surya is 223.6 metres long and 31.5 metres wide with a draught of 9.3 metres. It displaces about 43,500 tonnes and has a top speed of 20 knots. It carries 20,000 tonnes of low-sulphur high-speed diesel, 2,500 tonnes of aviation turbine fuel, 1,000 tonnes of fresh water and 250 tonnes of feed water, and up to eight 20-foot containers (32.6 cubic metres each) for ammunition, spare parts and provisions. Onboard workshops can carry out first-line maintenance and emergency repairs for the ship and the vessels it supports.

The ships are built for 60-day missions and for “out of area” operations across the Indian Ocean Region and beyond. They have self-defence systems against missiles, torpedoes and mines, a helicopter deck certified for medium role helicopter operations up to Sea State 5 and a combined diesel and diesel (CODAD) propulsion system with a single shaft and controllable pitch propellers.

A FSS carries fuel, lubricants, stores, food and personnel to warships and submarines operating far from their home ports and transfers them at sea: alongside, from the stern or by helicopter. It can supply several ships at once so that a carrier battle group or surface action group can stay deployed without returning to harbour.

HSL’s eight decades

Established in 1941 as Scindia Shipyard and incorporated as Hindustan Shipyard Limited in 1952, HSL describes itself as India’s first greenfield shipyard. In eight decades it has built 203 ships, completed 2,045 ship repairs and refitted six submarines.

The shipyard has a 142-acre main yard, a 25-acre factory extension and a 457-metre outfitting jetty with a 10-metre depth. Its steel stockyard holds 30,000 tonnes and its hull and prefabrication shops have CNC plasma and oxyacetylene cutting machines, rolling and bending machinery, automatic and semi-automatic welding systems and 300-tonne block handling capacity. The modernisation is meant to equip the yard to build and repair large naval vessels and submarines, HSL said.