India Launches Advanced Ocean Research Vessel ‘ORV Sagar Manthan’ to Strengthen Indigenous Maritime Science

India has launched a state-of-the-art ocean research vessel, ORV Sagar Manthan, marking a major step towards strengthening the country’s indigenous oceanographic research and maritime capabilities, the Ministry of Earth Sciences said on Wednesday.

The vessel was launched at Rishi Bankim Shipyard in Kolkata in the virtual presence of Earth Sciences Minister Jitendra Singh. His spouse, Manju Singh, formally named the vessel in keeping with the tradition associated with such launches.

Designed, engineered and built by defence public sector undertaking Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) for the National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR), the vessel reflects India’s growing focus on developing advanced research platforms domestically.

Singh lauded the teams involved in the project for completing the launch within just two years of the contract being signed and around five months after the keel was laid. He described the turnaround as an exceptional example of efficiency and coordinated execution.

ORV Sagar Manthan has been equipped with sophisticated systems, including dynamic positioning, multibeam bathymetry, multichannel seismic technology, sub-bottom profiling, weather radar and drop keels. It also has facilities to deploy Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) and Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs), allowing researchers to conduct detailed studies across different ocean environments.

The vessel will support multidisciplinary research along the mid-oceanic ridges of the Indian Ocean, including the search for multi-metal hydrothermal sulphide mineralisation. It will also help establish environmental baselines, gather upper-air atmospheric data and conduct Conductivity, Temperature and Depth (CTD) profiling.

Designed to operate in challenging conditions, including the Southern Ocean, the vessel is expected to have a service life of around 30 years. It will gradually take over from the 43-year-old ORV Sagar Kanya as India’s advanced platform for oceanographic research.

Singh said the vessel represents a significant push towards self-reliance in the development of specialised maritime research infrastructure.

“This fine ship is India’s first advanced Ocean Research Vessel built by GRSE, displaying the required thrust towards Atmanirbharta and self-reliance,” he said.

He added that high-quality data collected by research vessels such as Sagar Manthan would strengthen India’s ability to contribute to disaster prevention, environmental protection and global ocean governance.

Dr T. Srinivasa Kumar, Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences, said the project reflected a broader policy shift from importing ocean research platforms to developing them within the country.

He underlined the importance of ocean research in understanding climate change, improving tsunami prediction and strengthening India’s maritime capabilities.

The new vessel will undertake underway swath multibeam surveys, geophysical profiling, atmospheric observations and water-column sampling, further expanding India’s ability to study the oceans through multidisciplinary scientific missions.

The launch comes as the Ministry of Earth Sciences plans to expand India’s fleet of specialised oceanographic vessels, including the proposed acquisition of a Polar Research Vessel, aimed at supporting research in some of the world’s most challenging marine environments.