India's first indigenous-built floating dock for the Indian Navy was launched at shipyard here on Tuesday, signalling a a milestone in Indias quest for self-reliance in shipbuilding, a defence statement said.As per traditions, Yard 55000, was launched by Anjali Deshpande, the wife of Indian Navy's Controller Warship Production & Acquisition, Vice Admiral D.M. Deshpande at a ceremony at Larsen & Toubro Ltd (L&T) Shipyard at Kattupalli, a Defence Ministry statement said.She applied 'kumkum' on the floating dock, wishing it good luck and launched the vessel.Vice Admiral Deshpande said the indigenous-built dock was testimony to the capabilities available in India for realising the ‘Make in India' vision. The Ministry said the floating dock built by the L&T Shipyard was an indigenously-designed and built platform "with state of the art machinery and control systems" capable of docking warships of up to 8,000 tons displacement."It has high-capacity Ballast Pumps, along with advanced automated Ballast Control System.
The dock covers provided with the dock facilitate repair and refit activities in inclement weather conditions," it said.According to L&T, the floating dock would be put through a series of harbour trials before delivery to the Navy.Once operationalised, it would enhance the technical repair infrastructure of the Navy for ships based at the Andaman & Nicobar Islands as well as for visiting Naval ships.The floating dock, which is the first Naval shipbuilding project for L&T, is 185m long and 40m wide, and is designed for docking Indian Naval ships and submarines of up to 8,000 ton displacement with draughts of up to seven metres, during both day and night.Simultaneous docking of multiple ships, and off-centre docking options are also feasible, the company said in a statement."While winning our first mandate from the Indian Navy was satisfying, I am particularly delighted that we have also been able to execute and deliver the FDN-2 well within schedule," S.N. Subrahmanyan, Managing Director (Designate) and President, L&T was quoted as saying in the statement.L&T was mandated by the Ministry of Defence in May 2015 to design and build the floating dock for an order value of Rs 468 crore. The floating dock will be delivered at Port Blair well within contracted schedule.