MUMBAI  (TIP): Indian Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar commissioned, September 30th, the guided-missile destroyer INS Kochi in Mumbai.

The INS Kochi is packed with weapons and sensors as well as advanced stealth features, it is the largest-ever warship to be built in India till now. The ships motto “Jahi Shatrun Mahabaho” loosely means “Armed to conquer the enemy” in Sanskrit.

Induction of the 7,500-tonne INS Kochi, the second of the three Kolkata-class destroyers being built at Mazagaon Docks (MDL) at Mumbai for over ?4,000 crore apiece, will make it the 10th destroyer in India’s combat fleet.

The ship comes with a displacement of 7500 tons, it is 164 meters in length and 17 meters at the beam, it is propelled with four gas turbines and designed to achieve speeds in excess of 30 knots.

Destroyers are second only to aircraft carriers in projecting raw combat power on the high seas. The first of this class, INS Kolkata, was commissioned in August last year, while the third INS Chennai will be inducted towards end-2016. There is also the even bigger ongoing Rs 29,644-crore project to build another four stealth destroyers at MDL, with the first INS Visakhapatnam slated for delivery in 2018-2019.