Tamil Nadu to have country’s first maritime museum

Keeping in line with the rich maritime heritage of Tamil Nadu dating back to the times of Chola Dynasty with a strong naval force, the state Chief Minister J Jayalalitha will soon give approval to set up the country’s first maritime museum in the state under Project Samudram.

A proposal for a maritime heritage tourism package Project Samudram is an abbreviation for Sea Shore Archaeological Museums of the Dravidian Mainland encompassing Chennai, Mamallapuram, Alamparai, Sadras, Puducheri,Porto Novo and Kaveripoompattinam in Tamil Nadu.

The proposal was mooted by the Indian Navy that has offered to give its decommissioned Foxtrot class submarine – INS Vagli to the state government to be kept as the centre piece at the museum.

Sources told the Sunday Express, “The Ministry of Defence has given in principle approval to the project and the proposal is now with the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister for final approval.” The state government had earlier accepted the Navy’s offer.

Once the final nod from the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister’s comes the completion of Maritime Heritage Museum including a Maritime Research Centre will take around one year.

Talking about the project, a naval official said: “The Chola naval conquests are well known and Tamil Nadu has been taking a good interest in preserving its rich maritime heritage. Also in modern times, the state has the potential to emerge as the leading maritime state of India, because of its strategically located ports, academic institutions connected with the maritime sector, and as the home of a large private sector ship building yard. The proposed museum is in line with this maritime consciousness of the state.”

(First two pics - INS Vagli and decommissioning of the Fixtrot submarine. Third pic - INS Kursura at the submarine museum at RK Beach Visakhapatnam)

The project will also serve two purposes of attracting the youth of Tamil Nadu to take a career in maritime sector and to boost tourism in the state by projecting the unique museum as a major highlight in the state’s tourism circuit.

While the Indian Navy has a submarine museum at Visakhapatnam’s RK Beach where a Kursura class submarine is open for visitors, the scale of Tamil Nadu maritime museum is unprecedented. Around 30 acres land has already been earmarked off north of Chennai for the construction of the museum.

INS Vagli, the oldest operational submarine of the Indian Navy, undertook its last dive on July 21, 2010 and was decommissioned later that year.