CAG fears for Navy’s old INS Jalashwa come true?

Mumbai, December 21, 2011: The apprehensions of the Comptroller and Audit General (CAG) over the Indian Navy going for the “ageing ship” USS Trenton (rechristened as INS Jalashwa) in a “hasty manner” seem to have come true. Within few years of induction the warship is undergoing heavy refurbishment for the past over 6 months because of which it even missed the Presidential Fleet Review (PFR) held here on Tuesday.

CAG had rapped the Indian Navy for acquiring the nearly 37-year-old amphibious warship without proper “physical assessment” for USD 50.63 million in 2006-07. The Indian Navy had bought the ship at 10 percent of the original cost when the US Navy had decided to phase it out. The navy had paid an additional USD 36.94 million, more than half of the price of the platform, for getting it retrofitted. 

“The warship had gone for repairs in July this year to Visakhapatnam and the work is still on. These are routine repairs,” said a senior Indian Navy official. Because of the ongoing repair activity, the second largest warship of the navy could not participate in 2011 PFR, the scintillating display of 81 warships and submarines and; 44 aircrafts.

Just before the CAG report punched holes through the acquisition, one officer and five sailors were killed due to leakage of toxic hydrogen sulphide from sewage pipes. The US Navy had also suffered a similar accident few years earlier.  

Following the incident the CAG report said that the ship had already outlived a major part of service life, envisaged to be 40 years and so the decision of its procurement “does not appear to be prudent”. 

However, the Indian Navy defended its decision to buy the platform as it was cheaper and will increase the force’s capability to deploy large number of troops and assets over large distances. With view of the capacity of the ship, the navy deployed it for evacuation of Indians from Libya.

The navy had contended that the ship would run for another 12 to 15 years. The claim was dismissed by CAG as baseless.

The navy had also purchased six helicopters at an additional USD 39 million to operate from the ship. At 16,900 tonne INS Jalashwa is the second largest warship in the fleet after the 28,000 tonne aircraft carrier INS Viraat.