The Indian Navy’s undersea operations are supported by the Diving Support Craft A20 (DSC A20), a dedicated naval auxiliary craft. It is a component of India’s larger endeavour to improve its maritime operational capabilities, especially in the areas of submarine assistance, salvage, diving, and underwater repair. In both peacetime and wartime maritime contexts, these systems are essential for guaranteeing operational preparedness and safety.
Role and Functions
The main purpose of Diving provide Craft A20 is to provide naval diving teams with operational, technical, and logistical support. Supporting deep-sea diving operations, underwater ship and submarine inspection and maintenance, salvage missions, and help during maritime accidents are some of its primary responsibilities. The ship is outfitted to serve as a mother ship for divers, allowing for safe underwater activity, deployment, and retrieval.
Naval divers can operate for extended periods of time at considerable depths because to the craft’s support for both conventional and saturation diving. This competence is essential for underwater construction or destruction, propeller repair, hull inspection, and submarine rescue readiness.
Strategic and Operational Significance
By lowering dependency on foreign or civilian support vessels, the introduction of DSC A20 improves the Indian Navy’s independence in undersea operations. Because it makes it possible to respond to underwater emergencies, accidents, or hostile threats more quickly, it immediately enhances maritime security. Diving support vessels are essential to maintaining fleet sustainability and safety in the context of growing submarine operations in the Indian Ocean Region.
These vessels are also crucial for post-accident investigations, sunken equipment recovery, and search and rescue operations. Particularly in cases of port accidents or marine incidents, they help humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) activities.
Alignment with Indigenous Capability Building
India’s emphasis on enhancing domestic navy auxiliary capabilities is seen in the Diving Support Craft A20. Despite being less noticeable than combat ships, support vessels are the foundation of naval operations. How well frontline assets can be maintained and repaired depends on their availability.
By providing genuine operational exposure in controlled situations, the ship also aids in the training and skill development of naval divers.
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About the Author: Jyoti Verma
