Navy commissions INS Mangrol, third Mahe-class anti-submarine shallow water craft, in Mumbai

The Indian Navy commissioned INS Mangrol, the third ship of its Mahe-class anti-submarine warfare shallow water craft, in Mumbai on Monday, October 12, 2026, according to a PTI report carried by Nagaland Post and a separate report in The Free Press Journal.

The ceremony and the builder

Vice Admiral Sanjay Vatsayan, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Western Naval Command, presided over the ceremony, both reports say. The Free Press Journal places it at the Naval Dockyard in Mumbai. Both name Cochin Shipyard Limited, based in Kochi, as the builder and say the ship has more than 80 percent indigenous content.

What the ship carries

The reports give the same equipment list. The ship has three diesel engines with waterjet propulsion, which they say give it high maneuverability in shallow water. Its weapons and sensors include the Abhay hull-mounted sonar, lightweight torpedoes, an indigenous anti-submarine rocket launcher and the Maareech Advanced Torpedo Decoy System. The Free Press Journal gives its length as 78.8 meters and says the decoy system is used to detect incoming torpedoes.

Its intended role

Both reports describe the ship's main task as detecting and countering submarines in coastal and shallow waters, where, as Nagaland Post puts it, larger warships face operational limitations. The Free Press Journal adds underwater surveillance, low-intensity maritime operations and mine warfare-related tasks. The ships are meant to work with maritime patrol aircraft, helicopters and other warships to protect ports, harbors and coastal approaches.

The Free Press Journal quotes Vice Adm. Vatsayan as citing "rising geopolitical tensions and an increasingly contested maritime environment" and describing the need to detect, interpret and act before a threat becomes a danger. The PTI report carries no direct quotes from officials.

The name and the fleet

Both reports say the ship is named after Mangrol, a coastal town and fishing harbor in Gujarat's Junagadh district, and carries on the name of an earlier INS Mangrol (M85), a minesweeper that served until April 2004.

The Free Press Journal also reports that the Navy has commissioned 10 ships this year, with eight more expected by the end of the year, and that it currently operates 151 platforms, made up of 131 ships and 20 submarines. The PTI report does not give these figures.

What the reports do not say

The reports read do not give the ship's cost, its crew size or where it will be based.