In its second anti-piracy operation in 36 hours, Indian naval ship Sumitra rescued 19 Pakistani nationals from 11 Somali pirates from the hijacked fishing vessel Al Naeemi off the coast of Somalia. The same ship rescued 17 crew members from Somali pirates less than two days back. INS Sumitra was the Presidential Yacht during the Fleet Review held in February 2022 when Ram Nath Kovind was in office.
INS Sumitra was built at Goa Shipyard and has been in service since 2014. She is fourth of the Saryu class Patrol Vessels, (one of four such ships) and displaces over 2200 tons. She has a top speed of 25 knots or about 45 km an hour giving her a range of 6000nautical miles or 11,000 km.
Sumitra is armed with a 76-mm SRGM (super rapid gun mount) made by Bharat Electronics, although it is of Italian origin. Being a close in weapon system, It has a high rate of fire and can be used to counter missiles, enemy aircraft, surface ships or even land targets. It is remotely operated.
As the operation to rescue the ship attacked by Somali pirates demonstrates, Sumitra has a helicopter on board, also rescue boats and an armed contingent of Marcos, marine commandos. This gives the ship considerable flexibility during operations, enabling it to carry out a range of tasks.
