INS Ganga placed in non-operational category

MUMBAI: Guided Missile Frigate INS Ganga entered the Mumbai harbour under own steam for the last time yesterday and was placed in the non-operational category today.

After 32 years of glorious service, the ship is likely to be decommissioned before the year-end, an official release said.

The ship, commissioned on December 30, 1985, at Mumbai, and presently in her 24th Commission, is commanded by Captain NP Pradeep.

Despite the long service, she still retains her capabilities in all three dimensions of naval warfare.

It is a testimony to the resilience of the ship and her crew that she sailed into Mumbai flying the flag of Rear Admiral RB Pandit, Flag Officer Commanding Western Fleet straight from a 45-day long active patrol in the Northern Arabian Sea, guarding the nation's maritime borders till her last operational day, it said.

'INS Ganga' is also affiliated to the Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry (JAKLI) of the Indian Army.