Ocean Research Vessel ORV Sagar Manthan Launched at Kolkata

India has put its first advanced ocean research vessel into the water. ORV Sagar Manthan, earlier known only as Yard 3041, was launched on 9 September 2026 at the Rishi Bankim Shipyard in Kolkata. Dr Jitendra Singh, Minister of Earth Sciences, launched it virtually, and his spouse Mrs Manju Singh named the ship as tradition requires.

Who built it and for whom

The vessel was designed, engineered and built by the defence public sector undertaking Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Limited (GRSE). The owner is the National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR), which works under the Ministry of Earth Sciences. Dr T. Srinivasa Kumar, Secretary of the ministry, was present at Kolkata.

The ship in figures

What it replaces

The new ship will gradually take over from the 43-year-old ORV Sagar Kanya, which India bought from Germany in 1983. The minister called the day a red letter day and noted that the launch came within two years of the contract and barely five months after the keel was laid.

What it will do

ORV Sagar Manthan is an all-weather platform built to work even in the Southern Ocean. It carries dynamic positioning, multibeam bathymetry, multichannel seismic systems, sub-bottom profiling and weather radar, and can deploy remotely operated vehicles and autonomous underwater vehicles. Its research will run along the mid-oceanic ridges of the Indian Ocean, looking for multi-metal hydrothermal sulphide mineralisation, setting environmental baselines and collecting upper-air data.

Milestones so far

The contract was signed in July 2024, the first steel was cut on 29 November 2024 and the keel was laid on 8 April 2026. Superstructure erection, system integration and sea trials come next, before delivery to NCPOR.