Indian Naval Ships (INS) Karwar and Kakinada were decommissioned recently.
INS Karwar (M67) was the first of the Natya class minesweepers acquired from the erstwhile USSR. It was commissioned on July 14, 1986, at Riga in Russia. It operated in Vishakhapatnam till 2013 after which she was based in Mumbai.
INS Kakinada (M70) was the second of the class and also commissioned at Riga on December 23, 1986. Like her sister ship, INS Kakinada operated in Vishakhapatnam till 2013 before shifting base port to Mumbai.
Both ships have rendered over 30 years of service to the nation. The ships have undertaken countless mine-sweeping missions using mechanical sweeps and modern side-scan sonars.
