Lieutenant General PS Rajeshwar, Commander-in-Chief, Andaman and Nicobar Command, commissioned INLCU L57 into the Indian Navy at Port Blair on Friday. This ship is the seventh Landing Craft Utility (LCU) MK-IV class to be inducted into the Indian Navy. The ship has been indigenously designed and built by the public sector Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE), Kolkata. The commissioning of INLCU L57 is yet another manifestation of the country’s indigenous design and ship building capability.
The LCU MK-IV ship, is an amphibious vessel with a designated primary role of transporting and deploying Main Battle Tanks, Armoured Vehicles, troops and equipment from ship to shore. Based at the Andaman and Nicobar Command, these ships can be deployed for multirole activities like beaching operations, search and rescue, disaster relief operations, supply and replenishment and evacuation from distant islands, officials said here on Saturday.
