Indian Navy’s first destroyer INS Rajput decommissioned after 41 years of service

Indian Navy’s first destroyer INS Rajput decommissioned after 41 years of service

• The Indian Navy is set to decommission its first destroyer, INS Rajput, on May 21, 2021, which had been in service for 41 glorious years. The motto of INS Rajput was ‘Raj Karega Rajput’.
• INS Rajput was the lead ship of the Kashin-class destroyers, and was built by the erstwhile USSR (Soviet Union).
• It was constructed in the 61 Communards Shipyard in Nikolaev (present-day Ukraine) under her original Russian name ‘Nadezhny’ meaning ‘Hope’.
• The ship was commissioned on May 4, 1980 as INS Rajput at Poti, Georgia by IK Gujral, the then Indian Ambassador to the USSR.
• Captain Gulab Mohanlal Hiranandani was her first commanding officer.
• While being in service, the ship had 31 Commanding Officers at her helm. 
• The ship had participated in several key missions and numerous bilateral and multi-national exercises.
• It was the first Indian Naval Ship to be affiliated with an Army regiment, the Rajput regiment.