INS Varsha
INS Varsha, an Indian Navy's naval base in Andhra Pradesh state under Project Varsha to house India's nuclear submarine fleet, is being developed and expanded in phases at Rambilli south of Visakhapatnam, the headquarters of the navy's Eastern Naval Command. While the crew belongs to the Indian Navy, operational control resides with the Strategic Forces Command in Delhi. Arihant-class nuclear submarines will be based at INS Varsha. The naval bases lies on the confluence of Sarada and Varaha rivers.
It is designated as Naval Operational Alternative Base.
History
As early as in 2005, Project Varsha base was planned to be located within a radius of approximately from Visakhapatnam in order to de-congest the Visakhapatnam Port, which is being used by both the Navy and the civilian Ministry of Shipping. The Navy's dockyards at Vizag was facing shortage of berthing space due to the rapid expansion of the Eastern fleet, which grew from 15 major warships in 2006 to 46 in 2012, and is still expanding. Initially, Gangavaram, south of Visakhapatnam, was considered for the new base, but Rambilli was chosen as the final location to construct the naval base.Features
INS Varsha will have a large near-by facility of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, and will include modern nuclear engineering support facilities and extensive crew accommodation. It is designed to support the fleet of over 12 nuclear ballistic missile submarine and nuclear attack submarines to be built for the Indian Navy within a network of underground pens in the Eastern Ghats. This would avoid detection of the submarines during satellite and aerial surveillance as well as protect them from enemy air attacks. With the operationalisation of the base, submarines can be deployed into the waters of the Bay of Bengal stealthily without needing to surface. This is because of the natural depth of the region which would act like a "cloak".While designed principally as a nuclear submarine support facility, the new base will also accommodate additional surface naval vessels after the ongoing construction of piers. Comparable to the top-secret Hainan nuclear submarine base of the Chinese PLA Navy, this east coast base expansion programme by the Indian Navy was started due to India's Look East policy and the Chinese naval expansion into the region.
Construction
Project Varsha is being undertaken to enhance India's navy capabilities on the Eastern Coast of India. For the Western Coast of India, similar expansion are being undertaken under the Project Seabird for the INS Kadamba at Karwar. As of December 2017, the first phase was to be completed in 2022 at a cost of.Project Varsha Phase-I:
''Project Varsha Phase-II:''