U.S. Navy ship Salvor arrives at Kattupalli Port for repairs

The Military Sealift Command’s rescue and salvage ship USNS Salvor (T-ARS 52) docked at the L&T shipyard in Kattupalli on July 9, making it the third U.S. Navy ship arriving in the shipyard for voyage repairs in the last one year. Before this, USNS Charles Drew and USNS Matthew Perry have visited this port for repairs.

The USNS Salvor became the first ship to reach the port after the signing of the five-year Master Ship Repair Agreement (MSRA) between the U.S. Navy and L&T. This 40-year-old USNS Salvor, whose length is 255 feet and has a displacement of 3,336 tonnes, is a rescue and salvage ship.

U.S. Consul-General in Chennai Judith Ravin said the landmark agreement was a legally non-binding arrangement between the U.S. Navy and private shipbuilding contractors to pre-approve shipyards to repair U.S. Naval vessels. “The MSRA will fast-track the U.S. contracting processes for repair work and advances the Indian government’s indigenous production and logistics goals. With MSRA certification, the L&T Kattupalli shipyard may bid for U.S. Navy and Military Sealift Command (MSC) ship repair contracts throughout the 7th Fleet area of responsibility.”

She said India conducted more military exercises with the U.S. than it did with any other country.

U.S. Embassy New Delhi’s Office of Defence Co-operation chief Captain Michael L. Farmer said the purpose of this agreement was to allow L&T to expedite the responses to request for proposals from the U.S. Navy for mid-voyage repairs. “For the foreseeable future, we expect the visit of additional USNS ships from the military sea lift command, supply ships, oiler ships and salvage tugs. At the moment, there are no plans for combat ships of USS vessels to use the facility. But that is possible in future. The MSRA does allow for USS vessels under the contract. In future, if the two governments can come into arrangements, there could be a USS ship that comes here for the same work,” he added.

L&T Defence Business executive vice-president and head Arun Ramchandani said for the Salvor, this is a mid-voyage repair and this vessel will be docking again in November for a 90-day-long repair work.