Diving Support Vessel (DSV) Nipun

Context: The Indian Navy is scheduled to commission ‘Nipun’, the second indigenously designed and constructed Diving Support Vessel (DSV) of the Nistar-class.

About Diving Support Vessel (DSV) Nipun:

What It Is?

• Nipun is a purpose-built, high-tech Diving Support Vessel (DSV) belonging to the Indian Navy’s Nistar-class. It operates as an integrated multi-mission mothership equipped for deep-sea saturation diving, underwater salvage, hydrographic intervention, and distressed submarine rescue missions.

Built By: Indigenously designed and built by Hindustan Shipyard Limited (HSL), Visakhapatnam.

Aim: To provide the Indian Navy with an indigenous operational platform for sustained deep-sea saturation diving, complex underwater engineering interventions, salvage missions, and rapid-response Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle (DSRV) support across India’s maritime zones of interest.

Key Features of DSV Nipun:

• Integrated Saturation Diving Complex: Equipped with deep-sea diving complexes, diving bells, mixed-gas breathing setups, and hyperbaric recompression chambers to sustain military divers at extreme depths for prolonged periods.
• Submarine Rescue Operations (DSRV Carrier): Serves as an integrated launch, recovery, and support platform for Deep Submergence Rescue Vessels (DSRVs) to locate, dock with, and rescue personnel from disabled or sunken submarines.
• Dynamic Positioning (DP) & Station-Keeping: Incorporates dynamic positioning propulsion systems and automated thrusters, enabling the ship to maintain an exact geographical position at sea despite strong currents, winds, and swell.
• Underwater Intervention & Robotics: Fitted with heavy-lift cranes, side-scan sonars, and launch suites for Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) to inspect wrecks, survey seabed infrastructure, and clear underwater obstacles.
• Onboard Specialized Hyperbaric & Medical Care: Houses dedicated medical and hyperbaric treatment facilities to manage decompression sickness, deliver critical trauma care, and support rescued submariners and divers.

Significance:

• The Nistar-class provides indigenous, round-the-clock submarine rescue and salvage capability, reducing dependence on foreign assistance.
• Enhances India’s underwater rescue and intervention capabilities in the IOR, supporting its expanding conventional and nuclear submarine fleet.