HSL-class fleet support ship

The HSL-class fleet support vessels are a series of five fleet tanker planned to be built by Hindustan Shipyard (HSL), Visakhapatnam and Larsen & Toubro at Kattupalli Shipyard for the Indian Navy. The deal was signed on 25 August 2023 with an expected project completion timeline of 8 years. These ships will be an indigenous design by the Hindustan Shipyard's in-house design team. The primary role of the vessels would be to replenish ships of the Indian Navy with fuel, food and various other supplies. With a length of 230 m and displacement of 45000 tonne, these will be the heaviest and the second largest vessels to be in operation in the Indian Navy fleets before 2030.

History
The fleet support ship project was given a go ahead to augment the existing fleet in 2014. Initially, HSL planned to have a design consultancy with Hyundai Heavy Industries. However, the deal fell off due to latter's insistence of manufacturing the first ship in Korea and disagreement in procurement of major components.

TAIS, Turkey emerged as lowest bidder for the project after the negotiations fell between HSL and Hyundai Heavy Industries. TAIS defeated other shipbuilding behemoths from Germany, Russia, Spain. However, the deal got stuck due to Turkey's stance on Jammu and Kashmir. Later, Hindustan Shipyard and Indian Navy signed the contract with TAIS, Turkey. The design consultancy will be provided by Anadolu Shipyard with transfer of technology required for the manufacturing of the ship.

However, after signing the deal on 25 August, 2023, it was revealed that the Turkish shipyard was dropped from the deal and now the design and development will be the sole responsibility of Hindustan Shipyard. However HSL is taking the assistance of a Cochi-based firm for design consultancy.

Construction
The Government of India cleared the project for a cost of inr 200000000000 on 16 August 2023. The final contract for the five fleet support ship with Indian Navy and Hindustan Shipyard was signed on 25 August 2023 for a total value of inr 190000000000. The first ship will be delivered in 4 years from the date of signing of the contract and subsequent ships will be delivered at 10 – 12 months interval. The total project completion timeline is 8 years.

On 10 April 2024, the steel cutting ceremony for the first vessel took place in HSL. HSL is installing a new 300T Goliath crane and slipway upgrades for the construction of these vessels. The delivery of the ships will commence from mid-2027.

HSL signed another contract with Larsen & Toubro as a part of which, L&T will manufacture 2 of the Fleet Support Ships at Kattupalli Shipyard under the subsidiary Precision Engineering Systems.

Design
The ships will have a displacement of 45000 t and a length of 230 m. They will have a cruising speed of 15 knot with a maximum speed of 20 knot and an operating range of 12000 nmi at a speed of 14 - 15 knot. The ships will be equipped with state of the art refueling facility and a hangar which can accommodate one HAL Dhruv.

These ship will be able to achieve pumping rates up to 2400 TPH. The vessel will also be able to carry ammunition and victualing stores for the fleet. The ship would be equipped with weapons like anti-ship, anti-submarine and CIWS systems.