INS Mormugao (D67)

INS Mormugao is the second ship of the Visakhapatnam-class destroyer stealth guided-missile destroyers of the Indian Navy. She was built at Mazagon Dock Limited (MDL), and was launched on 17 September 2016. The ship was commissioned on 18 December 2022. She is named after the port city of Mormugao in Goa.

Construction
The keel of Mormugao was laid down on 4 June 2015, and she was launched on 17 September 2016 at Mazagon Dock Limited of Mumbai.

Mormugao completed its basin trials on 15 December, 2021 and started its maiden sea trials on 19 December, 2021 commemorating the Goa Liberation Day. The ship was commissioned on 18 December 2022. The commissioning commanding officer is Captain Kapil Bhatia, VSM.

Service history
On 14 May 2023, INS Mormugao successfully fired an advanced variant of Brahmos missile.

In December 2023, INS Mormugao was deployed to the Arabian Sea along with INS Kochi and INS Kolkata to protect commercial shipping after an attack on a tanker transporting oil from Saudi Arabia to Mangalore.

Operation Sankalp: 2023-24 anti-piracy patrols
Against the backdrop of the increasing attacks on commercial ships transiting the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, and the Arabian Sea by the end of 2023, the Indian Navy on December 31 2023 said it had substantially enhanced maritime surveillance efforts in Central and North Arabian Sea and “augmented force levels” by primarily deploying the P-8I Neptune MPA and the SeaGuardian drones. Following two merchant vessels, including MV Ruen and MV Chem Pluto which were targeted in the sea. MV Ruen was hijacked (later rescued by sister ship INS Kolkata) while MV Chem Pluto sustained drone hits eventually and making way to port, The Indian Navy deployed a large flotilla of destroyers to safeguard international security. The deployment into the Arabian Sea includes Navy’s missile destroyers, including INS Kolkata, INS Kochi, INS Mormugao, INS Chennai and INS Visakhapatnam, virtually all of its modern destroyer force of its western fleet.The INS Kolkata is deployed on the mouth of the Red Sea, INS Kochi on the south of Yemen's Socotra Island, INS Mormugao in the west Arabian Sea with INS Chennai in the central Arabian Sea.

INS Visakhapatnam was also moved in a week later and was tasked to patrol the north Arabian Sea.