Titagarh launches fourth catamaran diving support craft for Indian Navy

Titagarh Naval Systems sent A23 into the Hooghly River on April 19, adding the fourth catamaran-type Diving Support Craft to a five-ship Indian Navy series built for underwater work in harbour and near-shore waters. The 30-metre vessel, which displaces about 380 tonnes, was side launched at 1455 hrs in Kolkata before around 150 employees, with Mrs. Deepa Sivakumar, wife of Vice Admiral B Sivakumar, AVSM, VSM, Chief of Materiel, performing the naming and launch.

The craft is built for the kind of jobs that punish a cramped monohull and reward a broad, stable working platform. Titagarh has positioned the DSCs for underwater inspection, repair, maintenance and salvage, all tasks that depend on deck space, steadiness and predictable handling while divers, gear and support equipment are being moved around. That is where the catamaran format earns its keep. For naval work, the wide beam is not a luxury feature; it is the point.

This launch also shows that A23 is not a one-off curiosity but part of a long-running indigenous program. The Indian Navy signed the contract for five Diving Support Craft with Titagarh Wagons Limited on February 12, 2021, and the first vessel in the series, DSC A20, was delivered on September 16, 2025. The vessels support the Navy’s Command Clearance Diving Teams, and earlier company statements have said the class also serves as an advanced training platform for the diving cadre, with equipment sourced from Indian manufacturers.

The timing matters as much as the hull form. Just days before A23 was launched, Titagarh Naval Systems received in-principle approval for a 610 crore brownfield shipyard expansion at Falta, West Bengal, with about 129 crore in capital assistance under the Shipbuilding Development Scheme. The planned facility is expected to handle vessels up to 180 metres long and produce roughly 12 to 16 vessels a year, a scale that points to a serious industrial push in defence, commercial and export shipbuilding.

For catamaran readers, the signal is clear: the platform’s advantages are not limited to leisure craft or fast ferries. In A23, the Indian Navy is backing a multihull design because it delivers the stable, spacious working deck that diving and salvage crews need, and that is the strongest validation a professional hull can get.