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INS Vagli

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History
India
NameINS Vagli
Launched19 April 1973
Commissioned10 August 1974
Decommissioned9 December 2010
General characteristics
Class & typeVela-class submarine
Displacement
  • 1,952 t (1,921 long tons) surfaced
  • 2,475 t (2,436 long tons) submerged
Length91.3 m (299 ft 6 in)
Beam7.5 m (24 ft 7 in)
Draught6 m (19 ft 8 in)
Speed
  • 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph) surfaced
  • 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph) submerged
Range
  • 20,000 mi (32,000 km) at 8 kn (15 km/h; 9.2 mph) surfaced
  • 380 mi (610 km) at 10 kn (19 km/h; 12 mph) submerged
Test depth250 m (820 ft)
Complement75 (incl 8 officers)
Armament
  • 10 x 533 mm (21 in) torpedo tubes with 22 SET-65E/SAET-60 torpedoes
  • 44 mines in lieu of torpedoes

INS Vagli (S42) was a Vela-class diesel-electric submarine of the Indian Navy, commissioned in 1974.[1] Along with her sister ship Vela, she spent almost 10 years undergoing a protracted refit by Hindustan Shipyard.[2] After 36 years of active service, INS Vagli was decommissioned on 9 December 2010.[3][4][5]

Submarine museum proposal

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It has been proposed to convert INS Vagli into a museum like her sister ship INS Kursura. The ship was brought to the Chennai Harbour on 25th March 2013 and later moved to Mammalapuram on April 6. and was handed over to the state for conversion into a maritime heritage museum based near Mamallapuram.[6][7] Tradex ltd received a work order to tow the submarine to Mahabalipuram in April 2013 using air bags and flotation collars, against the opinion of the Indian Maritime University. Despite this several attempts were made from April 6 to 24th to beach the submarine. Facing strong underwater currents and high tide, the towing agency gave up and the submarine was brought back to chennai on April 30th. The whole mishap costed close to ₹4.41 crore (equivalent to ₹7.7 crore or US$800,000 in 2026).[8][9]

However, following various contractual setbacks, the process did not come to fruition and the submarine was towed to a vacant berth at the Chennai port in June 2014. The ship is still maintained by dock officials, though its condition continues to deteriorate.[10][11][12] TTDC was incurring a monthly expenditure of Rs 3.20 lakh towards recurring charges of port charges, insurance and husbandry charges for berthing the submarine at the Chennai port.[13] The submarine is presumed to have been sold to a shipbreakers in 2021 following a long and lenghty court trail.[14][15]

References

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  1. ↑ "Submarines of Indian Navy". Archived from the original on 19 June 2009. Retrieved 6 August 2009.
  2. ↑ Unnithan, Sandeep (17 November 2008). "Navy's sub induction plan suffers blow". India Today.
  3. ↑ Pandit, Rajat (9 December 2010). "Navy retires INS Vagli, India down to 14 subs". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 28 August 2012. Retrieved 26 June 2016.
  4. ↑ "Indian Navy's Foxtrot submarines to retire soon". brahmand.com. 25 January 2010. Archived from the original on 28 January 2010. Retrieved 6 July 2019.
  5. ↑ "Images: The Last Post for a 36-yr-old warhorse". Rediff. Retrieved 10 September 2025.
  6. ↑ "INS Vagli towed back to Chennai port". The Hindu. 28 April 2014. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 10 September 2025.
  7. ↑ Shivakumar, C. (26 March 2013). "Vagli dives into history, to resurrect as Museum". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 10 September 2025.
  8. ↑ "What happened to TN's maritime heritage museum plan". The Times of India. 7 September 2016. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 7 August 2026.
  9. ↑ "Rs 4.4cr sunk in botched maritime museum project, submarine adrift". The Times of India. 5 September 2016. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 7 August 2026.
  10. ↑ "1 worker dies, 2 injured during maintenance work on INS Vagli". India TV News. 27 January 2014. Retrieved 10 September 2025.
  11. ↑ Nair, Sthanu R. (19 February 2020). "Turning ships into museums". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 10 September 2025.
  12. ↑ "What happened to TN's maritime heritage museum plan". The Times of India. 7 September 2016. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 10 September 2025.
  13. ↑ kumar, j v siva prasanna (30 January 2017). "Tamil Nadu maritime museum project falls | Tamil Nadu maritime museum project falls". www.deccanchronicle.com. Retrieved 7 August 2026.
  14. ↑ https://indiankanoon.org/doc/99735926/
  15. ↑ "Metal Scrap Trading Corporation Limited". www.tenderdetail.com. Retrieved 9 August 2026.
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