Indian Navy Surface Ships: Types, Classes, Names and Who Builds Them

Nine Ship Types, Told Apart

Sort the fleet by job first and size second. Where PIB gives a figure, it is used below.

Three of these types have their own pages: aircraft carriers, guided-missile destroyers and stealth frigates and corvettes. The landing ships, tankers, survey and diving vessels are on amphibious and support ships. The Army's counterpart is Indian Army weapon systems.

How Navy Ships Get Their Names

The Navy publishes no naming rulebook, but the habits are steady enough to use.

The rebirth tradition. A new ship takes the name of a retired one; PIB calls it a "reincarnation of the erstwhile ...". Dated examples:

• INS Vikrant renews the first INS Vikrant (R11), decommissioned in 1997 (PIB).
• INS Dunagiri (2026) renews the Leander-class frigate Dunagiri, in service from 5 May 1977 until October 2010.
• INS Mangrol (2026) renews the minesweeper Mangrol (M85), in service until April 2004.
• INS Amini (delivered 5 November 2026) renews a Petya III-class corvette decommissioned in 2002.
• The Arnala class replaces the ageing Abhay-class corvettes, and the names Abhay, Akshay and Ajay come from them.

Project Numbers: Class, Shipyard and Status

A project number is the Navy's file number for a class: P-15B is the second follow-on to the P-15 destroyer. Most Indian-built combatants are designed by the Navy's Warship Design Bureau. The yards are MDL (Mazagon Dock, Mumbai), GRSE (Garden Reach, Kolkata), CSL (Cochin Shipyard, Kochi), GSL (Goa Shipyard), HSL (Hindustan Shipyard, Visakhapatnam) and the private L&T yard at Kattupalli, Chennai.

The big combatants, status as of 9 November 2026:

Smaller classes and what is coming:

From Buyer's Navy to Builder's Navy

PIB's backgrounder of 3 December 2025 describes a shift from an import-dependent "Buyer's Navy" to a mostly indigenous "Builder's Navy", in three steps:

1. Imported. The Talwar class (P-1135.6) was designed and built in Russia, and INS Jalashwa came from the United States. INS Tamal (1 July 2025, Kaliningrad) is the latest Russian-built frigate; press reports call it the last major import, which PIB does not say.
2. Designed at home. The Shivalik class (P-17) was India's first indigenously designed stealth frigate, drawn by the Warship Design Bureau and built at Mazagon Dock (PIB, 13 Jul 2026).
3. Built at home, in more yards. INS Vikrant (CSL, 2022) is the largest warship built in India, and on 16 October 2026 INS Samarthak became the first major warship built by an Indian private shipyard (L&T), according to PIB.

Indigenous content is quoted class by class: 76% for INS Vikrant, over 75% for the Nilgiri class, over 80% for the Sandhayak, Arnala and Mahe classes and over 82% for the Fleet Support Ships. The 2025 backgrounder splits shipboard machinery into Float, Move and Fight: about 90% indigenised for Float (hull, auxiliaries), about 60% for Move (propulsion) and about 50% for Fight (weapons, sensors), so weapons are where imports remain. "Built in India" is not "designed in India", so read the verb in an option. The new ships carry the BrahMos. The yards are covered on defence PSUs and the policy on defence indigenisation and exports.

The Fleet Snapshot and What Changed Recently

PIB gives no single dated total for the whole fleet. Outside trackers quote anything from about 140 to over 340 depending on whether small craft count, and an undated Ministry of Defence page speaks of about 150 ships and submarines. UPSC follows official figures, so use these dated PIB snapshots instead:

• Feb 2026: the Indian fleet at the International Fleet Review off Visakhapatnam included 60 Navy ships and three Navy submarines. That is one event, not the Navy's total.
• 2025: the MoD Year End Review lists 12 ships delivered to the Navy in the year, a list that opens with INS Surat, INS Nilgiri and the submarine INS Vaghsheer in January.

The year's running list is on ships commissioned in 2026.

Guided Tour: Pages Under Surface Ships

Read the four type pages first, then the neighbouring Navy pages.

Ships are grouped into commands on Naval Commands. The Indian Coast Guard builds in the same yards, the Indian Air Force shares the maritime role, and joint operations are on tri-services.

Exam pins

Asked in past papers

Surface-ship questions match a name to a type, or place a ship in the news of that year.

Practice MCQs (with answers)

1. Which ship type has a flooded dock at the stern from which landing craft can sail?
   1. Corvette
   2. Landing platform dock
   3. Offshore patrol vessel
   4. Fleet tanker
2. INS Samarthak, commissioned on 16 October 2026, is notable as the first major warship built by
   1. Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders
   2. A foreign shipyard
   3. An Indian private shipyard
   4. Hindustan Shipyard
3. The Nilgiri-class stealth frigates are built under which project?
   1. Project 17A
   2. Project 15B
   3. Project 28
   4. Project 75I
4. According to PIB's backgrounder of 13 July 2026, how many of the 66 ships and submarines on order for the Navy were being built in India?
   1. 66
   2. 62
   3. 60
   4. 64
5. INS Dunagiri, commissioned in June 2026, carries the name of an earlier
   1. Aircraft carrier
   2. Kamorta-class corvette
   3. Leander-class frigate
   4. Talwar-class frigate
6. Which of the following is not a name in the Arnala class of anti-submarine shallow water craft?
   1. Androth
   2. Mormugao
   3. Agray
   4. Ajay

Where to Go Next

For the career side, read career in the Indian Navy. Boards ask "know your service", so carry the type table into the Personal Interview; our SSB interview tips show how. Graduates enter the Navy through the CDS course to the Indian Naval Academy, and 12th-pass candidates through the Naval wing of the NDA, covered by our NDA batches.