INS Cheetah, INS Guldar and INS Kumbhir were decommissioned on 12 Jan 2024 after rendering four decades of glorious service to nation. The decommissioning event was conducted at PortBlair in a traditional ceremony wherein National Flag, Naval Ensign and Decommissioning Pennants of three ships were lowered for the last time, at sunset. The Ships were built at GdyniaShipyard, Poland as Polnocny Class Landing Ships and were commissioned into the IndianNavy in 1984-1986, in presence of Shri S K Arora (Cheetah and Guldar) and Shri A K Das (Kumbhir) then Ambassadors of India to Poland. The Commanding Officers of the three ships were Cdr V B Mishra, Lt Cdr SK Singh and Lt Cdr J Banerjee. During initial years, Cheetah was based at Kochi and Chennai for brief periods, Kumbhir and Guldar were based at Visakhapatnam. The ships were subsequently re-based at ANC, where they served till their decommissioning. These ships were in active Naval service for nearly 40 years, and collectively traversed about 17 lakh nautical miles whilst being at sea for over 12,300 days. As amphibian platforms of ANC, these ships have conducted over 1300 Beaching Operations for landing of army troops ashore. During their illustrious journeys, these ships participated in numerous Maritime Security Missions and HADR operations. Notable amongst them are their role during Operation Aman as part of IPKF operations and OperationTasha a joint operation carried out between Indian Navy and Indian Coast Guard in May 1990 to control smuggling of arms and ammunition and illegal immigration across Indian and Srilankan border and made stellar contributions in relief operations post 1997 cyclone off Sri Lanka and 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. The Ships have left an indelible mark on maritime landscape and their decommissioning marks the end of a significant chapter of the Indian Navy’s history. Air Marshal Saju Balakrishnan, CINCAN, Vice Admiral Tarun Sobti, DCNS, Flag Officers, former Commanding Officers and commissioning crew of the three ships attended ceremonies at Port Blair. The event was also unique since three warships of the same class were decommissioned simultaneously on a single day.
