INS Sindhukesari

Subject :Geography

Section : Places in news

Concept :

INS Sindhukesari has become the first Indian submarine to dock in Jakarta, Indonesia.
The submarine, which was on operational deployment, travelled through the Sunda Strait and undertook the maiden docking in Indonesia for Operational Turnaround.
It significantly expands the area operational reach of the submarine arm near crucial shipping lanes and the strategic Malacca Strait.

About INS Sindhukesari :

It is a 3,000-tonne Kilo-class diesel-electric submarine.
It was designed as part of Project 877 and built under a contract between Rosvooruzhenie, Russia, and the Ministry of Defence (India).
Features:
- It has a displacement of 3,000 tons.
- It has a maximum diving depth of 300 meters, a speed of up to 18 knots, and can operate solo for 45 days with a crew of 53.

Strait of Malacca

Strait of Malacca connects the Andaman Sea (Indian Ocean) and the South China Sea (Pacific Ocean).
Stretching about 800km, it is the longest straits in the world and facilitates not just shipping and the movement of people in the surrounding communities but is a confluence of trade, cultures, ideas, and knowledge between the East and West.
It runs between the Indonesian island of Sumatra to the west and peninsular (West) Malaysia and extreme southern Thailand to the east and has an area of about 25,000 square miles (65,000 square km).
The strait derived its name from the trading port of Melaka (formerly Malacca)—which was of importance in the 16th and 17th centuries—on the Malay coast.
As the link between the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea, the Strait of Malacca is the shortest sea route between India and China and hence is one of the most heavily travelled shipping channels in the world.
Singapore, one of the world’s most important ports, is situated at the strait’s southern end.
The global shift in economic power from the West to the East coupled with burgeoning trade, investments, and production in areas spanning the Indian and Pacific Ocean regions has given increasing importance to this region.

Sunda Strait

It links the Java Sea (Pacific Ocean) with the Indian Ocean (south).
Sunda Strait, Indonesian Selat Sunda, is a channel, 16–70 miles (26–110 km) wide, between the islands of Java (east) and Sumatra.
The Sunda Strait is an important passage connecting the Indian Ocean with eastern Asia.
The strait stretches in a roughly northeast/southwest orientation, with a minimum width of 24 km (15 mi) at its northeastern end between Cape Tua on Sumatra and Cape Pujat on Java.
It is very deep at its western end, but as it narrows to the east it becomes much shallower, with a depth of only 20 m (65 feet) in parts of the eastern end.
It is notoriously difficult to navigate because of this shallowness, very strong tidal currents, sandbanks, and man-made obstructions such as oil platforms off the Java coast.
The strait’s narrowness, shallowness, and lack of accurate charting make it unsuitable for many modern, large ships, most of which use the Strait of Malacca instead.