The Durg class corvettes of the Indian Navy

Indian Navy

The Indian Navy is the naval branch of the armed forces of India. The President of India serves as the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy. The Chief of Naval Staff , usually a four-star officer in the rank of Admiral, commands the Navy...

 were customized variants of the Soviet Navy

Soviet Navy

The Soviet Navy was the naval arm of the Soviet Armed Forces. Often referred to as the Red Fleet, the Soviet Navy would have played an instrumental role in a Warsaw Pact war with NATO, where it would have attempted to prevent naval convoys from bringing reinforcements across the Atlantic Ocean...

 Nanuchka class corvette

Nanuchka class corvette

The Nanuchka class was the NATO reporting name for a series of corvettes or small missile ships built for the Soviet Navy and export customers between 1969 and 1981. The Soviet designation was Project 1234 Ovod Small Missile Ship. These ships were designed around the P-120 Malakhit anti ship...

s. Three vessels of this class served in the Indian Navy, where they formed the 21st Missile Vessel Squadron (K21).

Durg class vessels take their names from famous historical forts in India.

The Durg class is also known as the Nanuchka II class. Some design improvements made for the Durg class were incorporated into the Soviet Nanuchka III class, commissioned into the Soviet Navy in the 1980s, some of which are still in service with the Russian Navy as of 2009.

The Durg class was primarily intended for coastal patrol and defence. They were the first class of vessels in the Indian Navy to primarily rely on surface-to-air missile

Surface-to-air missile

A surface-to-air missile or ground-to-air missile is a missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy aircraft or other missiles...

s and anti-ship missile

Anti-ship missile

Anti-ship missiles are guided missiles that are designed for use against ships and large boats. Most anti-ship missiles are of the sea-skimming type, many use a combination of inertial guidance and radar homing...

s for defence.

Ships of the class

Name	Pennant	Commissioned	Decommissioned	Status
INS Vijaydurg INS Vijaydurg (K71) INS Vijaydurg was the lead ship of the Durg class corvettes of the Indian Navy.The ship was commissioned on December 25, 1976 and decommissioned on September 30, 2002....	K71	25 December 1976	30 September 2002
INS Sindhudurg INS Sindhudurg (K72) INS Sindhudurg was the lead ship of the Durg class corvettes of the Indian Navy.The ship was commissioned on May 29, 1977 and decommissioned on September 24, 2004....	K72	29 May 1977	24 September 2004
INS Hosdurg INS Hosdurg (K73) INS Hosdurg was the lead ship of the Durg class corvettes of the Indian Navy.The ship was commissioned on January 15, 1978.-Decommissioning:...	K73	15 January 1978	05 June 1999	Sunk in a Sea Eagle Sea Eagle (missile) The BAe Sea Eagle is a medium weight sea-skimming anti-ship missile designed and built by BAe Dynamics . It is designed to sink or disable ships up to the size of aircraft carriers in the face of jamming and other countermeasures including decoys... AShM test