
The massive naval base in Karwar will house two aircraft carriers, over 20 submarines, 47 warships and advanced Naval aircraft.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar at the commissioning of INS Vajrakosh, with Navy chief Admiral Robin Dhowan (right) and Vice Admiral SPS Cheema, Flag Officer Commanding in Chief of the Western Naval Command (left).
At the new naval base, The Indian Navy will be positioning two aircraft carriers - INS Vikramaditya and the indigenously built INS Vikrant - over 20 submarines in underground pens and 47 warships. Besides this, it will also have a Naval air station that will base the Boeing P-8i, an advanced maritime surveillance aircraft that is known as 'Poseidon'. The facility will also feature a helicopter base.

File picture of the advanced Boeing P-8I Poseidon surveillance aircraft, which will be based in Karwar.
"Apart from the Naval Air Station, INS Vajrakosh will be the biggest missiles, ammunition and spares dump on the Western Sea Board. It will be base that will equip all warships and airplanes," a senior Naval officer who was at the commissioning ceremony told NDTV.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrkiar at the commissioning of INS Vajrakosh.
The Karwar base will cost the Indian exchequer Rs 25000 crore. When it had been conceived in 1985, the criteria had been to relocate the fleet away from the reach of Pakistani fighters. In the age of mid-air re-fullers, that is no longer the case. Enemy fighters can very well reach the new base. Nonetheless, the Karwar Base - an exclusive Naval harbour - will be prove to be major advantage for the Navy. The Bombay, Cochin Harbours - the two major Naval stations in the Western Sea Board - are over-crowded with commercial traffic. "It often takes hours to move in and out of these harbours. From Karwar, we deploy simultaneously in a very short time," a senior official said.