INS Magdala an Indian Naval Minesweeper, took its name from the minor port of Magdala, located 5 miles (8 km) inshore of river Tapti at the Gulf of Khambat (Cambay). She was an inshore minesweeper (IMS) specially designed and built with glass reinforced plastic hull.

The ship was capable of operating in approaches to harbour and inshore waters in order to search, locate and destroy various types of mines.

Service

As the naval band played Last Post, the national flag and national ensign fluttering on INS Magdala were lowered for the last time. That marked the decommissioning of INS Magdala, the sixth ship under project 1258 E.

INS Magdala, built at Leningrad in the erstwhile USSR, was commissioned on May 10, 1984 by Vice Admiral KK Nayyar, the then Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Southern Naval Command. The ship was a part of the 20th Mine Counter Measure Squadron (MCMS) and was placed under the Naval Officer-in-Charge (Kerala

Kerala

or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....

 & Lakshadweep

Lakshadweep

Lakshadweep , formerly known as the Laccadive, Minicoy, and Amindivi Islands, is a group of islands in the Laccadive Sea, 200 to 440 km off the coast of the South West Indian state of Kerala...

) at Kochi.

During her commission, she undertook various operational commitments such as mine counter- measure exercises, tracking exercises, visits to various minor ports and search and rescue missions. In her 17 years of glorious and distinguished service, INS Magdala covered over 45000 nautical miles (83,340 km). The ship also paid a goodwill visit to Male in October 1989.