The Pondicherry class are a class of minesweepers built for 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...

 by the Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

. They are modified versions of the Natya class minesweeper

Natya class minesweeper

The Natya class were a group of minesweepers built for the Soviet Navy and export customers during the 1970s and '80s. The Soviet designation was Project 266M Avkvamarin. The ships were used for ocean minesweeping.-Design:...

. The vessels were acquired in two batches. The first were purchased from 1978 to 1980 and the second from 1986 to 1988. Technically, the second batch is referred to as the Karwar class but are physically identical to the first batch with the exception of additional 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. As minesweepers, they are large and heavily armed. They can serve a dual purpose as an anti-submarine warfare

Anti-submarine warfare

Anti-submarine warfare is a branch of naval warfare that uses surface warships, aircraft, or other submarines to find, track and deter, damage or destroy enemy submarines....

 escort. Their hulls are constructed of U3 low magnetic signature steel.

M61–M66 are based at Mumbai

Mumbai

Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...

 and M67–M72 are based at Visakhapatnam

Visakhapatnam

Visakhapatnam is a major sea port on the south east coast of India. With a population of approximately 1.7 million, it is the second largest city in the state of Andhra Pradesh and the third largest city on the east coast of India after Kolkata and Chennai. According to the history, the city was...

.

Ships

Name, pennant, commissioning date:

• INS Pondicherry (M61)
  INS Pondicherry (M61)
  INS Pondicherry was a Pondicherry class minesweeper in service with the Indian Navy. She was the lead ship of this class. Pondicherry served the Indian Navy from 1978 to 2007...
  
  (2 February 1978, decommissioned 2007)
• INS Porbandar (M62) (19 December 1978, decommissioned 2007)
• INS Bedi (M63) (27 April 1979, decommissioned 2009)
• INS Bhavnagar (M64) (27 April 1979, decommissioned 2009)
• INS Alleppey (M65) (10 June 1980)
• INS Ratnagiri (M66) (10 June 1980)
• INS Karwar (M67) (14 July 1986)
• INS Cannanore (M68) (17 December 1987)
• INS Cuddalore (M69) (29 October 1987)
• INS Kakinada (M70) (23 December 1986)
• INS Kozhikode (M71) (19 December 1988)
• INS Konkan (M72) (8 October 1988)