The Indian Navy’s Leander-class frigate Vindhyagiri, pictured here, suffered a collision with a merchant vessel on 30 January, caught fire, and sank the following day. The accident occurred while the ship was traveling as part of a convoy in Mumbai Harbor. An inquiry into the sinking continues, but according to local media reports, the mishap was the result of a communication error broadcast from the INS Godavari, another frigate in the convoy, which had signaled conflicting location and navigational messages to the Cyprus-flagged merchant ship MV Nordlake. The Nordlake subsequently collided at a right angle into the Vindhyagiri’s starboard side. Though the frigate managed to arrive dockside, safely offloading her crew and passengers, the fire proved too intense and the ship sank in shallow water. It may be possible to salvage the vessel. The 3,000-ton Vindhyagiri was built at Mazagon Docks in Mumbai and entered service in 1981. She was armed with a single 114-mm gun, two twin 30-mm guns, and an antisubmarine-warfare rocket launcher; she could carry one helicopter.
The Ghana Navy received a welcome addition to the fleet in January: an overhauled fast-attack craft transferred from South Korea. The newly acquired vessel, a member of the Chamsuri (Sea Dolphin) class, was recommissioned on 21 January. She has been renamed the Stephen Otu and renumbered P-33. Previously known as PKM-237, she is part of a large series of patrol craft built for South Korea during the 1970s and ’80s. Nearly identical to sister ship PKM-281, pictured here, the Stephen Otu displaced 156 tons and carried a heavy-gun armament of 40-mm,30-mm, and 20-mm weapons while in South Korean service. The class is being retired from the South Korean navy and, in addition to Ghana, sister ships have been transferred to a number of Asian navies, including those of Bangladesh, Kazakhstan, and the Philippines.
On 24 February the British Royal Navy destroyer HMS Manchester, namesake of the Type 42C class of warships, was decommissioned at England’s Portsmouth Naval Base. The 4,500-ton destroyer was launched in November 1980 and commissioned on 16 December 1982. During the course of her nearly 30-year career, HMS Manchester sailed more than 858,000 nautical miles around the world and played an active role enforcing the arms embargo against Iraq during the first Persian Gulf War. The Manchester-class Type 42C destroyers are actually lengthened versions of the original Sheffield-class warships, and were designed to provide improved seaworthiness, endurance, and habitability over the older destroyers. Three of the Manchester’s sister ships, the Gloucester, Edinburgh, and York, remain in service with the Royal Navy. They can each carry a Lynx helicopter and are armed with Sea Dart surface-to-air missile launchers, a 114-mm gun, and 20-mm close-in weapon systems.