AFP, Karwar: India has inaugurated a new naval base on its Arabian Sea coast, which it says will become one of the largest this side of the Suez Canal.
The INS Kadamba naval base, which opened Tuesday at Karwar on the coast of the southwestern state of Karnataka, will have space for 42 warships and deep water for an aircraft carrier and nuclear submarines to dock, reported The Hindu. It covers 4,400 acres and will become the biggest operational base in India.
This base is of strategic importance, Defense Minister Pranab Mukherjee said at the opening ceremony.
The base will be equipped with a naval air station, naval armament depot, research facility and a full-fledged naval ship repair yard. It fulfils a longstanding demand by India's navy for an exclusive facility. Until now the navy has shared facilities with the commercial port in Bombay.
The base was opened 19 years after its foundation stone was laid, mainly because of delays due to funding problems.
