--- title: India: Delhi Launches New Warship Amid Growing Rivalry With China description: The INS Kamorta, India’s first domestically built antisubmarine warship, will be unveiled to the public on Saturday canonical: https://time.com/3158067/india-china-navy-ins-kamorta/ author: David Stout article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-08-22T09:19:41.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T09:48:14.350Z article:section: World og:title: India Shows Off a New Warship og:description: The INS Kamorta, India’s first domestically built antisubmarine warship, is unveiled at a time of growing maritime rivalry with China og:url: https://time.com/3158067/india-china-navy-ins-kamorta/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt036857f13c3598fd/6986a08055a859e6fca8242e/indian-naval-warship.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: An Indian navy serviceman walks down the gangplank of the newly commissioned warship, INS Kolkata, during its commissioning ceremony at a naval base in Mumbai og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: India Shows Off a New Warship twitter:description: The INS Kamorta, India’s first domestically built antisubmarine warship, is unveiled at a time of growing maritime rivalry with China twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt036857f13c3598fd/6986a08055a859e6fca8242e/indian-naval-warship.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # India Shows Off a New Warship as Its Maritime Rivalry With China Deepens by [David Stout](/author/david-stout/) ## David Stout Aug 22, 2014 9:19 AM CUT  An Indian navy serviceman walks down the gangplank of the newly commissioned warship, INS Kolkata, during its commissioning ceremony at a naval base in Mumbai on Aug. 16, 2014 An Indian navy serviceman walks down the gangplank of the newly commissioned warship, INS Kolkata, during its commissioning ceremony at a naval base in Mumbai on Aug. 16, 2014Danish Siddiqui—Reuters by [David Stout](/author/david-stout/) ## David Stout Aug 22, 2014 9:19 AM CUT The Indian navy will add another warship into its rapidly expanding fleet over the weekend as it seeks to counter China’s growing supremacy on the high seas of the Indo-Pacific. The INS _Kamorta_, which Indian officials are lauding as the nation’s [first](http://indiannavy.nic.in/press-release/rm-commission-ins-kamorta "undefined") domestically built antisubmarine warship, will be unveiled to the public on Saturday during a ceremony at a naval dockyard in the eastern seaboard city of Visakhapatnam. Earlier this month, newly elected Prime Minister Narendra Modi christened the nation’s newest naval destroyer, the INS _Kolkata_, which in turn followed the commissioning of India’s second aircraft carrier late last year. India’s navy is currently the only Asian maritime force in possession of two aircraft carriers and is scheduled to add a third in 2017. According to defense experts, the commissioning of the _Kamorta_, the first of four such antisubmarine vessels that New Delhi is building, will provide additional muscle to protect its growing stake in the Indian Ocean. “India wants to project power into the Indian Ocean region. It wants that to be its area of influence,” James Hardy, the Asia-Pacific editor at _IHS Jane’s Defence Weekly_, tells TIME. To date, approximately 70% of all petroleum products and 50% of international container traffic [pass](http://www.iiss.org/en/iiss%20voices/blogsections/iiss-voices-2014-b4d9/march-2014-cd5b/china-india-ocean-c0d6 "undefined") through the Indian Ocean — making the body of water one of the world’s most strategically valuable maritime zones. The waters are also highly coveted by Beijing, which has invested heavily in a network of commercial ports in the region that some politicians on the subcontinent fear may be a sly [ploy](http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/chinesetakeaway-string-of-pearls/ "undefined") to encircle India. “India is extremely aware of the potential threat of Chinese expansion into the Indian Ocean region,” says Hardy. “Undoubtedly China is moving into the Indian Ocean commercially because … it needs to protect those sea lanes. It needs to protect its oil routes.” In December, China [sent](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-08-21/india-to-unveil-warship-to-deter-chinese-submarines-near-coast.html "undefined") a nuclear submarine to the Indian Ocean where the vessel stayed for two months conducting an antipiracy patrol. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3158067/india-china-navy-ins-kamorta/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3158067/india-china-navy-ins-kamorta/"},"headline":"India Shows Off a New Warship as Its Maritime Rivalry With China Deepens","datePublished":"2014-08-22T09:19:41.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T09:48:14.350Z","description":"New Delhi needs more firepower to protect its stake in the Indian Ocean, defense experts say","url":"https://time.com/3158067/india-china-navy-ins-kamorta/","keywords":["Navy","India","China","Beijing","Narendra Modi","Indian Ocean","Geopolitics"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt036857f13c3598fd/6986a08055a859e6fca8242e/indian-naval-warship.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"David Stout","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/david-stout/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt036857f13c3598fd/6986a08055a859e6fca8242e/indian-naval-warship.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"An Indian navy serviceman walks down the gangplank of the newly commissioned warship, INS Kolkata, during its commissioning ceremony at a naval base in Mumbai","caption":"An Indian navy serviceman walks down the gangplank of the newly commissioned warship, INS Kolkata, during its commissioning ceremony at a naval base in Mumbai","creditText":"Danish Siddiqui—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3158067/india-china-navy-ins-kamorta/","name":"India Shows Off a New Warship as Its Maritime Rivalry With China Deepens"}}]}] ```