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Context

• The Indian Navy Ship (INS) SUMEDHA has made a port call to Nigeria to improve existing bilateral relations as well as security in the Gulf of Guinea.

About the Gulf of Guinea

• It is the most northeastern part of the tropical Atlantic Ocean, located off the western coast of Africa.
• It is located at 0°0'N and 0°0'E, at the intersection of the Prime Meridian and the Equator.
• The region is 2.3 million square kilometers, with 6,000 kilometers of coastline.
• It has a relatively narrow continental shelf.
• Because of the rivers that pour into it and the region's heavy rainfall, it has warm tropical waters with relatively low salinity.
• The Volta and Niger rivers are two of its primary tributaries.

Coastline:

• Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of Congo, Guinea, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Gabon, Nigeria, Ghana, So Tomé and Principe, Togo, and Sierra Leone are the 16 coastal countries around the Gulf of Guinea.
• The Gulf's coastline section is largely low-lying, with mangrove swamps, marshes, and lagoons intermingled.
• The shoreline of the Gulf of Guinea is strikingly comparable to South America's continental margin (which spans from Brazil to the Guianas), providing strong support for the notion of continental drift.
• The Gulf of Guinea region accounts for more than 35% of the world’s total petroleum reserves.
• It is one of the world’s most dangerous gulfs because of the widespread piracy that has severely affected many countries in West Africa, along with other international countries.

About INS Sumedha

• It is the third ship in the Saryu-class Naval Offshore Patrol Vessels (NOPV) produced in Japan.
• Goa Shipyard Limited designed and built it in-house.
• On March 7, 2014, it was commissioned into the Indian Navy.
• It is part of the Indian Navy's Eastern Fleet, which is headquartered in Visakhapatnam.
• Primary responsibilities include EEZ surveillance, anti-piracy patrols, fleet support operations, maritime security for offshore assets, and escort operations for high-value assets.

Features

• It has a displacement of 2,230 tonnes, a length of 105 meters, and a beam of 12.9 meters.
• It is outfitted with a cutting-edge weapon and sensor suite.
• It is capable of transporting an Advanced Light Combat Helicopter.
• The ship is propelled by two diesel engines, the largest of their sort ever deployed in the Indian Navy, and can attain speeds of up to 25 knots.
• The offshore patrol vessel has a range of 6,000 nautical miles (11,000 km) at 16 knots (30 km/h), making it suited for extended missions and operations.

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