Bombay Dockyard / Naval Dockyard, Mumbai

Naval Dockyard, Mumbai is the premier ship repair yard of the Indian Navy. With a history of over 200 years, it is one of the largest of its kind in Asia. The yard is the frontliner in technology for repair of ships.

There are mentions about ship building activities at the Naval Dockyard dating back to 1671. However, the foundations of the modern naval dockyard were established in 1735. Worried by the shortage of oak wood for building ships, the East India Company brought Lowjee Nauserwanjee Wadia, a master ship builder, from Surat to Mumbai in 1736 and assigned him the task of ship construction. He and the next seven generations of Wadia served as the Master Builders for the Company. They built more than 400 ships over a period of 150 years, using malabar teak. The ships made at Bombay Dockyard were among the finest in the world and sailed around the globe.

The pride of the warships built at Bombay Dockyard is HMS Trincomalee built in 1817. It is the world's second oldest ship afloat. The ship is now permanently berthed in Hartlepool in UK. With the advent of the industrial revolution and the introduction of steel as the primary ship-building material, the function of the dockyard changed in 1884 from ship-building to ship repair and maintenance for the Navy.

At present, the dockyard undertakes refit, maintenance and modernisation of ship and submarines of the Western Naval Command. There are more than 100 well-equipped work centres to cater to a range of machinery and equipment fitted on-board ships. The yard also maintains its own fleet of about 70 yard crafts to provide logistic support to warships in harbour. All the workshops and training centres are ISO 9000/2001 certified - a single largest certification of a group of workshops in South Asia.

The dockyard is spread over 138 acres of land overlooking the Gateway of India. It has over four kilometres of jetties and wharves. Specialised repair and testing facilities are available for a wide range of equipment such as diesel and gas turbines, steam propulsion machinery and auxiliaries, radial engines, refrigeration and air conditioning equipment, electrical power systems, weapons, armament and electronics control systems.

The yard pays utmost attention to quality of work. All the work centres of the yard are certified for Quality Management Systems. At present, there are 102 Quality Circles in the dockyard. The yard has participated in national and international Quality Circle conventions.

Safety and environment are given prime importance in the dockyard. The personnel are regularly trained in safety aspects and resort to safe work practices in the demanding conditions onboard. The dockyard is the first among defence organisations to obtain ISO 14001 certification for environment management system in fourteen work centres. The yard also boasts of vermiculture project, rainwater harvesting and waste water recycling plants.

The Naval Civilian Housing Colony at Powai is a plastic-free green colony with model management and amenities. The yard has won numerous awards for its contribution to safety and environment management. In addition, the dockyard houses many heritage buildings among which Bombay Castle is prominent. The dockyard has won Urban Heritage Award from the Mumbai Heritage Society in 2001 for excellent maintenance of Heritage buildings.

The statue of the Unknown Worker installed at the entrance symbolises the recognition of the value that the Naval fleet places in the skills of the personnel as it pays tribute to the yeomen service of thousands of workers who have toiled all these years.