HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE The Naval Dockyard, Mumbai, the premier repair yard of the Indian Navy, is over 270 years old. It was established in 1735 and its Bombay Dock the first dry dock in Asia was commissioned in 1750. Between 1735 and 1856, steady expansion of the dockyard facilities had taken place with the creation of additional dry-docks, slip-ways, berthing facilities. With easy availability of Malabar teak, the yard was famous for wooden vessels built under the guidance of master builder, Lowjee Nusservanjee. The tradition of high quality shipbuilding had been passed on to his successors who came to be known as Wadias. During the period, 170 war vessels were built for East India Company, 34 warships for the Royal Navy and 87 merchant vessels for private companies.HMS Foudroyant originally known as HMS Trincomalee, a 46 gun, 1065 ton frigate, built at Bombay dock in1817, is the oldest sail warship anywhere in the world and still afloat in England. It bears testimony to the brilliant workmanship of the yard and the Wadias. In the last 260 years of its glorious history, the dockyard has grown from a modest shipbuilding facility to the largest Naval repair organization. Spread over 130 acres of Land, it has vast range of engineering facilities to meet every maintenance need of ships and submarines.Multifarious facilities have been added to meet the repair needs of modern ships and equipment inducted into the Navy in recent times. The yard is headed by Admiral Superintendant of the yard. He is of Vice-Admiral rank and assisted by General Managers, Additional General Managers and Managers spanning over 100 workshops/centres. The yard has a strength of over 10000 employees, bulk of whom are the industrial civilian workers. Highly qualified and trained service and civilian officers provide the necessary leadership in technology and management. In about 100 work centres the yard undertakes about 1500 jobs on any single day. The work force, brilliant in their workmanship, are committed to their task and constantly strive for excellence.