Karwar (Karnataka), March 31: Giant metal arms will hoist the ?mother ship? of the Indian Navy, the INS Aditya, put it on cradles, lift the behemoth, bind it to winches and roll it out on land for engineers to repair its hull at this base here.

The 10,000-tonne INS Aditya is the feeder vessel for the navy, servicing ships in mid-sea with fuel, food and provisions and is second in size only to aircraft carrier INS Viraat.

But at Karwar (in picture above), where the navy?s exclusive base will be due for commissioning on April 6, the INS Aditya will test the ship lift and transfer system, according to Rear Admiral K. Mohanrao, director-general of Project Seabird.

The system is a mechanism to park ships, somewhat like the multi-storeyed parking lots. Only, it is much bigger. The jetty that houses it is 185-metre-long and an aircraft carrier the size of three football fields lengthwise can berth alongside.

The ?shiplift? is at the heart of Project Seabird, the code name for the exclusive port and base on the Malabar coast that is being designed to house the navy?s strategic assets in its western seaboard. Work on it began in 1986 and has been tardy but despite delays and a funds crunch, the base has now taken shape.

Set amid hills that roll down to the Arabian Sea in Uttar Kannada, south of Goa, the Karwar base has natural defences.

Its stated objective is to de-congest Bombay port, where the navy?s ships have to be accommodated along with merchant vessels. In Karwar, the navy will have its own shelter.