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India is all set to get its first underwater museum off the Puducherry coast.
What Is It?
In order to give a boost to tourism in the Union territory, India is set to get its first underwater museum off the Puducherry coast. INS Cuddalore, a minesweeper decommissioned in March after it travelled 30,000 nautical miles in 30 years, will be turned into a museum.
What Else?
The minesweeper will be deployed in the seabed 7 km off Puducherry at a depth of 26 meters after the Navy agreed to gift the vessel to promote tourism in Puducherry. The 60-metre wide vessel will be a popular destination for scuba diving and snorkelling. There will be trails and routes for divers to get in and out of the ship which will guide them through the underwater experience.
There will be water buoys on the sea surface and the 29-metre tall mast of the ship will be jutting out to allow tourists to take boat rides around it.