INS Tarangini is the only sail training ship of the Indian Navy. She is termed as three-masted barque in sailing parlance ie square rigged on the fore and mainmasts and fore and aft rigged on mizzenmast. The ship has been designed by Mr Colin Mudie, a famous naval architect and yacht designer of UK, and built by Goa Shipyard Ltd. A reputed firm from U K supplied the sailing rig.

INS Tarangini, commissioned on November 11, 1997, is primarily meant for the sail training of cadets of first training squadron. She also conducts sail training capsules for cadets of National Defence Academy, Naval Academy and INS Shivaji. A sailing ship is the natural training ground for the sea. Sail training provides an excellent platform for basic seamanship. It teaches initiative and how to use it to the best advantage. The main value of sail training in this modern machine age lies in its unique ability to foster the somewhat old-fashioned character virtues of courage, comradeship and endurance irrespective of race, creed, colour and gender.

Tarangini provides a first-hand experience of vagaries at sea to cadets embarking on a naval career. All sailing manoeuvres require an experience of the basic elements of marine environment. They also need nicety of judgement and that indefinable quality of ‘sea sense’ which a sailing ship demands. The principle qualification for command or any other position of responsibility at sea requires strength of character.

Tarangini is built for worldwide operations. She carries twenty sails with a sail area of 965.4 square metres. The ship has a very high endurance and can be deployed at sea continuously for a period of twenty days. She has a complement of six officers and twenty-seven men as permanent crew and can accommodate and impart sail training to 30 cadets.