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Impressive display of ENC maritime prowess

Photo: Ashoke Chakrabarty

sea giants: Eastern Fleet demonstration in Bay of Bengal. —

ON BOARD JALASHWA (Bay of Bengal): Calm and quiet ambience of Bay of Bengal, about 70 kms off Orissa coast was ripped apart by a deafening gunshots on Saturday forenoon. Neither it was a war nor a reply to any terrorist attack. While all these were going on, several hundreds of civilians were watching the proceedings with awe and admiration.

Eastern Fleet of Indian Navy put up an impressive display of its maritime prowess as civilians including Orissa Governor Murlidhar Chandrakant Bhandare watched the demonstration.

As the INS Jalashwa, which was recently procured from United States, sailed in rough water of Bay of Bengal, the excitement was quite palpable due to the daredevil demonstrations by the navy personnel.

The show kicked off with Russian built Kamov aircraft dropping sonar into deep waters for detecting submarine, which is very potent and lethal platform to attack surface warships. It followed by India’s own Chetak that carried out demo search and rescue operation in water.

Elite marine commandoes on high-speed boats showed how they combat piracy in the deep waters.

High speed run carried out by ‘K’ class of ships was a sight to watch. They are first line of warfare ships and operate in high-risk environment and their primary role is to provide first strike offensive.

Chetak and Kamov helicopters flew past the Jalashwa offering salutes to Mr. Bhandare. Five warships INS Jalashwa, INS Rajput, INS Ranjit, INS Khanjar and INS Kulish participated in the Eastern Fleet’s the day-long OP-DEMO 2007 .

While was observing a lot of activities, However, the main attraction was firing of rockets from INS Rajput, those went past in a flash. The rockets could travel 5 km distance.

The demonstration was part of ongoing Navy Day Celebration. ENC FOC-in-C Vice Admiral R.P. Suthan, Rear Admiral R K Dowan and Commanding Officer of INS Jalashwa Captain B. S. Ahluwalia were present.

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