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Cradle of maritime training
The old cadets of the training ship, Dufferin (right), Capt. K. Partha Sarathy (left) and Capt. Peter, singing the `Dufferin Song' at its centenary celebrations in Visakhapatnam on Tuesday. - Photo: K.R. Deepak
It slipped into the annals of history, but a handful of people gathered at the National Ship Design and Research Centre (NSDRC) to pay their respects to the ship to commemorate its centenary.
The legendary ship, RIMS Dufferin, was built as a troop ship in 1905 by Vickers Son & Maxim at Burro-in-Furness, UK. She used to ferry troops between India, Burma, Malaya, Hong Kong and Africa. During the World War-I, she was re-commissioned as auxiliary cruiser. After the war, she reverted to her role as a troop ship until 1927.
When decommissioning was proposed, a resolution was moved by the great visionary, Sir P.A. Sivaswamy Iyer, in the Indian Legislative Assembly, recommending her a new avatar as India's first training ship. His idea was adopted paving the way for the `Training Ship Dufferin' to come into being. She was scrapped after serving 67 glorious years of distinguished service in 1972 and later replaced by T.S. Rajendra.
"Dufferin is no more, but it's still a source of inspiration for many deck and merchant navy officers,'' remarked the Director-General of Shipping, D.S. Sahni, who attended the centenary commemoration ceremony organised in Visakhapatnam on Tuesday by the Dufferin and Rajendra Old Cadets' Association (DROCA).
K. Partha Sarathy, eminent marine engineering consultant, who was from the first batch of engineering cadets trained in Dufferin, said: "Till our last breath, we will fondly remember the legendary ship as the cradle of maritime training in India.''
Sarathy, who went down the memory lane, recalled his experiences in the vessel, and displayed a group photo of the first batch of cadets, which he preserved with utmost care.
N.C. Gupta, Chairman-cum-Managing Director of the Dredging Corporation of India, said that he belonged to the rare species of father and son getting trained in Dufferin in different batches. "It was a fantastic experience and we learnt during our training how to face stiff challenges,'' Capt. Gupta, who was in 1933-35 batch of cadets, said.
Another old cadet, P.B.S. Patnaik, said that Dufferin had the privilege of producing several Admirals. Five of them -- J.G. Nadkarni, K. Ramdas, S. Chatterjee, B.S. Soman and Z. Curstjee -- became Chief of the Naval Staff, Capt. Patnaik recalled.
During the diamond jubilee celebrations of Dufferin, the then CNS, Admiral Nadkarni, took the initiative to rename the Ross Hill Signal Station as Dufferin Signal Station.
The NSDRC Director, P. Sambandan, said that Dufferin would continue to be a source of inspiration for all training institutes in the country.
By Santosh Patnaik
in Visakhapatnam
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