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Young World
Day at sea
NIVEDITA GANGULY
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The Naval personnel showed their prowess by performing some breath-taking feats.
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Photo: K.R. Deepak
Royal float: A majestic fleet sails in.
The day dawned bright and cloudless, a perfect day for sailing as the majestic INS Jalashwa set out on the placid blue waters with about 75 media persons along with more than 650 enthusiastic school students and 15 senior citizens who experienced some rare moments onboard the INS Jalashwa.
The day-at-sea programme conducted by the Eastern Naval Command (ENC) as part of the Navy Week Celebrations saw some exciting naval exercises being demonstrated by the naval personnel at the sea off Visakhapatnam. Participating in the grand exercise were five ships of the ENC — INS Jalashwa, INS Rajput, a Kashin Class Destroyer, INS Karmuk and INS Khanjar, missile corvettes — INS Nirbhik, a missile boat and a submarine.
The action soon began in the middle of the azure sea, turning the place into a war zone of sorts for a brief time. Breaking the solemn silence of the seamless stretches of the Bay of Bengal, the Chetak helicopter zoomed past demonstrating the ‘search and rescue’ operation. This operation was extensively used to save the victims during the tsunami.
Too excited for words
The children were an excited lot as they huddled together to watch the breathtaking feats. Then came the high-speed manoeuvres by corvettes. INS Nirbhik with its formidable weapon load went past with terrific speed.
Next, the Naval personnel showed their prowess with weapons by firing a light machine gun to target an illumination motor bomb. The bomb went on course as a target and was shot with a very loud, satisfying bang. The crowd was overwhelmed, to put it mildly.
More action followed as Naval personnel demonstrated ‘jackstay’ operation, an exercise to shift men and material from one ship to another with the help of a rope. The roll and pitch of the ships also left a few queasy while the remaining cheerful lot captured the fascinating moments unfolding before them with amazement.
As the INS Jalashwa floated majestically and unhurriedly on the sea, the people onboard returned with some of the most memorable Kodak moments of life – the drunkenly bobbing fishing boats on the glistening waters of the sea and the grand view of the cityscape from the middle of the serene expanse of Bay of Bengal.
Earlier onboard INS Jalashwa, Rear Admiral R.K. Dhowan, Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet, gave away prizes to the winners of the painting contest conducted by the ENC who were invited for the day-at-sea programme.
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