Three naval ships win Eastern Fleet trophies

 Visakhapatnam: Naval ships  INS Sahyadri and INS Kadmatt have won the coveted ‘Best Ship of the Eastern Fleet’ awards in their respective categories while INS Delhi and INS Sumedha were adjudged the ‘most-spirited’ ships.

The awards were given away at the fleet awards function held at Visakhapatnam on Thursday evening to acknowledge and celebrate the operational achievements of the Eastern Fleet the past year. The annual event marks the culmination of the operational campaign cycle of the Eastern Fleet.

Vice admiral Biswajit Dasgupta, flag-officer- commanding-in-chief, Eastern Naval Command, was the chief guest at the grand event hosted by Rear Admiral Gurcharan Singh,  flag-officer-commanding of the Eastern Fleet.

A cultural programme was part of the events that culminated with the awarding of the coveted trophies to the ships.

The past year witnessed a high tempo of operational activities as the Poorvi Beda was deployed within and beyond the Indian Ocean region for safeguarding the nation’s maritime interests. The combat edge of fleet ships was maintained and proven during several practice weapon firings in air, surface and sub-surface domains, the military brass said.

Multiple exercises across the spectrum of naval operations, including  amphibious and HADR, were conducted with participation of the Indian Army and Indian Air Force. Eastern Fleet ships also participated in several bilateral and multilateral exercises. Ships from the Eastern Fleet also unfurled the tricolour across the world to commemorate Azaadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, while fortifying bridges of friendship with the friendly countries.