Navy's good will visit to Sri Lanka

Navy's good will visit to Sri Lanka 

Indian Naval Ships Tir and Sujata, along with Indian Coast Guard Ship Varuna, comprising the 1st Training Squadron, are scheduled to visit Colombo, Sri Lanka today and shall stay till 19 Apr 16 as part of their Overseas Deployment during Spring Term 16. The Senior Officer of the 1st Training Squadron, Captain SR Ayyar, would be embarked on board INS Tir.

India and Sri Lanka have a close, long-standing relationship covering a wide spectrum of activities and interactions, which have strengthened over the years. The people of India and Sri Lanka have close cultural bonds and a shared vision of a democratic and pluralistic society. 

Visits by IN and SLN ships to each other’s countries as well as bilateral exercises such as SLINEX provide opportunities for extensive operational and training engagements and contribute to the maintenance of good order at sea. The present deployment of the Training Squadron to Colombo would further cement the close relations between the two nations and the two navies.

The First Training Squadron forms part of Southern Naval Command (SNC) and comprises Indian Naval Ships Tir, Shardul, Sujata, ICGS Varuna and two Sail Training Ships Sudarshini and Tarangini, all of which have been built in India. 

The primary aim of the Squadron is to impart sea training to Naval and Coast Guard trainees, with a 24 weeks ab-initio sea training being imparted. All the trainees are trained in Seamanship, Navigation, Ship Handling, Boat Work, Technical aspects, etc. whilst being exposed to the rigours of life at sea, so as to earn their ‘sea legs’.

The Southern Naval Command (SNC) is the Training Command of the Indian Navy, which provides both basic and advanced training to officers and sailors of the Indian Navy. Vice Admiral Girish Luthra, AVSM, VSM is the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Southern Naval Command.

The Indian Navy has also been providing training to personnel from friendly foreign countries for more than four decades, wherein more than 13,000 personnel from over 40 countries have been trained. The Indian Navy’s focused approach for providing high quality training by constantly adapting to evolving tactics and technologies, has gained it a reputation of being one of the finest training destinations.

- PIB