KOCHI: In order to familiarize young officers and officer trainees to the socio-political and maritime facets of different countries in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR), six ships of the first training squadron of the Indian Navy are on a four-day visit to Sri Lanka from Sunday.
The Indian Naval Ships – Sujata, Magar, Shardul, Sudarshini, Tarangini and Coast Guard Ship Vikram – reached Sri Lanka as part of the overseas deployment of the trainees under the 100th and 101st integrated officers training course.
INS Magar and INS Shardul along with senior officer Captain Aftab Ahmed Khan, 1st training squadron, arrived at Colombo while Indian Navy Ships Sujata, Tarangini and Sudarshini along with Coast Guard Ship Vikram, entered Trincomalee harbour on Sunday.
During the visit, the ships will undertake bilateral training familiarisation and sail training capsules for Sri Lankan Navy. The ships will also participate in a joint exercise with ships of the Sri Lankan Navy prior to departure from respective ports.
The ships are the part of SNC, which is the training command of the Navy, and the deployment is headed by Vice Admiral A K Chawla, flag officer commanding-in-chief, SNC.
The 1st training squadron based at Kochi provides the ‘first sea legs’ to the executive officers of the Navy on completion of their ab initio training at the Indian Naval Academy.
