Indian President to review Navy’s fleet on Feb 21

By Trend

Indian president Ram Nath Kovind will review the Navy’s fleet, which is done by every President once in his term, later this month in Visakhapatnam. For the review, more than 60 vessels of the Navy and Coast Guard, all of which have been made in the country, will participate.

The Navy said on Friday that this will be the 12th Presidential Fleet Review – the last one was conducted in 2016 under President Pranab Mukherjee.

According to the Navy, the fleet review is a “long-standing tradition followed by navies all across the world” and it is “an assembly of ships at a pre-designated place for the purpose of displaying loyalty and allegiance to the sovereign and the state”.

A fleet review is usually conducted once during the tenure of the President, the Navy said. So far, 11 Presidential Fleet Reviews have been conducted since Independence, of which two have been International Fleet Reviews, in 2001 and 2016. “In terms of significance, the Navy’s Presidential review is second only to the Republic Day Parade,” the Navy said in a statement.

By reviewing the ships, the head of the state, “reaffirms his faith in the fleet and its ability to defend the nation’s maritime interest” and such an exercise is done without any “belligerent intentions”.

A fleet review is usually conducted once during the tenure of the President, the Navy said, adding that 11 Presidential Fleet Reviews have been conducted since Independence, of which two have been International Fleet Reviews, in 2001 and 2016.

“In terms of significance, the Navy’s Presidential review is second only to the Republic Day Parade,” the Navy said.

The Navy said that the review will take place on February 21, and to commemorate the 75th year of independence, the theme of PFR 22 is ‘Indian Navy – 75 years in Service of the Nation’.

More than 60 ships, including from the Coast Guard, the Shipping Corporation of India, and the National Institute of Ocean Technology, submarines and over 50 aircraft will participate in the review. The ceremony will include review at the anchorage, a steampast in a mobile column, a flypast, and parade of sails.

All the participating units, which include Indian Naval warships, submarines, auxiliary vessels as also assets of other maritime organisations, will be anchored in a formation of four precise columns, and the President will review all participating ships by ‘steaming past’ them, embarked on a naval vessel designated the ‘Presidential Yacht’.

“Each ship would render a salute to the Supreme Commander as the Yacht sails past. Indian Naval aircraft would simultaneously fly overhead the formation rendering their salute,” the Navy said.