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Navy displays marine power

RPK

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Navy displays marine power - The Hindu


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As two huge warships moved in parallel in mid-sea, a woman volunteered for an adventure. The Indian Navy was demonstrating its marine capabilities off the Chennai Coast on Wednesday when Karthiyayini offered to take part in the risky exercise of transferring personnel from one ship to another. While the ships moved at 14 knots (about 30 kmph), the 44-year-old medical practitioner followed instructions and moved swiftly from INS Kulish to INS Satpura.

Dr. Karthiyayini, wife of Commodore Amar K. Mahadevan, Naval Officer-in-charge, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, was aware that if the ships did not maintain the safe distance or move in unison, she would go down the water. Though the ships of different sizes bounced asymmetrically in the sea, a group of navy personnel tactfully pulled the ropes enabling the woman to cross the 40-metre stretch safely.

“Though the ropes are tested to sustain certain load, it holds good only when the ships maintain the safe distance. A minor deviation in the course by any of the ships can cause the ropes to snap…even if the ropes sag, the person being transferred will sink,” Commodore Mahadevan told The Hindu.

This was part of a series of events showcased by the Indian Navy as part of the ‘Day at Sea.’ Hundreds of people, including children, cheered as marine commandos landed on warships from helicopters. Led by Rear Admiral Atul Kumar Jain, Flag Officer Commanding (Eastern Fleet), the ships demonstrated simulated missile firing, anti-piracy and counter-terrorist operations. Among the guests were Puducherry Lieutenant Governor Virendra Kataria, Chennai Port Trust Chairman Atulya Misra, Regional Passport Officer Senthil Pandian and a host of senior defence officers.

Briefing media persons, Rear Admiral Jain said the Indian Navy had placed orders to acquire extremely potent warships, including aircraft carriers, guided missile destroyers and frigates. The strength of the fleet was expected to increase from the present 135 to 200 warships in the next ten years.

The Navy would procure four more Landing Platform Dock like the INS Jalashwa, an amphibious ship primarily designed to carry armed troops to distant shores. One aircraft carrier would be stationed in each of three naval commands. There was no specific threat along the eastern seaboard and the biggest challenge was to ensure safe trade. The force was fully equipped to protect the interests of fishermen, he added.
 
Commendable Act by the Lady concerned. But it was not the first time that a Woman crossed over the sea-waves by "Jackstay" (the correct Naval term for the evolution); That honor goes to Ms.Meena Nagarkar wife of Cdr.Nagarkar then Chief Instructor at the ND School in 1959. She was transferred between the INS Mysore (the Cruiser and Flagship) and INS Delhi (also a Cruiser)

That episode is described thus in R/Adm.Satyindra Singh's Book "Blueprint to Blue Water":

"Came September 1959 and a bevy of beautiful young damsels - all of them naval wives and lady plotters from the Tactical School, Cochin - found themselves on board the good ship Mysore, for what is known as 'A Day at Sea'. Amongst them was young Meena, wife of Commander W.S. Nagarkar, then the Officer-in-Charge of the Navigation and Direction School. As part of the exercises, a jackstay transfer between the Mysore and the Delhi was soon ordered. Rakesh Sharma may have been the first Indian to sojourn into outer space, with Salyut as his vehicle, but Meena Nagarkar, however, had decided, way back in 1959, that she would be the first Indian eve to bounce across the waves in a bosun's chair, a wooden seat suspended from ropes, used at sea for transferring men and material from ship to ship whilst they are under way. So, braving ominous forecasts from the Cassandras surrounding her,she set off jauntily from the Mysore to the Delhi.lt was after she reached there that her travails actually began, for the Captain of the Delhi (none other than the swashbuckling Krishnan) refused to return his 'prize. It took an imperious edict from Rear Admiral Ajitendu Chakraverti, the Fleet Commander, threatening dire consequences, before Meena came bobbing back to the Mysore.
The waves of the Arabian Sea were never the same again."


That act was also immortalised in a Cartoon by the famous cartoonist Mario Miranda in the "Illustrated Weekly".
 

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