Indian Navy Day is observed on December 4 every year to celebrate the success of the Indian Navy and salute the valour and courage of the naval personnel. Also known as ‘Navy Day’, various events including open sea swimming contests are organised by the Indian Navy on this day.
The Indian Navy is a naval branch of the Indian Armed Forces and is led by the President of India as Commander-in-Chief.
Notably, the day is always celebrated with a different theme every year.The theme of Navy Day 2020 is “Indian Navy Combat Ready, Credible & Cohesive”.
“Covid-19 and Chinese attempts to change status quo along northern borders have posed new challenges. The Navy is ready to face both these challenges,” Admiral Karambir Singh, the Navy chief said at a press conference on the eve of Navy Day.
The Indian Navy Day commemorates Operation Trident, which was launched by the Indian Navy to attack Karachi Harbour during the War of 1971 between India and Pakistan.
What was Operation Trident?
Operation Trident was conduced on the intervening night of December 4 and 5 on the Pakistan Naval Headquarters in Karachi. The attack ravaged Pakistan’s fuel storage tankers, sinked four of their boats — including minesweeper and a destroyer — and killed 500 Pakistani Navy personnel.
No Indian sailors were killed in the attack. For the first time in the India Pakistan war of 1971, the Pakistani ship was attacked with an anti-ship missile. Operation Trident was followed by operation Python just three days later. Again, no Indian sailors were killed in the attack, while the operation managed to damage Pakistani fleet tanker PNS Dacca.
Below are some interesting facts that prove is a formidable force on Earth.
1. The Indian Navy is presently the seventh strongest maritime force on the planet, with only the United States, Russia, China, Japan, United Kingdom and France ahead of it.
2. The force, as of June 2019, has 150 submarines and ships and 300 aircraft, and 67,252 active and 55,000 reserve personnel in service.
3. The Indian Navy’s anti-ship cruise missile BrahMos is the world’s fastest operational system in its class.
4. The Indian Navy’s special operations unit named MARCOS (originally called Marine Commando Force), founded in 1987, is trained and equipped to carry out operations in all environments – at sea, on land and in air.
5. The force has acquired international recognition for professionalism.
6. The Indian Navy’s ‘Sagar Pawan’, founded in 2003, is one of the only two naval aerobatic teams in the world, the other being the US Navy’s Blue Angels.
7. The Indian Navy played a major role during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 by carrying out two-large-scale naval attacks – Operation Trident and Operation Python – on Pakistan’s port city of Karachi.
8. The Indian Navy has completed successful expeditions to the Mount Everest, the South Pole and the North Pole in 2004, 2006 and 2008 respectively.
9. The Indian Naval Academy, situated in Ezhimala in Kerala’s Kannur district, is the largest naval academy in Asia.
10. The Indian Navy is the main user of India’s first exclusive defence satellite GSAT-7. It helps the maritime combat force to extend its blue water capabilities.
11. With the start of World War 2, India’s naval forces, originally known as the Royal Indian Navy, played an instrumental role in maintaining the flow supplies to the UK.
12. The Indian Navy has rendered humanitarian assistance and disaster relief overseas.
13. The naval force launched ‘Operation Vanilla’ to the affected population of Madagascar post devastation caused by Cyclone Diane.
14. In September this year, our Navy’s INS Nireekshak joined the Mauritian National Coast Guard in search and salvage of the Mauritius Port Authority (MPA) Tug Sir Gaetan.