Passing out ceremony held at Naval Base

Kochi: In an impressive Passing Out ceremony held onboard INS Tir and ICGS Sarathi, 169 Officer Trainees of the 91st Integrated Officer Trainees Course passed out today at Naval base here.

The officers will now join various frontline warships of the Western and Eastern Fleet for a further six months of afloat training, Navy said here.

Rear Admiral RJ Nadkarni, Chief of Staff, Headquarters, Southern Naval Command, reviewed the parade and awarded trophies to the winners.

The coveted 'Chief of the Naval Staff' trophy and 'Telescope' for the Best All Round Sea Trainee' was awarded to Hitesh Singh.

Anmol Rawat received the 'Binoculars' for standing first in the overall Order of Merit for showing maximum progress during the term onboard.

Kadam Swapnil Bharat received the DG ICG Trophy for the best Coast Guard sea trainee while sea trainee Sumit Chandra Deorari was adjudged the best sportsman and awarded the FOC-in-C South Rolling Trophy, Navy said in a release.

The sea training of 24 weeks for this batch commenced on December 26.

During this period, the sea trainees were imparted instructions and practical experience on General Navigation, Astro Navigation, Communications, Gunnery and Seamanship.

The sea trainees visited various ports on both the East and West Coast of India and also got an opportunity to visit foreign ports of Indian Ocean nations such as Port Louis (Mauritius), Post Victoria (Seychelles) and Male (Maldives).

The training was conducted by the First Training Squadron of the Indian Navy consisting of the Indian Naval Ships Tir, Sujata and Shardul, Indian Coast Guard Ship Sarathi and the Sail Training Ships Tarangini and Sudarshini.