Proud sailors celebrate their day of victory

Unlike their army and air force counterparts, naval officers stationed in the city comprise are few in number.

However, that did not stop them from raising a toast on Sunday to celebrate the most outstanding episode in the history of the Indian naval warfare—attacks on the Karachi harbour during the 1971 Indo-Pak war. It was the first time in the history of Indian Navy that it took part in combat. Three Osa Class missile boats, belonging to the Killer Squadron, launched the attack on Karachi harbour.

These boats fired missiles on an oil storage tank and the devastation wrought by them was so colossal that the blaze was visible 60 miles from Karachi.

Over 200 naval officers attended the reception hosted by the Naval Station Commander, Commodore Rajiv Girota at the Naval Detachment to commemorate the Navy Day.

Governor HR Bhardwaj, who was the chief guest, interacted with officers and their family members. Commander VK Janardhanan said that the Navy Day celebration in Bangalore is usually a quiet affair compared to other naval stations, where there is a week-long celebration, which is concluded by the popular
Navy Ball.

“As Bangalore does not house any naval units, the number of officers stationed here are small. However, this does not stop us from celebrating the Navy Day, which gave an opportunity for officers stationed in the city along with their family members to meet over dinner and interact with one another,” he said.