Elite naval force to train on INS Shivaji
Indian Express: To boost maritime security, Indian Naval Ship (INS) Shivaji will play a role in training of Sagar Prahari Bal, the 1,000-strong naval force constituted post 26/11 attack.
“The engineering part of the training of the Sagar Prahari Bal will be imparted on INS Shivaji,” said Commodore D M Deshpande, Commanding Officer, INS Shivaji.
The Southern Naval Command has been entrusted with the entire training of the Sagar Prahari Bal. INS Shivaji will organise short training capsules in technical training for the force while also training them in operations and maintenance of the equipment. INS Shivaji has also been training its cadets since last year in unarmed combat.
Commodore Deshpande was addressing the media on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Naval Engineering Course (NEC). The 25th year will also be the last year of the NEC. The present batch that was recruited in June will be the last batch on INS Shivaji. When they wind up in 2013, INS Shivaji will no longer train cadets. This task would be taken over by the Indian Naval Academy at Ezhimala, Kerala.
INS Shivaji will focus on specialised training for the Indian Navy. It will be the training ground for sailors before they board INS Vikramaditya, formerly Russian Carrier Gorshkov, after it is delivered to the Indian Navy by 2012.
At present, procurement of the training equipment is under way; INS Shivaji will soon have a boiler, the complete steam propulsion system and some other pieces of equipment of the Gorshkov for the purpose of training.
“The first lot will be trained in Russia. Once the training facility for the carrier is set up here, some of the people who have been on INS Vikramaditya will come here and train the rest,” the Commodore said.
INS Shivaji will also focus on simulator training for Project-17 class of ships, 1,135 Talwar class frigates and tankers from Italy. “At present, only 20 per cent of our training is simulator based. However, 25-50 years down the line, simulators will be the most important component in training,” he said.
To mark the silver jubilee anniversary of the NEC course, celebrations will begin with a Lonavala Run on October 31 and will end on November 21.
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