Tuesday February 14 2006
VISAKHAPATNAM: Writing a new chapter in the annals of Indian Navy, President A P J Abdul Kalam undertook a submarine sortie for more than three hours on Monday.
Kalam, who is also the Supreme Commander of the Indian Defence forces, embarked INS Rajpur and boarded INS Sindhurakshak, a Russian-origin Kilo Class Submarine around 11 AM, and dived in a 20-feet deep hole through a vertical ladder to reach the stomach of the stealth whale-like machine.
Chief of Navy Staff Admiral Arun Prakash and other senior officials accompanied the President on his sojourn.
According to a Naval spokesman, INS Sindhurakshak travelled for about five miles off the coast and went down to a depth of 50 metres where the Naval officials explained the functioning of the submarine. During his stay, Kalam inspected the five compartments of the submarine to have a first hand knowledge of its functioning.
Commissioned in 1986, the submarine is commanded by Commodore P S Bisht and has a crew of 63 with whom Kalam had lunch.
Addressing the sailors on board the submarine, the President said that the government was making sustained efforts to modernise the Navy with state of art technologies, which would provide fast reaction time and ensure survivability of Indian warships in any conflicts at sea.
“With the induction of indigenised and modern submarines, I am confident that you will rule the oceans of the world and our nation will be a force to be reckon with. Your ability to defend the exclusive economic zone will pave the way for the country's rapid economic growth,” he said.
Referring to the Navy's active participation in Operation Vijay and Operation Parakram, Kalam pointed out that the submarines were frontrunners in both the operations. Later he left for Delhi.
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