A few days back, the Indian Embassy emailed us informing that an Indian Navy frigate, INS Sahayadri, would be visiting the Port of Incheon and invited us, the Indian diaspora in Korea to visit the ship, while it's in town.
Neeti and I enthusiastically registered to visit the warship. And after returning from Seoul, we headed to the Port of Incheon. At the entrance to the port, we were greeted by an Indian Navy sailor, who guided us to the ship.
And as we approached the warship, we saw the Indian tiranga (tricolour) fluttering in the cool breeze, and our chests swelled with pride! It was indeed a proud moment to meet the defenders of our maritime frontiers flying India's flag in a foreign land!
INS Sahayadri was returning from Japan's Sagami Bay after participating in Japan's International Fleet Review - a naval exercise involving 50 vessels and 61 aircraft from South Korea, Australia, France and the United States, besides India.
The smart naval officers greeted us and ushered us in...
INS Sahyadri, a Shivalik class stealth multi-role frigate was built for the Indian Navy at the Mazagon Docks in Mumbai. Construction of the Sahayadri began in 2003 and was completed by 2011. The vessel underwent sea trials and was commissioned on July 21, 2012 into the Eastern Naval Command based out of Visakhapatnam, on the eastern coast. The INS Sahyadri is equipped with stealth features, an array of Indian, Russian, Israeli weapon systems, including the joint Indo-Russian BrahMos supersonic anti-ship missiles and the Israeli Barak surface to air missiles. The ship also carries two helicopters. (Information source: Wikipedia)
The mast of the ship...
INS Sahayadri's badge...
The radar and missile systems...
The main gun...
The sailors told us off the record that they feel that under Prime Minister Modi, defence preparedness had undoubtedly improved multiplefold (without getting into details). On the softer side, they felt that the respect for India as a world-power had grown under the new government had grown, which they claimed was visible when they visited Hawaii last year and Vietnam and Japan on this trip - a clear example of India's growing soft-power.
We gathered that from here INS Sahayadri would be headed to the Philippines on a goodwill visit before headed back to Visakhapatnam.
The tiranga at the bow...
The ceremonial bell...
The duty list...
Scenes from INS Sahayadri's operational deployments...
Getting ready to exit the ship. At this point we were offered some Frooti and Parle biscuits by the officers! It was great to sample Indian brands on foreign soil!
The naval ensign...
Bridges of Friendship Across the Oceans...
The flags of India and Korea...
And we said goodbye to the INS Sahayadri...
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