Indian Naval Ship Magar Joins Southern Naval Command

Indian Naval Ship Magar Joins Southern Naval Command

The Southern Naval Command, the Training Command of the Indian Navy, was augmented by INS Magar which arrived at Kochi on 10 April 2018 from Vishakhapatnam on change of base port. The ship was ceremoniously received and welcomed by Rear Admiral RJ Nadkarni, VSM, Chief of Staff, HQSNC. The ship will join the First Training Squadron (1TS) for sea training of young officers.

INS Magar

The ship, over the next few weeks, will undergo modifications for accommodating sea trainees, prior commencing her training role. Thereafter, she will be used to impart training in various aspects of seamanship, navigation, ship handling, boat work, engineering and electrical departmental skills, amongst other disciplines, whilst also exposing the trainees to the rigorous way of life at sea, so as to enable them to get their ‘sea legs’. The ship is being prepared to augment the capacity of the Training squadron to meet the increase in the training load of officer trainees and also to cater for the maintenance requirements of the existing ships of 1TS. 1TS presently consists of four ships namely, INS Tir (the largest training ship of Indian Navy), INS Shardul, Coast Guard Ship Sarathi, and INS Sujata besides the two sail training ships INS Sudarshini and Tarangini.

Commanding Officer of INS Magar being welcomed by rear admiral RJ Nadkarni, Chief of Staff , SNC

INS Magar, a Landing Ship Tank (Large) of the Indian Navy was built by Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Ltd. Kolkata and commissioned on 18 July 1987. Over the past 30 years, she has participated in multifarious naval operations, from amphibious exercises, Fleet deployments and Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) operations. The major operations undertaken by the ship include Op Pawan (Indian Peace Keeping Force - IPKF operations in Sri Lanka), wherein she played a pivotal role in movement of logistics supplies to the area of operations, to support the IPKF land forces. The ship has participated in all major amphibious exercises on both seaboards and also undertaken HADR operations on numerous occasions. The most noteworthy operation was in the wake of the 2004 Tsunami, wherein the ship had provided relief for over 1300 survivors.

INS Magar is commanded by Commander Praveen Kumar Sinha. A Marine Commando as well as a qualified “Saturation Diver”, he has specialised in Counter Terrorist operations and Explosive Ordnance Disposal.