Indian Navy All Set To Turn 50!

The Eastern Naval Command is all set to turn 50! The Eastern Naval Command – ENC – has scheduled a series of activities spread over a whole year. The Indian Navy will be celebrating its Golden Jubilee Year through ‘Swarn Varsh Samaroh’ beginning on April 1.

The activities that they have lined up aim at showcasing ‘Silent Service’ that will provide an opportunity for Vizagites to have a closer interaction with the navy and raise awareness. The celebrations are set to begin with a beach clean-up and plantation drive on April 2, a maritime seminar in August and a musical evening in October. The Jubilee Navy Marathon will be held on November 12 and the Triathlon will be held on December 17. The celebrations will conclude on March 1 in the coming year with a special documentary that will be released on the occasion, based on ENC and Visakhapatnam.

The beach clean-up and plantation drive will be taken up with the aim of ‘striving for trash-free seas’. More than 4000 Navy personnel, defence civilians, families and cadets from NCC and SCC will be participating in the event by covering a majority of water-front areas of the city.

The ENC that was established in 1968 is one of the largest geographical command of armed forces extending between the Sunderbans and Gulf of Mannar. After Visakhapatnam was identified as an important convoy assembly point for military operations in 1923, a small Naval outpost was put in place in December 1939. The outpost was lent formal status on March 1, 1968 with Rear Admiral KR Nair as the first Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief.

During the five decades since its existence, the command has been made into a potent Naval force that can today boast of the combined might of a strong and balances blue water Eastern Fleet, a submarine arm, an omnipresent air arm, a dockyard and various other outposts spread across the coast.