It was a first for the Indian Navy – an all women crew sailed from Vishakhapatnam to Goa recently. The women, officers of the Indian Navy participated in the recently concluded International Fleet Review by the navy and have some more ambitious plans for the future as well. Here’s all that you wanted to know about the all woman Indian Naval Ship Mhadei –
They participated in the International Fleet Review
They were right up there with some of the most advanced naval ships and subs in the world, rubbing shoulders with naval personnel from all over the world.
This is the crew of the Mhadei
The sailing ship is crewed by Lieutenant Commander Vartika Joshi, a naval architect, Lieutenants P Swathi, Pratibha Jamwal (Air Traffic Control specialists), Lieutenant Vijaya Devi and Sub Lieutenant Payal Gupta, (officers from the education branch).
It’s a sailing ship
Navigating a sailing ship requires considerable skill, tactical knowledge and experience. Sometimes the wind is with the sailors and sometimes it is against the sailors. According to these women for about three hours at Dondra Head at the southern tip of Sri Lanka, there was no wind at all which meant being nearly static.
They started in Vizag and ended in Goa
They started out on 6 February at Vishakhapatnam and then went on to dock at Chennai port a few days later and then docked at Kochi before their scheduled docking at Goa on 2 March 2016.
They will be circumnavigating the globe
Currently preparations are ongoing for a circumnavigation of the globe. This is on the cards for next year.
There are 450 women officers in the Indian navy
Currently the Indian navy has the smallest proportion of women officers from among all three branches of the Indian military, but that number is set to grow. In fact we may be seeing women on Indian warships too sometime in the future.
Author – Reena Daruwalla
