Vizag to host Presidential Fleet Review, MILAN in March 2021
Every president as the Supreme Commander of Armed Forces reviews the Naval fleet once in his or her term as per the Naval traditions.
By Newsmeter Network Published on 3 Dec 2020 2:27 PM GMT
Visakhapatnam: The Eastern Naval Command, with its headquarters in Visakhapatnam, will host the Presidential Fleet Review in March next year. This is for the second time Visakhapatnam is hosting this prestigious event. President Dr Abdul Kalam reviewed the Naval fleet in 2006 in Visakhapatnam and announced Flag Officer, Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Naval Command Vice-Admiral, Atul Kumar Jain.
Every president as the Supreme Commander of Armed Forces reviews the Naval fleet once in his or her term as per the Naval traditions. Ships from all commands and few merchant ships belonging to the Shipping Corporation of India will participate in the fleet review.
Addressing a press conference at the ENC headquarters on the eve of Navy Day on Thursday, the Vice-Admiral had asked the defense ministry to send tentative dates so that the command would launch preparations.
Similarly, Vizag would host MILAN, a multilateral Naval exercise in March before the Presidential Fleet Review. MILAN is a biennial, multilateral Naval exercise which was started in 1995, and was conducted at Andaman and Nicobar Command until 2018. It was to be held in March this year but deferred due to the pandemic.
These two are the major events after the International Fleet Review held in 2016 and attended by then President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam created history by becoming India's first head of state to undertake an undersea sortie. During his fleet review held in Visakhapatnam in 2006, Dr Abdul Kalam travelled on INS Sindhurakshak, a Russian-origin kilo class submarine, for three and a half hours.
