Fact Check: Political leaders share photo of US Navy ship to celebrate Indian Navy Day
NewsMeter performed a reverse image and found a US-based media outlet called Stars and Stripes that had carried the same image in May 2009.
By Newsmeter Network Published on 5 Dec 2021 8:30 AM GMT
Hyderabad: India celebrates Navy Day on 4 December every year to recognize the achievements and role of the Navy. Several politicians, including BJP and Congress leaders, shared a photo of a naval ship on this day.
Sunil Deshmukh, a Congress leader, shared the photo ad tweeted, "On #NavyDay, I salute the Indian Navy for protecting us & keeping us safe. Thank you for your selfless efforts & dedication! #NavyDay2021 (sic)." (Archive)
The official Twitter account of BJP Jammu and Kashmir tweeted, "Greetings on Indian Navy Day. A Grand Salute to The Guardians of the Sea." (Archive)
BJP MP Vijay Baghel, MLA Krishna Gaur, BJYM Madhya Pradesh president Abhilash Pandey, the youth wing of Biju Janata Dal, Congress leader P.C Sharma, Gujarat state minister for agriculture, energy, and petrochemicals Mukesh Patel, and the official page of BJP Tamil Nadu also shared the photo.
Fact Check
The photo of the ship is a US Navy ship and not an Indian Navy ship.
NewsMeter performed a reverse image and found a US-based media outlet called Stars and Stripes that had carried the same image in May 2009. It was captioned, "Defense secretary Robert Gates has called for 55 Littoral Combat Ships, which are designed to operate in shallow, or littoral, waters." This clearly indicates that the ship is a US Navy Littoral Combat ship.
We also found the same photo on Flickr, an image hosting website. The caption read, "Littoral Combat Ship, Freedom (LCS 1)." The photo was posted on the official profile of the aerospace company Lockheed Martin and was taken on 3 August 2008.
An article by Daily Mail had also identified the ship as a US Naval Littoral combat ship.
According to All Hands, the magazine of the US Navy, "The Littoral Combat Ship would be designed as a focused-mission, modular, surface combatant smaller than a FFG but larger and more capable than a PC or MCM ship. LCS was envisioned to be an independently deployable, theater-based ship, capable of changing primary missions through modular Mission Package."
Clearly, a photo of a US Navy ship is being shared to celebrate Indian Navy Day.
