Indian Navy's stealth frigate INS Tarkash today set sail for Portugal's capital Lisbon after its week-long stay in the UK where it shared exchanges on naval operations, including disaster management, anti-terrorism and anti-piracy with the Royal Navy to promote cooperation.
Tarkashhad arrived at its final docking point in Britain - on the river Thames at West India Docks in London's Canary Wharf - to mark UK India Year of Culture and the 200th anniversary of Britain's Indian-made warship HMS Trincomalee, the world's oldest warship which was built at the Bombay Dockyard in 1817.
At a special farewell event on-board Tarkash yesterday, Indian High Commissioner to the UK Yashvardhan Kumar Sinha joined UK defence secretary Michael Fallon and senior Indian and British naval officials to celebrate the historic and still afloatHMS Trincomalee.
"The visit seeks to underscore India's solidarity with friendly and like-minded countries towards ensuring good order in the maritime domain and to strengthen the existing bonds of friendship between India and the UK.
"Naval cooperation is a tangible symbol of the commitment of both nations in ensuring a positive climate at sea for enhancing stability, security and promoting economic prosperity," said Captain Rituraj Sahu, who commandeered Tarkash as it arrived on UK shores at Plymouth harbour on May 2 to participate in the annual bilateral maritime exercise Konkan-17, named after the western coastal region of India and institutionalised in 2004.
The bilateral Konkan exercise provides a platform for the two Navies to periodically exercise at sea and in harbour so as to build inter-operability and share best practices, Sahu said, adding that over the years the Konkan series of exercises have come a long way and grown in the scale.
"Konkan-17 Exercise, which terminated on May 6, marks an important chapter in the maritime interactions between the Indian Navy and the Royal Navy to familiarise planning processes, enhance synergy and above all inter-operability," Sahu said.
The ship had professional interactions with the Royal Navy to promote cooperation and shared exchanges on naval operations, including disaster management, anti-terrorism and anti-piracy.
At the end of the naval exercises, Tarkash had been welcomed to London by cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar on Sunday alongside hundreds of UK-based Indians who got a chance to explore the ship.
INS Tarkash is the second of the three latest stealth frigates acquired from Russia and was commissioned in November 2012.
The ship gets its name from the Sanskrit word meaning a "quiver" of arrows.
The ship's captain described Tarkash as "truly a quiver" of a high density of weapons and sensors, manned by its highly motivated crew, making it one of the most "potent platforms" of the Indian Navy.
Tarkash made an early "mark for herself" in 2015 during Operation Rahat, a non-combatant evacuation operation by the Indian Navy.
In that operation, Tarkash undertook the evacuation of 538 civilians of 18 nationalities from the war-torn Yemen.
More recently, during this current mission, INS Tarkash participated in support of an anti-hijacking operation onboard MV OS-35 off Yemen in Gulf of Aden on April 9.
"Indian Naval assets have been increasingly deployed in recent times to address the main maritime concerns of the region, including piracy, off the coast of Somalia," Captain Sahu said.
"In addition, the Indian Navy has also been involved in assisting countries in the Indian Ocean Region with Hydrographic Survey, Search and Rescue, EEZ Surveillance and other such capability-building and capacity-enhancement activities," Sahu said.
From the UK, the ship which had set sail from Mumbai on April 5, makes its journey to Lisbon then Casablanca, Morocco, and on to Mauritius.
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