The Bay of Bengal off the Visakhapatnam coast wore a vibrant look on Friday as several naval warships of the Eastern Naval Command (ENC) took part in demos and displays. As part of the Navy Week celebrations culminating in Navy Day (December 4), the ENC had organised Day at Sea for around 2,400 civilians including school children, veteran sailors as well as media personnel where they sailed on board various Eastern Fleet ships for about 20 nautical miles.
During the course of the event, various naval exercises were demonstrated by the ships of the Eastern Fleet including the fleet support ship and oil-tanker INS Shakti, stealth frigates IN Ships Satpura and Shivalik, guided missile destroyer INS Ranvijay, stealth ASW corvette INS Kadmatt, missile corvettes IN Ships Kora and Khanjar, off-shore patrol vessel INS Sukanya and submarine INS Sindhuveer. Besides, high speed demos were showcased by fast attack craft or Inshore Support Vessels - T36, T37, T38 and T39 and flypast by naval helicopters and aircraft including search and rescue operation by Chetak helicopter and sonar dunking (lowering the aircraft to check the presence of a submarine in water) by Kamov helicopter. High speed low altitude fly past was showcased by three Hawk AJT fighter aircraft from INS Dega along with Dornier and Long Range maritime reconnaissance aircraft P8I.
The spectators on board the ships were enthralled by the "various operational demos and displays from the ships including demonstration of asymmetric threat, firing and underway replenishment or re-fuelling. Slithering operations by naval commandos were also performed from helicopters. The Day at Sea also had prize distribution for school children who won the painting competition 'Pratibimb' organised by the ENC a few days ago as part of naval week celebrations. G Mridula, a student of class VIII at Kendriya Vidyalaya, Malkapuram said, "This is my first visit to a warship and I am enjoying a lot. Thirty of us have come from our school. We clicked pictures and liked seeing many impressive ships around. It's a rare chance one gets to observe the naval ships so closely and being on board."
Meanwhile, media personnel were briefed on Board INS Shakti by Rear Admiral Flag Officer commanding the Eastern Fleet Commander Biswajit Dasgupta about the oncoming Navy Day celebrations. The support and replenishment tanker of the Indian Navy INS Shakti was commissioned on October 1, 2011. Commanded by Captain Gagan Kaushal, she is one of the largest ships of the Eastern Fleet.

"The navy week celebrations offer an exposure of the Eastern Fleet's activities to the civilian population as well as interaction with them increases. This time of the year the naval ships are opened to visitors, especially school children, the navy organises marathon, medical and blood donation camps, various competitions for school children, operational demo, performance by navy band, various outreach activities for the less privileged and so on. We have 26 ships in the Eastern Fleet, which display their capabilities around this time."