INS Krishna sets sail for one last time before decommissioning

Kochi, Jan 18 (ANI): INS Krishna, a warship that was part of the Indian First Training Squadron since 1995, cast off from the Kochi Naval Base for the final time on Tuesday, as she sailed for Mumbai to be decommissioned there later this year.

Rear Admiral Sudarshan Shrikhande, Chief of Staff, Southern Naval Command and a large gathering of Naval personnel and families assembled at the naval base's South Jetty to bid adieu to the ship.

Rear Admiral Shrikhande was effusive in his admiration of the ship's legacy, and the value it held for the navy.

"She (INS Krishna) will go to her decommissioning with great pride, and she is going on her own steam. She has trained generations of cadets to make them fine leaders," he said.

Commissioned as the HMS Andromeda in December 1968 in the British Royal Navy, the ship was decommissioned in the UK in November 1994.

HMS Andromeda saw action several times, including during the Falkland War in 1982. Commissioned into the Indian Navy on 22nd August 1995 as a training ship for cadets, the INS Krishna has been an alma mater to over 1300 Indian naval officers.

The ship has clocked about 3,23,750 nautical miles in her voyages around the world as a training ship, and has visited about 32 ports in 23 different countries. It has a crew of 221 sailors and 18 officers and a capacity to train about 80 cadets. (ANI)