Indian Navy returns from European exercises
|
|
The Indian Navy has said in statement, "The Indian Navy’s Task Force’s deployed to Europe from May '09 returned to home waters after a two month deployment westwards. The task force sailing under the command of the Flag-Officer-Commanding, Western Fleet Rear Admiral Surinder Pal Singh Cheema, comprised the destroyer INS Delhi, the frigates INS Brahmaputra and Beas, and the replenishment ship INS Aditya." The four ships reached Portsmouth on June 17 staying till June 20. The four ships participated in the joint Indo-UK naval exercise Konkan from June 20 to June 25, held south of the British Isles in the Atlantic. The British Royal Navy fielded two guided missile frigates, the HMS Westminster and the HMS Lancaster, a nuclear-powered submarine (SSN) HMS Trafalgar, two Royal Fleet Auxiliaries (RFAs) (supply ships) the RFA Fort Rosalie and RFA Mounts Bay. The Royal Navy also fielded ship-borne rotary wing aircraft, the Merlin and Lynx in addition to assets of the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm, which also included the Nimrod and Hawk aircraft. The British participants were commanded by Commodore Simon Ancona. “The Royal Navy has this interesting concept of RFAs. These ships are not part of the navy and are manned by a mixture of civilian and naval personnel,” one naval officer told StratPost.
|
