Indian naval ship decommissioned

Visakhapatnam, Aug 25 (UNI) The Indian naval ship T-57, a seaward defence boat-based ship, was decommissioned by Rear Admiral Anil Chopra, Chief of Staff Eastern Naval Command (ENC) in the naval base last night.

Speaking at the decommissioning ceremony, he said the design of the naval ship and the paying off pennant was lowered for the last time at sunset along with the sounding of last post by the ship's bugler.

The ship, commissioned in Febuary 1985 by former Vice-Admiral V L Koppikar at Goa, was mainly deployed for harbour defence patrol, exclusive economic zone patrol, protection of offshore oil rigs, search and rescue operation.

The ship formed a part of the local flotilla and during its 21 years of service, the ship carried out many operational tasks along the coast of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.

A box containing the ship's design was handed over by Captain of the ship, Commander Shirish Srivastava to Anil Chopra.

A ceremonial guard was paraded on the occasion in which several ENC senior naval officers, former commanding officers and sailors participated.

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