Daijiworld News Network - Mangalore (VM) - Pics Dayanand Kukkaje
Mangalore, Feb 2: "I always wanted to go see a real ship and here I am," exclaimed a twelve-year-old girl who was excited to witness the Coast Guard ship wage an attack on some ‘sea pirates’ a few nautical miles away from the shore here on Thursday.
It was Mangaloreans’ day out on the Arabian Sea on the occasion of the Coast Guard Day celebration. A large number of civilians and a group of 51 girls of an orphanage of the city witness this life time mid sea exercise.
DK superintendent of police B Dayananda watching the ships with his two little sons
The siren blew and it was the alert on an intruder in sea. Two supersonic machine boats rushed towards this mini ship of the ‘pirates’. The ship was enveloped from all the sides by ICGS Annie Besant and ICGS Vijaya anchored themselves opposite the mini ship. The coast guard personnel with bullet-proof amours thus succeeded in capturing the ‘pirates’.
The Coast Guard's might
This mock operation was a showcase of the various functions of Indian Coast Guard. The ships on display were Vijaya, an offshore patrol vessel commanded by Commandant KBL Bhatnagar, CGS Sarojini Naidu commanded by Commandant N Kaul, CGS Annie Besant commanded by Commandant S Paramesh and Charlie-32, an interceptor boat.
However CGS Vijaya, which is also one of the first ships to reach Bombai High when a major fire broke out a few months ago, had come all the way from Mumbai for the demonstration
Crowd enjoying the display
Dakshina Kannada District Deputy Commissioner H V Parshvanath and Superintendent of Police B Dayananda were on board CGS Vijaya
More ships holding the flag high
Light Machine Gun Firing was an exercise wherein a total of 28 rounds of gun firing were undertaken against a dummy target. Boarding Operation, Fire Fighting exercise were a few of the activities which kept the audience watch with amazement.
Commandant and Flying instructor N K Sreenivas and Commandant Trideep S Sajwan were kept busy by the civilians who had never ending queries on the occasion.
A large number of the general public, espcially students, had gathered on the occasion.