Six ships of the Indian Navy’s First Training Squadron had arrived at the Colombo and Trincomalee ports

Six ships of the Indian Navy’s First Training Squadron left the shores of Sri Lanka after completing a four-day overseas deployment.

Taking to Twitter on Thursday, the Indian High Commission in Sri Lanka said that the First Training Squadron left the shores of Sri Lanka after imparting training to Navy cadets blended with tinge of fun, games and team building exercises spread over 4 days in Trincomalee and Colombo.

On Tuesday, the Indian contingent had imparted training for Sri Lankan Navy cadets which included a sea sortie off Trincomalee and a day-long harbor training on board INS Tarangini as part of sail training familiarization.

On October 24, six ships of the Indian Navy’s First Training Squadron arrived at the Ports of Colombo and Trincomalee for a training interaction with their counterparts in Sri Lanka Navy.

These ships were helmed by Captain Aftab Ahmed Khan, Senior Officer of the First Training Squadron.

The ships visiting the Port of Colombo were Landing Ship Tanker (Large) Magar and Shardul and Offshore Patrol Vessel INS Sujata; Sail Training Ships Sudarshini and Tarangini along with Indian Coast Guard Ship Vikram visited Trincomalee.

A total of 75 officers, 153 officer cadets, 10 NCC cadets and 530 sailors formed part of the visit.

The visit marks a milestone in the history of bilateral relations, where in for the first time such a large number of Indian Navy ships have visited Sri Lanka.

The visit of the ship also coincided with the visit of the Flag Officer Commanding in Chief, Southern Naval Command (SNC) of the Indian Navy, Vice Admiral Anil Kumar Chawla.

On Tuesday, Vice Admiral Chawla called on Commanders of Sri Lankan Navy and Air Force, Vice Admiral Nishantha Ulugetenne and Air Marshal Sudarshana Pathirana respectively.

Ships from the First Training Squadron had last visited Sri Lanka in 2015.

SNC is the Training Command of the Indian Navy which conducts the entire range of naval training for officers and sailors, including those from friendly foreign countries, it informed.

The Indian Navy has trained more than 11,000 international trainees from over 40 countries in the last four decades.

Training has been one of the strongest and most enduring pillars of India - Sri Lanka bilateral defence cooperation.