Marine commandos rehearsing for the Naval exercise, in Visakhapatnam on Tuesday. About 50 ships and an equal number of aircraft to participate in the event

About 50 floating assets, including a couple of submarines, and close to 50 aircraft will be participating in the Presidential Fleet Review (PRF) scheduled to be organised on February 21 in Visakhapatnam.

President Ram Nath Kovind, who is the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, will be reaching the city on February 20. He will review the fleet at the anchorage on February 21 from 9.30 a.m. onwards.

Though the Presidential Yatch is yet to be named, it is learnt that one of the Naval Advanced Offshore Patrol Vessel in the Saryu Class such as Sunayna, Sumedha, or Sumitra is being refurbished to host the President.

A convoy of three vessels, all in the Saryu Class, will steam-past the columns that will be lined by at least 48 ships from all the naval commands such as the Eastern, Western, Southern and the Andaman.

A couple of ships from the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), the Shipping Corporation of India and the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) will also be participating.

Anchorage

The ships will be lined up in about four columns at the anchorage point, which is about 8 km to 10 km from the coast. Though all the ships may not be visible, the first line of ships from the coast will be seen, a naval officer has said.

The presidential convoy of three ships, comprising the Presidential Yatch, the ship carrying media personnel, and a standby Presidential Yatch, will steam past between the columns, and the sailors and officers in each ship will line up on the deck and give the President a salute and raise the slogan, ‘Rashtrapati ki Jai’.

The ships will be dressed up ceremonially and the ritual is called ‘Dressing Overall’. As per the ritual, all ships will have flags tied from the masts from the bow to the stern. The men will be dressed in their ceremonial attire and the ceremony that follows when the President’s Yatch steams past is called ‘Man and cheer ship’.

Though the Eastern Naval Command (ENC) is yet to release a list of participating ships, it is learnt that all lead ship in their class, across all commands will be there at the anchorage.

Notably among them could be INS Vikramaditya (aircraft carrier) and INS Visakhapatnam, the Visakhapatnam-Class stealth guided-missile destroyer.

Flypast Event

Apart from the steam-past, there will be a flypast by about 50 aircraft. All aircraft in operation under the aviation wing of the Indian Navy will participate in the flypast, which include the latest acquisition such as Mikoyan MiG-29K, Boeing P-8I Neptune and the HAL Dhruv MKIII.

After the flypast, the Marine Commandos (Marcos) will give a demonstration on anti-terrorist operation, a search-and-rescue drill, and a steam-past by a few submarines.

After the exercise, the President will address the nation, which will mark the end of the review.

Later, the President will release a special cover and a postal stamp at the Naval Base to mark the occasion.