PRESS RELEASE

1. INS Tarangini, Indian Navy’s Sail Training Ship (STS) has arrived at the port of Haifa on 27 September and will be docking here till 30 September. This ship is Indian Navy’s first Sail Training Ship. It was built in Goa Shipyard and was commissioned on 11 Nov 97. The name Tarangini is derived from the Hindi word ‘Tarang’ meaning waves, thus Tarangini means ‘the one that rides the waves’. The ship is a ‘three-masted Barque’ signifying that she is square rigged on fore and mainmast and fore and aft rigged on Mizzen mast. The ship has excellent endurance and can remain at sea continuously for a period of over 20 days. She has a complement of eight officers and thirty eight sailors as permanent crew and can accommodate and impart sail training to 30 cadets.

2. The primary role of the ship is to foster time honoured virtues of courage, camaraderie and endurance in officer cadets embarking on a naval career. She provides an ideal setting for first-hand experience of the natural elements by imparting training which includes sailing, setting and furling of sails, watch-keeping and sail manoeuvres. The ‘Tall Ship’ community believes that training onboard these ships is the best method of instilling among the trainees the indefinable ‘sea-sense’ and respect for elements of nature which are inseparable from safe and successful seafaring.

3. The port call at Haifa is part of a larger voyage named Lokayan-18. Lokayan in Sanskrit means “travel around the world”. During the voyage the ship has made 13 port calls in 11 countries so far and Haifa is the 14^th Earlier this month, on 06 September, India and Israel commemorated the centenary of the Battle of Haifa, the battle in which Indian cavalry elements forming part of the 15^th Imperial Service Cavalry Brigade liberated the City of  Haifa. Now, Haifa has welcomed this Indian Naval Ship on its shores during the holiest season of Israel. This is yet another example of the strength of the relationship between India and Israel and the growing friendship and warmth between the two countries.