New Delhi, August 14: The six women officers of the Indian Navy, who successfully circumnavigated the globe on Indian Naval Sailing Vessel Tarini (INSV Tarini) have been awarded the Nav Sena Medal on the eve of 72nd Independence Day. Defence minister Nirmala Sithraman flagged-off INSV Tarini with an all-women crew of six officers from INS Mandovi boat pool, Goa on 10 Sep 2017. It accomplished ‘Navika Sagar Parikrama’, on 21 May 2018.

The INSV Tarini is the first Indian all-women crew to circumnavigate the globe. Lt. Commander Vartika Joshi led the mission, ‘Navika Sagar Parikrama’. Lieutenant P Swathi, Lieutenant Pratibha Jamwal (Air Traffic Control specialists), Lieutenant Vijaya Devi, Sub Lieutenant Payal Gupta (both Education officers) and Lieutenant B Aishwarya, a Naval Architect were also part of the mission. The naval vessel sailed in the sea for eight months.

The expedition was covered in six legs, with stopovers at four ports - Fremantle in Australia, Lyttelton in New Zealand, Port Stanley in Falklands and Cape Town in South Africa. The crew covered 21,600 nautical miles in the Indian-built sailing vessel that visited five countries. During the mission, INSV Tarini crossed the Equator twice and sailed across four continents and three oceans. It also passed south of the three Great Capes - Leeuwin, Horn and Good Hope.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 14, 2018 09:05 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).