Panaji: Union Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will welcome all women crew of the Indian navy on Monday (May 21) which will return back after circumnavigating globe on the sailing ship NSV Tarini, naval spokesman said.
The Union Defence minister will be present in Goa for the flag-in ceremony of the ship near Panaji. Navy Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba, also be there to receive the all women crew, the spokesman said.
The expedition named as “Navika Sagar Parikrama” led by Lieutenant Commander Vartika Joshi, is the first-ever Indian circumnavigation of the globe by an all-women crew.
The crew also included Lt-Commanders Pratibha Jamwal and Swati P, and Lieutenants Aishwarya Boddapati, S Vijaya Devi and Payal Gupta.
The expedition was sailed in six legs, with stopovers at the Fremantle (Australia), Lyttleton (New Zealand), Port Stanley (Falklands), Cape Town (South Africa) and Mauritius.
The expedition had left from Goa on September 10 last year. It covered 21,600 nautical miles in the Indian-built sailing vessel INSV Tarini that visited five countries and crossed the Equator twice, sailed across four continents and three oceans, and “passed south” of the three “Great Capes” – Leeuwin, Horn and Good Hope, he said.
The six women officers trained under Captain Dilip Donde, the first Indian to solo-circumnavigate the globe in 2009-2010.
