Article Posted on : - Feb 21, 2022

Final rehearsal ahead of the Presidents Fleet review on Monday, Feb. 21, 2022. A PTI Photo

VISAKHAPATNAM (PTI):  President Ram Nath Kovind arrived in the port city Visakhapatnam on Sunday on a three-day visit to the Eastern Naval Command where he will conduct the President's Fleet Review-22 in Bay of Bengal on February 21.

Andhra Pradesh Governor Biswabhusan Harichandan, Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief of ENC Vice-Admiral Biswajit Dasgupta and others extended a warm welcome to the President at the Naval Airbase INS Dega here.

Commemorating the Aazadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, Indian Navy 75 years in Service of the Nation' has been made the theme of PFR-22.

As the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, every President of India reviews the Indian Naval Fleet once during his five-year and PFR-22 will be the 12th edition.

The PFR is aimed at assuring the country of the Indian Navy's preparedness, high morale and discipline.

This is the second time that Visakhapatnam has been hosting the PFR, the first being in the year 2006 by the then President of India A P J Abdul Kalam.

In 2016, the then President Pranab Mukherjee inspected the International Fleet Review in Visakhapatnam, popularly called the City of Destiny.

As part of PFR-22, Kovind will review two fleets of the Navy, including warships, and of Coast Guard, Shipping Corporation of India and Ministry of Earth Sciences comprising 60 ships and submarines manned by over 10,000 personnel.

Also, 50 aircraft will be part of the event, wherein they will conduct a fly-past.

The President will embark an indigenously-built Naval offshore patrol vessel INS Sumitra, specially-designated as the Presidential Yacht', and review all participating ships, anchored in a formation off the Visakhapatnam coast in four precise columns, by steaming past' them, according to a Navy release.

All aircraft in operation under the aviation wing of the Indian Navy will participate in the fly-past that will include latest acquisitions like Mikoyan MiG-29K, Boeing P-8I Neptune and the HAL Dhruv MKIII.

After the flypast, the Marine Commandos (Marcos) will present a demonstration of an anti-terrorist operation, a search-and-rescue drill, and a steam-past by a few submarines, the Navy said.

The President will also release a specially-designed First Day Cover and a Commemorative Stamp on the occasion.