The six-woman officers of the Indian Navy who accomplished a historic circumnavigation of the globe earlier this year have all been awarded Nao Sena medals on the eve of the Independence Day.
6 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 (Gallantry) (File pic) #IndependenceDay2018 pic.twitter.com/VatNO8KmJ3
— ANI (@ANI) August 14, 2018
Lieutenant Commander Vartika Joshi, who led the expedition along with Lieutenant Commander Prathibha Jamwal, Lieutenant Swathi Patarpalli, Lieutenant Aishwarya Boddapati, Lieutenant S Vijaya Devi and Lieutenant Payal Gupta are being awarded the prestigious Nao Sena medal, a gallantry award that is bestowed for individual acts of exceptional devotion to duty or courage.
In a first of its kind expedition by Indian Navy, Navika Sagar Parikrama -an all-women crew was flagged off by the country’s Defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman from Goa On September 10, 2017.
The brave women completed this historic journey in eight months by sailing around the world on the Indian Naval Sailing Vehicle (INSV) Tarini. The six women officers were picked from the 20 volunteers who started training in 2014. The crew has travelled for more than 21,600 nautical miles before returning to the country in May this year.
Reportedly, this is the first time that a woman military crew circumnavigated the globe without passing any canals or straits. The crew also crossed all meridians at least once in their journey and also passed the Equator twice by going around the three great capes – Cape Leeuwin, Cape Horn and Cape of Good Hope.
The six women spent more than eight months out at sea, sailing around the world in six phases on the Indian Naval Sailing Vehicle (INSV) Tarini. The crew made stops in Fremantle (Australia), Lyttleton (New Zealand), Port Stanley (Falkland Islands), Cape Town (South Africa) and Mauritius.
