KOCHI:
In the year 1960-65, under the aegis of United Nations, a major scientific programme ‘International Indian Ocean Expedition’ (IIOE) was carried out to understand the complexities of the Indian Ocean for the benefit of the mankind in terms of understanding the role of oceans in climate, fisheries, food, mineral resources, bathymetry mapping for Navigation and more out at sea. It was the largest international interdisciplinary oceanographic research efforts of all time. 13 countries with 46 ships participated in the expedition and India was one of the active members of the expedition with a fleet of two Indian Naval Ships INS Kistna and Varuna and two other smaller crafts of civil organisations.
INS Kistna was earlier HMS Kistna (U46), a Black Swan class sloop which served in the Royal Indian Navy (RIN) during World War II. After independence it was commissioned into the Indian Navy as INS Kistna. A total of 29 scientific cruises were conducted onboard INS Kistna as part of IIOE with active participation of scientists from different organizations and various disciplines including scientists from NPOL. The cruise tracks and observational programme were planned such that a large part of the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal including coastal areas were covered during the IIOE campaign. Though the expedition was planned to commence in 1960, its maiden cruise was conducted only in September-October 1962.
Naval Physical and Oceanographic Laboratory (NPOL), is now a full-fledged DRDO organisation with three research stations including a floating platform INS Sagardhwani. INS Sagardhwani (A-74) is a state-of- the-art research vessel of NPOL based at Kochi and functioning under the operational control of the Southern Naval Command of Indian Navy. INS Sagardhwani ship is an 85 meter long Marine Acoustic Research Ship (MARS) equipped with eight scientific laboratories catering for various scientific disciplines.
As part of the Golden Jubilee celebrations of IIOE (IIOE- 2), INS Sagardhwani plans to revisit the research missions undertaken half a century ago by INS Kistna during her mission between1962 – 65 with modern ocean survey equipments. The main aim of the mission is to understand Indian Ocean’s biophysical variability in response to monsoon and human activity and their applications to national security.
A function was organized onboard INS Sagardhwani at Port Blair on 16 November 2017 to mark the symbolic commencement of the second phase of IIOE by NPOL. The function was inaugurated by S Kedarnath Shenoy, Outstanding Scientist, Director NPOL in the presence of senior scientists of NPOL, the CO and the officers and men onboard Ship. On this auspicious occasion, the chief guest recalled the historic nature of the IIOE-1 programme and its role in giving a boost to Ocean Research in the country. He wished the Captain and the crew of the ship success in their efforts for the missions ahead. In its maiden mission under IIOE2, the ship retraced the 6 th track of the 29 th mission by INS Kistna across the Bay of Bengal in the Indian Ocean from 16 to 23 Nov 17.
