Fours ships of the Eastern fleet of Indian Navy based in Visakhapatnam are now on overseas deployment as part of forging closer diplomatic and defence ties with countries in the east including Malaysia, Philippines and Vietnam and will return to India in mid-June.
At present, the four ships including INS Satpura, INS Ranvijay, INS Kirch and INS Shakit are in Malaysia after leaving home base on May 20, officials said here on Tuesday adding the ships will leave for Vietnam on May 30 and then to Philippines. Eastern Fleet commander Rear Admiral P Ajith Kumar is leading the ships and will represent India during port calls in all the three countries, they said. Incidentally, Satpura and Kirch participated in the bilateral exercises with Singapore named Simbex for three days from May 20.