Visakhapatnam:

In yet another feather in the cap of the Port City, Navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba on Tuesday commissioned INSA Karna, the only base of the marine commandos in the country. Until now, Vizag had a marine commando unit as do naval establishments across the country. Now, with the establishment of the base, all marine commandos will have to come to INS Karna for training.

The marine commando unit in Vizag got upgraded to a base after the Centre recently sanctioned 25 officers, 320 sailors and 12 civilians, thus enabling the unit to be converted into a base. With a foresight to conduct special missions in maritime domain, the Indian Navy founded the Indian Marine special Force (IMSF) which was rechristened as the Marine Commando Force (MCF), popularly known as Marcos.

Marine commandos carry out conventional maritime operations, hostages rescue, piracy mission, counter terrorism and disaster management operations. The members of this force are capable of undertaking missions in support of conventional operations and also provide the answer to expanding asymmetric threats now. The main role of the unit is to conduct maritime military operations that originate from sea or coastline.

While commissioning INS Karna, Lanba said Marcos have established themselves as special operations force of international repute in a short span and have won well-deserved gallantry awards for their acts of courage and valour.

INS Karna is located on the premises of INS Kalinga near Bhimili. “The commissioning of INS Karna has added a new base to the special forces of the Indian Navy as they are deployed to safeguard our nation’s vast maritime interests,” said Admiral Lanba.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Visakhapatnam / TNN / July 13th, 2016