Indian Naval Ship (INS) Tabar was mission-deployed in international waters for over three months from 13 June to September 2021. During the deployment, she made eleven port calls in nine countries of Europe and Africa, traversing nearly 20 thousand nautical miles. The ship received a warm reception in all countries from local officials and was visited by several local dignitaries.
The ship’s port visits saw various social and professional interactions conducted with the host countries. The ship also undertook twelve maritime partnership exercises with foreign navies at sea. These exercises involved wide ranging and multi-dimensional evolutions covering a diverse range of naval operations. A few of these exercises were maiden engagements, such as that with the Royal Norwegian Navy, the Algerian Navy and the Sudanese Navy.
INS Tabar also participated in the 325th anniversary celebrations of the Russian Navy at St. Petersburg in Russia.
It was involved with Combined Maritime Bilateral Exercises like Exercise Varuna with French Navy and Exercise Indra with Russian Federation Navy along with Passage Exercises (PASSEX) across the Gulf of Aden, Red Sea, Suez Canal, Mediterranean Sea, North Sea and Baltic Sea while making port calls at Djibouti, Egypt, Italy, France, UK, Russia, Netherlands, Morocco, and Arctic Council countries like Sweden and Norway.
INS Tabar on 27 June 2021 arrived in Egypt, in Alexandria. Captain Mahesh paid tributes at unknown soldiers memorial and participated in a two day exercise with the Egyptian Navy Ship Toushka commenced by helo deck landing ops and underway replenishment drills.
The INS Tabar participated in the maritime exercises with Italian frigate ITS Antonio Marceglia (F 597) on 4-5 July 2021 in the Tyrrhenian Sea. This exercise was covered by air defence, replenishment at sea, communication drills and cross deck helicopter operations during the day and night.
On 15-16 July 2021, INS Tabar undertook maritime exercises with French navy’s FNS Aquitaine in Bay of Biscay. Other than FNS Aquitaine,four Rafale and one NH90 helicopter also participated in the exercise.
This exercise included the wide range of operations like anti – submarine, surface manoeuvers, underway replenishment, firing on target, visit board search & seizure (VBSS), Steam Past, Air Defence, Air Picture Compilation, Vertical Replenishment and crossdeck operations were exercised by the ships.
INS Tabar participated in Russian Navy Day parade from 22-27 July in St Petersburg. DB Venkatesh Varma, Indian ambassador to Russia visited the ship on 23rd July and later on Vice-Admiral Sergei Yeliseyev visited the ship and was given Guard of honour by the ship’s crew. The commanding officer presented the ship’s crest at the end of the Vice-Admiral Sergei Yeliseyev’s visit.
On 24 July, the commanding officer visited to Piskaryovskoye Memorial Cemetery to pay homage. On on 25th July, the has participated in fleet review along with the 50 other ships.
On the last day of her visit, she was involved in Exercise Indra along with the two ships of Russian Navy on 28-29 July in Baltic Sea. The Exercise aims to achieve better military relations, interoperability and long-range sustenance.
The ship visited Sweden on 30 July. The Indian Ambassador visited the ship on 31 July.
INS Tabar is now deployed for patrol in the Gulf of Aden and the Persian Gulf.
Tailpiece: On 19 November 2008, INS Tabar had come under attack from pirates south west of Oman. The crew of INS Tabar requested that the pirate vessel with two speedboats in tow to stop and allow a search, but the pirates responded with a threat to sink Tabar if it came any closer. The pirates then opened fire on Tabar before the Indian navy responded by returning fire. After the retaliatory strike, it was reported that a large explosion occurred on the pirate vessel, rumoured to have been caused by the pirates’ weapons cache. The attack continued for about three to four more hours, and resulted in the sinking of the pirate’s “mother-ship”. The sunken “mother-ship” was found to be originally a Thai fishing trawler, FV Ekawat Nava 5, captured by the pirates which still had the Thai crew captive on board.
INS Tabar (F44) is the third of the Talwar-class frigate of the Indian Navy. The frigate was commissioned on 19 April 2004 in Kaliningrad, Russia. INS Tabar is assigned to Indian Navy’s Western Naval Command. INS Tabar has the ability to handle air/surface/sub-surface missions or defending herself operating either independently on maritime missions or supporting a larger naval task force.
