Visakhapatnam. 04 June 2021 INS Sandhayak, the Indian Navy‘s oldest Hydrographic Survey Vessel was decommissioned at Naval Dockyard in Visakhapatnam after serving the nation for 40 glorious years on Friday, 04 June 2021. The ship was decommissioned in a solemn and low key event due to the ongoing COVID Pandemic when the National Flag, Naval Ensign, and the Decommissioning Pennant were lowered at sunset time in the presence of Vice Adm Ajendra Bahadur Singh, AVSM, VSM Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Naval Command, the Chief Guest for the ceremony.
The Decommissioning Ceremony was also attended by Vice Adm Vinay Badhwar, AVSM, NM Chief Hydrographer to Govt. of India and by serving Hydrographers, outstation ex-crew members and veterans virtually through live streaming.
During her 40 years of illustrious service in the Indian Navy, INS Sandhayak undertook over 200 major hydrographic surveys in Western and Eastern coasts of the Indian peninsula, the Andaman Sea, and surveys in neighbouring countries including Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Bangladesh. The ship also took part in important operations like Op Pawan in Sri Lanka, 1987, Op Rainbow for Humanitarian Assistance in the aftermath of the Tsunami in 2004 and the maiden Indo-US HADR Exercise Tiger-Triumph in 2019.
