New Delhi: INS Ranjit, a Rajput class destroyer, was decommissioned at naval dockyard Visakhapatnam on Monday, May 6.

The decommissioning ceremony was attended by officers and sailors of the commissioning crew as well as others who were part of Ranjit’s voyage over the last 36 years.

The chief guest for the decommissioning ceremony was Admiral Devendra Kumar Joshi who is also Lieutenant Governor of Andaman & Nicobar Islands.

Joshi was also a part of the commissioning crew. The commissioning ceremony was attended by 16 officers and 10 sailors from the commissioning crew and 23 erstwhile commanding officers.

The ship was commissioned on September 15, 1983 by Captain Vishnu Bhagwat in erstwhile USSR.

The ship was helmed by 27 commanding officers. The last commanding officer, Captain Vikram C Mehra, had been in command since Jun 6, 2017. The ship since its commissioning has sailed for 2,190 days covering a distance of over 7,43,000 nautical miles which is equivalent to navigating around the world 35 times and 3.5 times the distance from the earth to the moon.

The ship had been at the forefront of major naval operations and had the distinction of serving on both Eastern and Western seaboards.

Apart from various naval operations like Op Talwar and various multinational exercises, the ship has also been a flag bearer of the Indian Navy’s benign role by participating in relief operations post Tsunami in 2004 and Hud-hud on 2014.