Woman officer to take over command of warship INS Trinkat
The navy is the first among the three services to induct women in the personnel below officer rank (PBOR) cadre across all streams
In a watershed in India’s naval history, a woman officer is set to assume the command of a warship, navy chief Admiral R Hari Kumar said on Friday. The woman, a lieutenant commander, will take charge as the commanding officer of a fast attack craft — INS Trinkat.
The development comes three decades after the navy began inducting women as officers, along with the other two services.
“It is one of our fast attack craft based in the western seaboard. This is the first time we are appointing a woman officer. We had to go through all the processes of qualification and then exams. She will undergo pre-commissioning training before taking over the craft,” Kumar said.
INS Trinkat, which was commissioned into the Navy in September 2000, carries a crew of around 50. Named after an island in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the ship is equipped with anti-surface and anti-air guns, as well as medium and heavy machine guns. It has the capability to operate at high speeds and shallower depths.
The development quite sums up the ship's motto --- Scaling New Horizon.
Kumar also said there was no restriction on women joining the service’s submarine arm. The navy chief said personnel were required to volunteer for submarines, clear an aptitude test and then undergo rigorous training before being deployed.
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The woman has been selected to command a warship at a time when gender integration is in full swing in the armed forces. The development also comes months after the Navy began inducting women as sailors for the first time under the Agnipath recruitment scheme.
The Navy is the first among the three services to induct women in the personnel below officer rank (PBOR) cadre across all streams.
It currently accounts for more than 1,000 women Agniveers.
“The statistics stand testament to our philosophy of ‘all roles, all ranks’ approach to deployment of women in the service for both officers and PBOR,” he said.
Around 40 women officers are currently serving onboard warships. In 2021, the Navy assigned four women officers to warships after a hiatus of almost 25 years. In a short-lived experiment, women from the navy’s logistics and medical branches were deployed on fleet tanker INS Jyoti in 1997.
The Navy is working on making the workplace equal for its women cadre.
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On October 20, the navy received its latest stealth destroyer, Imphal, from Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL) in Mumbai, its first warship with separate accommodation for women sailors. To be sure, women officers currently serving on board several warships have separate berthing facilities for them. But not so for women sailors.
Other key changes include the upcoming redesignation of ranks in PBOR cadre to make them gender-neutral. The navy has completed a review of ranks held by sailors, inherited from the British, and is set to replace them with Indianised designations as part of a larger drive to jettison colonial military traditions, with gender-neutral changes to the ranks also to be announced shortly.
More than 65,000 sailors will now get new ranks.
Seven ranks in the navy’s PBOR cadre will be redesignated, including three existing titles that are not gender-neutral. These are Master Chief Petty Officer Ist Class, Master Chief Petty Officer IInd Class, Chief Petty Officer, Petty Officer, Leading Seaman, Seaman Ist Class and Seaman IInd Class.
Women in uniform are no longer on the fringes but are being assigned central roles on a par with their male counterparts across the three services. They are flying fighter planes, serving onboard warships, commanding front-line units, being inducted in PBOR cadre, eligible for permanent commission, and undergoing training at the National Defence Academy.
