INS ''Valsura'' is a "

stone frigate A stone frigate is a naval establishment on land. "Stone frigate" is an informal term that has its origin in Britain's Royal Navy after its use of Diamond Rock, an island off Martinique, as a 'sloop of war' to harass the French in 1803–04. ...

" (shore establishment) of the

Indian Navy The Indian Navy is the maritime branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. The Chief of Naval Staff, a four-star admiral, commands the navy. As a blue-water navy, it operates si ...

in Jamnagar,

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

. A premier technological training institution, it houses the Electrical school of the Indian Navy.

History

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, a need was felt to supplement the torpedo handling and operations in India by establishing a torpedo school. Since a torpedo school required waters where torpedo running and depth charge firing could be possible, a suitable location had to be selected. Since Cochin already had multiple establishments, the P-class destroyer then in India was tasked with scouting a suitable location. ''Pathfinder'' found the sea area around Rozi island in

Nawanagar State Nawanagar was an Indian princely state in the historical Halar region, located on the southern shores of the Gulf of Kutch. It was ruled by the Jadeja Rajput dynasty and became the part of newly formed India. The city is now known as Jamnagar. ...

. Rozi Island was already a well-known port and was connected to Jamnagar by road and railway. The

Jam Sahib Jam Sahib ( gu, જામ સાહેબ), is the title of the ruling prince of Nawanagar, now known as Jamnagar in Gujarat, an Indian princely state. Jam Sahibs of Nawanagar References External links Nawanagar History and Genealogyat '' ...

of Nawanagar,

Digvijaysinhji Ranjitsinhji Sir Digvijaysinhji Ranjitsinhji Jadeja (18 September 1895 – 3 February 1966) was the Maharaja Jam Sahib of Nawanagar from 1933 to 1966, succeeding his uncle, the famed cricketer Ranjitsinhji. Early life and military career Ranjitsinhji, ...

offered the Rozi Island, his 38-acre

game reserve A game reserve (also known as a wildlife preserve or a game park) is a large area of land where wild animals live safely or are hunted in a controlled way for sport. If hunting is prohibited, a game reserve may be considered a nature reserve; ...

, for a token rent of Re. 1 per annum. ''HMIS Valsura'' was commissioned on 15 December 1942 by the Maharani Gulab Kunverba Sahiba with Field Marshal

Sir ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as ...

Claude Auchinleck Field Marshal Sir Claude John Eyre Auchinleck, (21 June 1884 – 23 March 1981), was a British Army commander during the Second World War. He was a career soldier who spent much of his military career in India, where he rose to become Commander ...

, the Commander-in-Chief, India and Admiral

Herbert Fitzherbert Admiral Sir Herbert Fitzherbert, KCIE, CB, CMG (10 August 1885 – 30 October 1958) was a Royal Navy admiral who served as the third Flag Officer Commanding, Royal Indian Navy, from 1937 to 1943. Life and career Fitzherbert was born at King ...

, the Flag Officer Commanding, Royal Indian Navy in attendance. As the torpedo school of the

Royal Indian Navy The Royal Indian Navy (RIN) was the naval force of British India and the Dominion of India. Along with the Presidency armies, later the Indian Army, and from 1932 the Royal Indian Air Force, it was one of the Armed Forces of British India. F ...

, the establishment was modelled after the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

's torpedo school

HMS Vernon Two ships and a training establishment of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS ''Vernon'', possibly after Admiral Edward Vernon: * was a 14-gun armed ship listed between 1781 and 1782. * was a 50-gun fourth rate launched in 1832. She becam ...

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

. Commander MFB Ward was the first commanding officer of the establishment. Apart from training officers and men for torpedo duties, it also trained them on electrical duties. After the Independence of India, the torpedo school was moved to Cochin. The Jam Sahib donated another 600 acres for the expansion of the establishment. Since a separate branch for Naval Electrical Engineering was formed in the Navy, the Naval Electrical Engineering school was founded in 1948 at Valsura. On 26 January 1950, India became a republic and the name changed to ''INS Valsura''. Commander D. H. R. Dadabhoy was the first Indian commanding officer.

Today

INS Valsura today houses the electrical equipment school, electrical technology school, basic electrical school, information technology school, center for electronics engineering and the training design and evaluation cell. ''Valsura'' was awarded a Special Unit Citation in December 2001, an honour normally reserved for operational units. The base has grown into a large township with a military hospital and schools. The commanding officer of the establishment is also the station commander and is a

one-star officer Military star ranking is military terminology, used to describe General officer, general and flag officers. Within Member states of NATO, NATO's armed forces, the stars are equal to Ranks and insignia of NATO, OF-6–10. Star ranking One–star ...

with the rank of

Commodore Commodore may refer to: Ranks * Commodore (rank), a naval rank ** Commodore (Royal Navy), in the United Kingdom ** Commodore (United States) ** Commodore (Canada) ** Commodore (Finland) ** Commodore (Germany) or ''Kommodore'' * Air commodore ...

Crest and motto

The name of the establishment was derived from the combination of two

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

words ''Vaalu'' meaning sword and ''Sorrah'' meaning fish. Swordfish was chosen since the

Torpedo bomber A torpedo bomber is a military aircraft designed primarily to attack ships with aerial torpedoes. Torpedo bombers came into existence just before the First World War almost as soon as aircraft were built that were capable of carrying the weight ...

Fairey Swordfish The Fairey Swordfish is a biplane torpedo bomber, designed by the Fairey Aviation Company. Originating in the early 1930s, the Swordfish, nicknamed "Stringbag", was principally operated by the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy. It was also us ...

was named so as well as the fact that they were found in the waters off the coast of Saurashtra. The crest of the school showed a swordfish placed amidst two crossed

torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, s ...

es and a mine with the Latin motto ''Valsura Semper Viret'', meaning ''Valsura shall always be victorious''. After India became a republic, in 1950, the crest was changed. The swordfish was shown leaping out from the sea with its head and a large part of its body above water, with three streaks of lightning emanating from its head. The motto was changed to ''Tasya Bhasa Sarvamidam Vibhati'' which meant ''The light that emanates from here, illuminates all'', which was taken from the

Upanishad The Upanishads (; sa, उपनिषद् ) are late Vedic Sanskrit texts that supplied the basis of later Hindu philosophy.Wendy Doniger (1990), ''Textual Sources for the Study of Hinduism'', 1st Edition, University of Chicago Press, , ...

References

External links

INS Valsura
on the website of the

{{Indian Navy Indian Navy bases

History

Today

Crest and motto

See also

References

External links