INS Jarawa is a

naval base A naval base, navy base, or military port is a military base, where warships and naval ships are docked when they have no mission at sea or need to restock. Ships may also undergo repairs. Some naval bases are temporary homes to aircraft that u ...

of the

Indian Armed Forces The Indian Armed Forces are the military forces of the Republic of India. It consists of three professional uniformed services: the Indian Army, Indian Navy, and Indian Air Force.—— Additionally, the Indian Armed Forces are supported by th ...

under the joint-services

Andaman and Nicobar Command The Andaman and Nicobar Command (ANC) is the first and only tri-service theater command of the Indian Armed Forces, based at Port Blair in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a Union Territory of India. It was created in 2001 to safeguard India ...

located in

Port Blair Port Blair () is the capital city of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a union territory of India in the Bay of Bengal. It is also the local administrative sub-division (''tehsil'') of the islands, the headquarters for the district of South An ...

in the

Andaman & Nicobar Islands The Andaman and Nicobar Islands is a union territory of India consisting of 572 islands, of which 37 are inhabited, at the junction of the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea. The territory is about north of Aceh in Indonesia and separated f ...

. It was commissioned in 1964. FDN-1 Andaman 4140144

INS Utkrosh is an adjacent naval air station. ''INHS Dhanvantari'' is a naval hospital on the base. A Floating Dock Navy (FDN-1) of nearly 40,000 tonnes is also operated to dock many vessels under the A&N Command. A second, smaller floating dock (FDN-2) was also ordered in 2010.

History

After the 1962

Sino-Indian War The Sino-Indian War took place between China and India from October to November 1962, as a major flare-up of the Sino-Indian border dispute. There had been a series of violent border skirmishes between the two countries after the 1959 Tibet ...

, the Navy was tasked with the defence of the

. Preparations for setting up naval establishments on the islands started in November 1962. In mid 1963, the first naval garrison of 5 officers and 156 sailors arrived in Port Blair. After the Seaward class defense boats were deployed to the islands, a maintenance and repair facility was created to support these small craft. INS Jarawa was then commissioned in 1964 as the base to oversee all naval operations on the islands. The base is named for the indigenous

adivasi The Adivasi refers to inhabitants of Indian subcontinent, generally tribal people. The term is a Sanskrit word coined in the 1930s by political activists to give the tribal people an indigenous identity by claiming an indigenous origin. The term ...

Jarawa tribe of the Andaman islands. , an

amphibious warfare ship An amphibious warfare ship (or amphib) is an amphibious vehicle warship employed to land and support ground forces, such as marines, on enemy territory during an amphibious assault. Specialized shipping can be divided into two types, most cr ...

, was the first major vessel to have INS Jarawa as its home port. Construction of a naval wharf for the base started in 1968. Comprehensive ship repair facilities were commissioned at the base in 1979. On 6 November 2002, the 180 meter long

floating drydock A dry dock (sometimes drydock or dry-dock) is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform. Dry docks are used for the construction, maintenance, ...

FDN1 sank in 24 meters of water off Port Blair. Only the dock crane tops remained above water. A Svitzer Salvage team from Singapore and The Netherlands, aided by the salvage vessel ''Perdana Sakti'', was engaged to refloat the drydock. After a 3-day lifting operation, the drydock was returned to the Indian Navy on 15 February 2003.

Band

The INS Jarawa Band is currently attached to the ship and based in

. The band was created in 1985 and has been a key component of military-civil relations in the city. It performed at various venues such as Raj Niwas, Port Blair, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Island, Marina Park. It also performs its standard music at

Republic Day Republic Day is the name of a holiday in several countries to commemorate the day when they became republics. List January 1 January in Slovak Republic The day of creation of Slovak republic. A national holiday since 1993. Officially cal ...

and Independence Day parades as well as during international events and good-will visits of Indian and foreign warships.

References

{{coord, 11, 40, 27.49, N, 92, 44, 8.3, E, scale:5000_region:IN, display=title Jarawa

History

Band

See also

References