An Air Chief Samudra Pradakshina meeting has closed the loop on the crew's homecoming. Air Chief Marshal AP Singh, the Chief of the Air Staff, received the nine women officers who sailed IASV Triveni around the world, congratulating them on completing the tri-service all-women circumnavigation and commending their courage, resilience and professionalism.

The vessel is an Indian Army Sailing Vessel, and the crew was drawn from across the services. Four officers came from the Indian Air Force, four from the Indian Army and one from the Indian Navy.

The Air Chief Samudra Pradakshina meeting

ACM AP Singh's interaction came a little over a week after the crew was flagged in at the Gateway of India in Mumbai. The Chief of the Air Staff called the voyage a landmark achievement that had brought laurels to the nation, and he singled out the Tri-Service spirit that held the crew together across nearly a year at sea.

The Air Chief Samudra Pradakshina meeting recognised a crew the Air Force shares with the two other services. Four of the nine officers are from the Indian Air Force.

The Indian Air Force shared the interaction on its official handle.


Nearly 25,500 nautical miles across four oceans

The scale of the voyage is hard to put across in plain numbers. The crew sailed nearly 25,500 nautical miles over 314 days, crossing four oceans in one continuous circumnavigation.

The route carried the boat past the Three Great Capes, the passage that admits a crew to the small fraternity of Cape Horners. A voyage of that length runs a small team through some of the roughest water on the planet, and every watch, every repair and every course change rested with the nine on board. There was no larger ship's company to absorb a mistake.


Nine officers, three services

The tri-service make-up is what separates Samudra Pradakshina from the all-women expeditions sailed under a single service before it. The Indian Navy has crewed round-the-world voyages entirely with women officers aboard its own sailing vessels. This time the Air Force and the Army shared the deck.

A second service chief's call

Gen Dhiraj Seth, the Chief of the Army Staff, had already received the same crew. With the Chief of the Air Staff's interaction, two of the three service chiefs have now sat down with the officers since their return.

Women in uniform, further out

Samudra Pradakshina arrives as the services widen the roles open to women. The Indian Coast Guard has just moved to gender-neutral officer induction, placing women on permanent commissions at par with men.

The voyage is less a symbol than a record of what women in uniform already do.

Samudra Pradakshina stands as the first all-women circumnavigation crewed together by the Indian Air Force, the Indian Army and the Indian Navy.