The Indian Navy's CTF 154 maiden command came to an end on Wednesday at a ceremony in Manama, Bahrain. In eight months at the head of the multinational training task force, the Navy ran programmes that logged more than 7,800 training hours, with personnel from 39 countries taking part.

Commodore Milind M Mokashi, who had led Combined Task Force 154 since 11 February, formally relinquished command. He handed over responsibilities to Commander Melissa Desjardins, Deputy Commander CTF 154, who received command on behalf of Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) headquarters.

Vice Admiral Curt A Renshaw attends the Manama change of command

Vice Admiral Curt A Renshaw, Commander CMF, attended the ceremony. So did Dr Pradeep Singh Rajpurohit, Ambassador of India to the Kingdom of Bahrain, Commodore Khalid Jasim Althawadi, Naval Sector Commander of the Royal Bahrain Naval Force, and Commodore Dan Thomas, Deputy Commander CMF, along with senior representatives of CMF headquarters and partner nations. Vice Admiral Manish Chadha, Director General Naval Operations, joined through video conferencing.

The Navy had announced the CTF 154 handover earlier in the day.

India joined CMF as an Associate Partner in 2022 and became a full member in 2023. On 11 February this year, the Indian Navy took over CTF 154 from the Italian Navy, the first time an Indian Navy contingent had led any CMF task force.

CTF 154 maiden command logged over 7,800 training hours

CTF 154 was set up in May 2023 as the dedicated training arm of CMF. Its job is to build skills, interoperability and capacity among partner navies, not to conduct operations at sea.

Under Indian command, the task force conducted 20 Staff Enhancement Training engagements, two major multinational exercises and a new forum on piracy. The Staff Enhancement Training and piracy engagements alone recorded more than 1,100 participant attendances, according to the Navy.

The staff courses covered maritime domain awareness, maritime law and law enforcement, information sharing, counter-piracy, maritime crime investigation, cyber resilience, emerging technologies, multinational operational planning, and leadership and personnel resilience. Instructors were drawn from the Indian Navy, other CMF task forces, partner nations, regional maritime agencies and specialist institutions. The tenure also saw the first dedicated Training of Trainers engagement within the CMF training framework, and CMF's first professional engagement with a judge of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.

Operation Compass Rose 26-1 was held fully online

The first major exercise, Operation Compass Rose 26-1, ran from 20 to 22 April. It was shifted to a fully virtual format in view of the regional security environment at the time. It still drew 137 participants, 11 observers and 21 facilitators from 25 partner nations and 13 organisations.

Kochi hosted the largest training event in CTF 154 history

Operation Southern Readiness 26-2 was held at Southern Naval Command, Kochi, from 20 to 23 July. It was the first major CMF training exercise hosted by India.

It brought together 276 personnel from 27 countries and generated around 3,800 training hours, nearly half the tenure's total. The Navy said it was the largest Maritime Domain Enhancement Training engagement held by CTF 154 since the task force was raised. The previous high was 160 personnel, at the Southern Readiness edition held in Kenya under Italian command.

Participants trained at the Navy's specialist training establishments in Kochi and worked on its simulators and operational platforms. The exercise had opened on 20 July with 254 participants from 26 countries, and numbers grew over the four days until Operation Southern Readiness concluded on 23 July.

SPAR 2026 brought piracy experts to one table

The last major event was SPAR 2026, the first Subject Matter Expert Exchange on Piracy and Armed Robbery, on 5 and 6 October. It drew 135 participants, including facilitators, from 25 countries, with 19 organisations and specialist teams contributing.

Counter-piracy forces at sea, maritime law enforcement agencies, information sharing organisations, legal specialists, technology providers and the shipping industry all took part. Discussions centred on how piracy threats at sea are changing and on current challenges in maritime security. For the Navy, the subject is a practical one; in July, INS Trikand responded to a piracy bid on a merchant vessel in the Gulf of Aden.

CTF 154 also widened its links with regional partners during the tenure. It took part in the Fifth Regional Maritime Law Enforcement Dialogue in Nairobi and held talks with the Royal Bahrain Naval Force on maritime law enforcement, new training requirements and future cooperation.