INS Sudarshini Lisbon departure came on Tuesday, the Indian Navy sail training ship sailing out of the Portuguese capital after a three day port call under her Lokayan 2026 transoceanic expedition.

The stop had opened days earlier with the ship's arrival on the Tagus. Between then and her departure, the schedule filled up with calls on senior Portuguese naval officers, a visit to the country's naval academy, and a deck reception that brought together Portuguese officials, diplomats and members of the Indian community in Lisbon before she sailed.


INS Sudarshini Lisbon Departure Follows Calls on Portuguese Officers

During the port call, the Commanding Officer of INS Sudarshini called on Rear Adm Miguel Bessa Pacheco, Commandant of the Portuguese Naval Academy, and separately on Rear Adm Joao Paulo Silva Pereira, Deputy Fleet Commander of the Portuguese Navy. Defence sources said the two engagements reinforced institutional ties and mutual understanding between the Indian and Portuguese navies, continuing an exchange that has built up over the ship's stops on this leg of the voyage.

Sea Trainees Visit the Escola Naval

Sea trainees from the Indian Navy also visited the Escola Naval, the Portuguese Naval Academy at Alfeite near Lisbon.

They interacted with Portuguese cadets, toured the historic campus and its training facilities, and exchanged perspectives on seamanship and tall ship sail training with their counterparts, part of a professional programme that ran alongside the officer calls. Academy exchanges of this kind have become something of a fixture on INS Sudarshini's Lisbon call, extending a pattern the ship set at earlier stops on her way across the Atlantic.

A Deck Reception Rounds Off the Call

The port call also featured a deck reception on board INS Sudarshini, attended by senior Portuguese military officials, members of the diplomatic corps and the Indian diaspora in Lisbon. Guests were shown around the three masted barque before she prepared to sail for her next port of call.

Two Portuguese Stops on One Voyage

Lisbon was the second Portuguese port on this leg of Lokayan 2026, coming after INS Sudarshini's passage to Ponta Delgada in the Azores earlier this month. Together the two calls point to a maritime partnership that has grown steadily between the two navies over the course of the voyage, one built call by call rather than through any single agreement.

Lokayan 2026 Sails On

The INS Sudarshini Lisbon departure sends the ship onward on Lokayan 2026, a voyage that has already carried her to New York earlier in the year among a string of port calls spanning three continents. Her onward route from Lisbon was not detailed in the material made available.

Official information on the Portuguese Navy and the Escola Naval is available on the Marinha Portuguesa website and on the Escola Naval site, while details of the Indian Navy's own sail training programmes are carried on the Indian Navy website.