INS Sudarshini Salalah departure came on Saturday, the Indian Navy's three-masted sail training ship sailing from the Omani port after a four-day visit as part of her Lokayan 26 transoceanic deployment.

She had been alongside since Wednesday, and the INS Sudarshini Salalah departure closed a programme run with the host navy.

Sporting fixtures and professional talks with the Royal Navy of Oman

During the stay, the ship's crew and trainees held professional interactions with the Royal Navy of Oman and took part in sporting engagements with their Omani counterparts. According to the Indian Navy, the exchanges built camaraderie between the two services and added to people-to-people ties between the countries.

The Embassy of India in Muscat lists Oman as India's closest defence partner in the Gulf. It is also the first Gulf country with which all three Indian services hold joint exercises.

INS Sudarshini Salalah departure closes a return visit

Salalah was where Lokayan 26 began its port calls. The ship made her first port call of the voyage at Salalah in early February, weeks after sailing from Kochi, on a deployment the Navy had planned to run for about ten months.

The voyage is now in its tenth month.

Maritime diplomacy under sail

The Indian Navy describes the deployment as a test of professional seamanship, resilience and leadership for its trainees. In each port the ship also serves as an ambassador for India, building goodwill and maritime partnerships, the Navy said. It links the voyage to the ethos of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam and to MAHASAGAR, India's vision of Mutual and Holistic Advancement for Security and Growth Across Regions.

From the Red Sea to the American seaboard and back

Between her two Salalah calls, INS Sudarshini went up the Red Sea and through the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean, crossed the Atlantic, and spent the northern summer on the United States east coast. On 4 July she sailed in the Parade of Sail on the Hudson in New York. She left Boston in late July, recrossed the ocean to the Azores and worked her way east through Lisbon and Barcelona. Her last European stop was Livorno, which she departed on 12 September.

More than 200 cadets on board through the voyage

More than 200 naval and coast guard cadets have rotated through INS Sudarshini for sail training over the course of the deployment, according to earlier Navy figures.

Built in India at Goa Shipyard, she was commissioned in 2012 as one of the Navy's two sail training ships.