The Middle Ground Coastal Battery is a heritage site of an antique coastal artillery battery managed by the Indian Navy on an islet off the coast of Mumbai, India. It is situated on Middle Ground isle in Mumbai Harbour, a few hundred metres away from the Gateway of India, in Thane Creek. [1] [2]
The Middle Ground Coastal Battery was once part of a reef, like the nearby Oyster Rock. Middle Ground islet is a piece of hard basalt rock, emerging from the creek bed, having an area of a few hundred square meters. [1] [2]
The island was fortified in 1682 by the British East India Company to curb the sea piracy in the area. Later a marine police force of Bhandaris was stationed on the islet to keep an eye on the pirates who used to board ships. The Bhandaris were chosen for their honesty and local knowledge. They had a distinctive uniform of yellow turbans and blue trousers. After piracy moved to the South China Sea, about two hundred years ago, the police were disbanded and the rock passed into the control of the Royal Navy (RN), and from thence to the Royal Indian Navy (RIN) and eventually to the Indian Navy (IN). [1] [2]
The RIN added to the fortifications with the use of coastal guns and later on three anti-aircraft guns to protect the harbour from a perceived Japanese invasion during World War II. The AA guns were eventually removed, but the deep cylindrical mountings of the old guns still remain. [1] [2]
The island is manned by a staff of eight sailors of the Indian Navy who keep in touch with the mainland through radio communications. Currently the island serves as the saluting base to the Flag Officer Commander-in-Chief (FOC-in-C) of the Western Naval Command. The old cannons are ceremonially fired along with a bugle call when a new FOC-in-C takes office or when a naval ship returns to its home port in the harbour after an extended deployment. [1] [2]
The edifice stores artefacts of the colonial era such as ceramic bathtubs, etc. A maritime museum occupied a portion of the isle, but it was shut down in 2000 with the exhibits moving to the maritime museum of the decommissioned light aircraft carrier INS Vikrant (1961) when it was opened to the public. Ensigns of old naval ships are still stored on the isle. [1] [2]
The islet is difficult to visit owing to the problems faced while berthing during low tide. The Navy has been offered many lucrative deals for the obsidian isle, but selling it would heavily compromise the security of warships berthed at Naval Jetties. [1] [2]
Portland Harbour is located beside the Isle of Portland, Dorset, on the south coast of England. Construction of the harbour began in 1849; when completed in 1872, its 520-hectare (1,300-acre) surface area made it the largest human-made harbour in the world, and it remains one of the largest in the world today. It is naturally sheltered by Portland to the south, Chesil Beach to the west and mainland Dorset to the north. It consists of four breakwaters: two southern and two northern. These have a total length of 4.57 km (2.84 mi) and enclose approximately 1,000 ha of water.
The Indian Navy is the maritime branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. The Chief of Naval Staff, a four-star admiral, commands the navy. As a blue-water navy, it operates significantly in the Persian Gulf Region, the Horn of Africa, the Strait of Malacca, and routinely conducts anti-piracy operations and partners with other navies in the region. It also conducts routine two to three month-long deployments in the South and East China seas as well as in the western Mediterranean sea simultaneously.
Salsette Island is an island in Konkan division of the state of Maharashtra, on India's west coast. Administratively known as Greater Mumbai, the city district of Mumbai, Mumbai Suburban district, Mira Bhayander, and a portion of Thane lie within it, making it very populous and one of the most densely populated islands in the world. It has a population of more than 20 million inhabitants living on an area of about 619 square kilometres (239 sq mi).
The Royal Indian Navy (RIN) was the naval force of British India and the Dominion of India. Along with the Presidency armies, later the Indian Army, and from 1932 the Royal Indian Air Force, it was one of the Armed Forces of British India.
Mumbai Harbour, is a natural deep-water harbour in the southern portion of the Ulhas River estuary. The narrower, northern part of the estuary is called Thana Creek. The harbour opens to the Arabian Sea to the south. The historical island of Elephanta is one of the six islands that lie in the harbour.
Maritime powers in the Indian subcontinent have possessed navies for many centuries. Indian dynasties such as the Cholas used naval power to extend their influence overseas, particularly to Southeast Asia. The Marakkar Navy under Zamorins during 15th century and the Maratha Navy of the 17th and 18th centuries fought with rival Indian powers and European trading companies. The East India Company organised its own navy, which came to be known as the Bombay Marine. With the establishment of the British Raj after the Indian Rebellion of 1857, the small navy was transformed into "His Majesty's Indian Navy", then "Her Majesty's Indian Marine", and finally the "Royal Indian Marine".
Karwar is a seaside city, taluka, and administrative headquarters of Uttara Kannada district lying at the mouth of the Kali river on the Kanara coast of Karnataka state, India.
Kanhoji Angre, also known as Conajee Angria or Sarkhel Angré was a chief of the Maratha Navy in present-day India. Kanhoji became known for attacking and capturing European merchant ships and collecting jakat, seen by Europeans traders and colonists as ransoming of their crews. British, Dutch and Portuguese ships often fell victims to these raids. Despite attempts by the Portuguese and British to put an end to his privateering activities, Angre continued to capture and collect jakat from European merchant ships until his death in 1729. Kanhoji's naval prowess in capturing dozens of European trading ships and avoiding capture has led to many historians to appraise Kanhoji as the most skilled Indian navy chief in the maritime history of India.
INS Kadamba or Naval Base Karwar or Project Seabird is an Indian Navy base located near Karwar in Karnataka. The first phase of construction of the base, code-named Project Seabird, was completed in 2005 and the base was commissioned on 31 May 2005. Development of Phase II commenced in 2011. INS Kadamba is currently the third largest Indian naval base, and is expected to become the largest naval base in the eastern hemisphere after completion of expansion Phase IIB. The construction of Naval Base covers an area of 11,169 acres in Phase I. The Navy's aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya is based at Karwar. The base also has the country's first sealift facility, a unique “shiplift” and transfer system for docking and undocking ships and submarines.
Oyster Rock is an island in the Mumbai Harbour, Mumbai, India. It is heavily fortified, and owned by the Indian Navy. For a short while, the islet was used as a naval museum. Every time when the Admiral of The Fleet sails out or in with the Naval fleet, a guard of honour is conducted with a 21 gun salute with sailors standing on the entire perimeter of the island.
Suvarnadurg is a fort that is located between Mumbai and Goa on a small island in the Arabian Sea, near Harnai in Konkan, along the West Coast of India, in the Indian state of Maharashtra.
The Royal Indian Navy mutiny or revolt, also called the 1946 Naval Uprising, was a failed insurrection of Indian naval ratings, soldiers, police personnel and civilians against the British government in India. From the initial flashpoint in Bombay, the revolt spread and found support throughout British India, from Karachi to Calcutta, and ultimately came to involve over 10,000 sailors in 56 ships and shore establishments. The mutiny failed to turn into a revolution because sailors were asked to surrender after the British authorities had assembled superior forces to suppress the mutiny.
The Indian Naval Air Arm is the aviation branch and a fighting arm of the Indian Navy which is tasked to provide an aircraft carrier based strike capability, fleet air defence, maritime reconnaissance, and anti-submarine warfare.
The Mauritius campaign of 1809–1811 was a series of amphibious operations and naval actions fought to determine possession of the French Indian Ocean territories of Isle de France and Île Bonaparte during the Napoleonic Wars. The campaign lasted from the spring of 1809 until the spring of 1811, and saw both the Royal Navy and the French Navy deploy substantial frigate squadrons with the intention of disrupting or protecting trade from British India. In a war in which the Royal Navy was almost universally dominant at sea, the campaign is especially notable for the local superiority enjoyed by the French Navy in the autumn of 1810 following the British disaster at the Battle of Grand Port, the most significant defeat for the Royal Navy in the entire conflict. After their victory, the British used the original Dutch name of Mauritius for Isle de France. In 1814, Île Bonaparte was returned to France, who eventually renamed it La Réunion.
The Java campaign of 1806–1807 was a minor campaign during the Napoleonic Wars by British Royal Navy forces against a naval squadron of the Kingdom of Holland, a client state of the French Empire, based on the island of Java in the Dutch East Indies. Seeking to eliminate any threat to valuable British merchant convoys passing through the Malacca Straits, Rear-Admiral Sir Edward Pellew determined in early 1806 that the Dutch naval forces based at Java, which included several ships of the line and three frigates, had to be defeated to ensure British dominance in the region. Lacking the forces to effect an invasion of the Dutch colony, Pellew instead sought to isolate and blockade the Dutch squadron based at Batavia in preparation for raids specifically targeting the Dutch ships with his main force.
Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) Dockyard is the largest naval base of the Sri Lanka Navy and a major shipyard located in Trincomalee, Sri Lanka. Established by the British as the Royal Naval Dockyard, Trincomalee, it was home to the East Indies Station of the Royal Navy during World War II. Since the withdrawal of the Royal Navy, the Royal Ceylon Navy took over dockyard. It became the home base of the RCyN fleet and today it is home to the Eastern Naval Command and the Naval and Maritime Academy of the Sri Lanka Navy.
Admiral Sourendra Nath Kohli, PVSM was an Indian Navy admiral who served as the 8th Chief of the Naval Staff from 1 March 1973 until 29 February 1976. Kohli served as the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief (FOC-IN-C) of the Western Naval Command during the Indo-Pakistan War of 1971 and successfully led Indian Navy's Western Fleet in Operation Trident and Operation Python against the Pakistan Navy fleet in Karachi. His prior commands include those as the commanding officer of INS Mysore (C60) and INS Rana (D115).
INS Sumitra is the fourth and last Saryu-class patrol vessel of the Indian Navy, designed and constructed by Goa Shipyard Limited. It is also the presidential yacht of India. It is designed to undertake fleet support operations, coastal and offshore patrolling, ocean surveillance and monitoring of sea lines of communications and offshore assets and escort duties.
Piracy in the Persian Gulf describes the naval warfare that was prevalent until the 19th century and occurred between seafaring Arabs in Eastern Arabia and the British Empire in the Persian Gulf. It was perceived as one of the primary threats to global maritime trade routes, particularly those with significance to British India and Iraq. Many of the most notable historical instances of these raids were conducted by the Al Qasimi tribe. This led to the British mounting the Persian Gulf campaign of 1809, a major maritime action launched by the Royal Navy to bombard Ras Al Khaimah, Lingeh and other Al Qasimi ports. The current ruler of Sharjah, Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi argues in his book The Myth of Piracy in the Gulf that the allegations of piracy were exaggerated by the Honourable East India Company to cut off untaxed trade routes between the Middle East and India.
The Maratha Navy was the naval wing of the armed forces of the Maratha Empire, which existed from around mid-17th century to mid-18th century in the Indian subcontinent.
