Prez presents ‘President’s Standard’ to Navy’s 22nd Missile Vessel Squadron

Mumbai, Dec 08 (PTI):
President Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday awarded the ‘President’s Standard’, a rare honour for its distinguished service, to the 22nd Missile Vessel Squadron, the unit that had bombed and sank Pakistan Navy’s vessels in the 1971 war.
The President said the honour is the testimony to the services rendered by the past and present officers of the squadron. The year also marks the fifty years since the inception of the Missile Vessel Squadron, also known as the ‘Killers’, which over the past five decades have maintained the capability of delivering a credible offensive punch from the sea.
The timing of this award could not have been more befitting as our nation is celebrating ‘Swarnim Vijay Varsh’. The presentation of the Standard is a testimony to the exceptional service rendered by officers and sailors, past and present, of this squadron to our nation, President Kovind said at the ceremony.
Based in Mumbai, the Missile Vessel Squadron has participated in Operation Vijay, Operation Parakram and most recently, during the heightened security state following the Pulwama attack in 2019 deployed within striking distance off the Pakistan coast. The 22nd Missile Vessel Squadron was formally established at Mumbai in October 1991 with ten Veer Class and three Prabal Class missile boats.
However, the genesis of ‘Killers’ dates back to the year 1969, with the induction of OSA I Class missile boats from the erstwhile USSR to bolster the strength of the Indian Navy. These missile boats were transported to India on heavy-lift merchant ships and commissioned in early 1971 at Kolkata. They were baptised by fire in the same year during the Indo Pak war of 1971 where they played a decisive role in the outcome of the war.

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