VISAKHAPATNAM: INS Circars, the premier depot ship of Eastern Naval Command (ENC), is gearing up to host an array of activities including blood donation camp, visits to orphanages, old age homes and construction of community facilities in naval residential areas here as part of its platinum jubilee celebrations.
The INS Circars will complete 75 years of its formation on December 12, 2014.
As part of its celebrations, a trekking-cum-cycle expedition to Thattipudi Dam and Platinum Jubilee Run at Dolphin Hill will also be conducted by this oldest establishment on the Eastern seaboard.
Further, a symposium on 'Evolving Role of Depot Ships' is also scheduled to be held. The occasion would also witness release of a Special Cover issued by Postal department and a Photo Essay Book and would culminate in a Platinum Jubilee dinner. Towards these celebrations, INS Circars plans to invite all ex-Circars officers, serving or retired, to be a part of this momentous occasion, according to a naval release.
Circars was established as a small Naval Base by the British on December 12 1939, consequent to Visakhapatnam being identified as an important convoy assembly point for military operations. With the need to expand its charter being felt, the base was formally commissioned as HMIS Circars on April 12, 1942.
This establishment borrows its unique name from the title of the Nizam of Hyderabad, who ruled this land and were addressed as 'Circars' (His Highness).
Areas under the Nizam's jurisdiction were collectively referred to as a Circars or belonging to the 'Circar'.
In due course, the apostrophe vanished. No wonder, then, that the first naval establishment on the Eastern Seaboard was named 'Circars', a title befitting a depot ship.
Post independence, the establishment was rechristened INS Circars. Through its long run of nearly eight decades, INS Circars stands tall as the 'Flagship of the East' ardently fulfilling the onerous charter of providing administrative and logistics support not only to afloat and shore units but also to all naval personnel and their dependents residing in naval residential colonies stretching from Dolphin Hill to Naval Coast Battery on the Beach Road, the release added.