NEW DELHI: Amid sustained deployments of Indian Navy warships across key maritime theatres, the sail training ship INS Sudarshini, described as the Navy’s “Ambassador at Large”, arrived at Las Palmas in Spain’s Canary Islands on Thursday in its first-ever visit to the archipelago.
The vessel is now preparing for a trans-Atlantic crossing under its ongoing ‘Lokayan 26’ deployment.
“The port call to the Canary Islands archipelago is significant as it marks the maiden visit of an Indian naval ship to the archipelago. The stopover serves as a strategic pause before the ship embarks on her ambitious trans-Atlantic passage,” the Navy said on Friday.
The visit includes professional interactions with Spanish naval authorities and open ship events for the local community and Indian diaspora, in line with its outreach template.
Since departing Kochi in January, Sudarshini’s route has followed a calibrated westward arc across key maritime corridors. The first halt at Salalah in Oman reaffirmed India’s naval engagement in the Arabian Sea littoral. The ship then transited the Gulf of Aden into the Red Sea, one of the world’s busiest stretches for commercial traffic, before berthing at Safaga in Egypt, maintaining presence along a critical shipping route.
The deployment moved into a diplomatic phase in the Mediterranean. A port call at Valletta in Malta aligned with India’s engagement with strategically located European partners. This was followed by Sète in France, where Sudarshini participated in the ‘Escale à Sète’ maritime festival, placing the Indian Navy alongside a multinational grouping of tall ships.
The subsequent stop at Casablanca in Morocco extended outreach into North Africa, where maritime cooperation with India has been gradually expanding.
The Las Palmas call extends that trajectory into the Atlantic interface. While not a contested theatre, the Canary Islands sit along major trans-Atlantic routes, making the visit relevant from a presence and access standpoint.
The Navy said the stop underlines growing maritime cooperation and engagement between the Indian Navy and the Spanish Navy, pointing to an effort to widen engagement beyond traditional European partners.
Commissioned in 2012 and built by Goa Shipyard Ltd, Sudarshini is a three-masted barque designed for sail training but deployed as a soft power platform. At 54 metres, it trains naval cadets in wind-based navigation, sail handling and endurance operations.
Over the course of ‘Lokayan 26’, more than 200 trainees from the Navy and Coast Guard are expected to embark in phases. Each port call has combined structured naval interaction with public outreach, including courtesy calls, professional exchanges and open deck visits, projecting presence without the signalling load of frontline combatants. The deployment fits into the Navy’s broader push to expand maritime partnerships across West Asia, Europe and North Africa.
From Las Palmas, Sudarshini will undertake a long trans-Atlantic passage before participating in the ‘Sail 250’ event in the United States, marking the 250th anniversary of American independence.