India's all-women Navy crew make history

According to The Hindu, INSV Mhadei left Goa on May 24 led by skipper Lieutenant Commander Vartika Joshi, a Naval architect, and five others: Lieutenant P. Swathi, Lt. Pratibha Jamwal, Lt. Vijaya Devi, Sub Lt. Payal Gupta and Lt. B. Aishwarya.

“The 2100 Nm [nautical mile] voyage was covered by the crew in 20 days passing through rough seas whipped up by the south-west monsoon. The timing of the voyage was chosen to expose the crew to rough weather that they are likely to encounter during their attempt to circumnavigate the globe in 2017,” the Navy said.

The statement further added that the naval vessel encountered winds up to 35 km and a swell of up to 5m during the voyage to Mauritius.

Mhadei is expected to be delivered to the Navy by February 2017.