<p class="title">Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba on Monday welcomed the Indian Navy's six-member all-women crew who arrived here after circumnavigating the globe in over eight months on board the naval vessel INSV Tarini.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The expedition, christened 'Navika Sagar Parikrama', was flagged off from the INS Mandovi boat pool here on September 10 last year.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Led by Lieutenant Commander Vartika Joshi, the crew had Lt Commanders Pratibha Jamwal and Swati P, and Lieutenants Aishwarya Boddapati, S Vijaya Devi and Payal Gupta as other members.</p>.<p class="bodytext">They completed the feat in the 55-foot sailing vessel, INSV Tarini, which was inducted into the Indian Navy on February 18 last year.</p>.<p class="bodytext">It was the first-ever Indian circumnavigation of the globe by an all-women crew, the Navy said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The six women officers trained for the project under Captain Dilip Donde, the first Indian to solo-circumnavigate the globe from August 19, 2009 to May 19, 2010 onboard the Indian-built vessel INSV Mhadei, a Navy official said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">A Navy spokesperson said that the expedition was completed in six legs, with stopovers at the Fremantle (Australia), Lyttleton (New Zealand), Port Stanley (Falkland Islands), Cape Town (South Africa) and Mauritius.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"The crew covered 21,600 nautical miles in the Indian-built sailing vessel INSV Tarini that visited five countries and crossed the Equator twice. It sailed across four continents and three oceans, and passed south of the three Great Capes - Leeuwin, Horn and Good Hope," the spokesperson said.</p>
<p class="title">Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba on Monday welcomed the Indian Navy's six-member all-women crew who arrived here after circumnavigating the globe in over eight months on board the naval vessel INSV Tarini.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The expedition, christened 'Navika Sagar Parikrama', was flagged off from the INS Mandovi boat pool here on September 10 last year.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Led by Lieutenant Commander Vartika Joshi, the crew had Lt Commanders Pratibha Jamwal and Swati P, and Lieutenants Aishwarya Boddapati, S Vijaya Devi and Payal Gupta as other members.</p>.<p class="bodytext">They completed the feat in the 55-foot sailing vessel, INSV Tarini, which was inducted into the Indian Navy on February 18 last year.</p>.<p class="bodytext">It was the first-ever Indian circumnavigation of the globe by an all-women crew, the Navy said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The six women officers trained for the project under Captain Dilip Donde, the first Indian to solo-circumnavigate the globe from August 19, 2009 to May 19, 2010 onboard the Indian-built vessel INSV Mhadei, a Navy official said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">A Navy spokesperson said that the expedition was completed in six legs, with stopovers at the Fremantle (Australia), Lyttleton (New Zealand), Port Stanley (Falkland Islands), Cape Town (South Africa) and Mauritius.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"The crew covered 21,600 nautical miles in the Indian-built sailing vessel INSV Tarini that visited five countries and crossed the Equator twice. It sailed across four continents and three oceans, and passed south of the three Great Capes - Leeuwin, Horn and Good Hope," the spokesperson said.</p>