Building a national fleet through tradition and hard exercises

Katari arranged to assume fleet command on 2 October, Gandhi's birthday, and questioned inherited ceremonies such as India's 31-gun salute. He regarded the salute as an imperial inheritance and wondered why a country emphasizing peace and prosperity needed more guns than the usual 21. At the departure of the last British fleet commander, he described taking charge of a wholly national fleet while invoking Angre and Kunjali as earlier Indian maritime leaders. Those references connected modern command to an Indian naval past. With INS Delhi as his flagship for most of his tenure, he took the fleet repeatedly to sea to test its ships and commanders. The exercises let him learn their real capabilities while officers and crews developed confidence in their first Indian fleet commander.