INS Shivaji, Indian Navy's premier marine engineering training institute, has received the Vir Chakra medal awarded to Late Vice Admiral Benoy Roy Chowdhury, the only technical officer of the Indian Navy to be awarded the honour. INS Shivaji received the medal at a solemn ceremony held at Lonavala on Monday. Vice Admiral Dinesh Prabhakar, Distinguished Chair Marine Engineering at INS Shivaji, received the Vir Chakra on behalf of the Indian Navy from Pradipta Bose and Gargi Bose, the family members of Vice Admiral Chowdhury. The Vir Chakra is an Indian wartime military bravery award presented for acts of gallantry on the battlefield, on land or in air or at sea. "Vice Admiral Chowdhury is the only technical officer of the Indian Navy, who has been decorated with this prestigious award," said a release from the INS Shivaji. The release further said, “Vice Admiral Benoy Roy Chowdhury’s gallantry is firmly rooted during the1971 Indo-Pak War wherein, he was the Engineer Officer onboard erstwhile INS Vikrant. During the course of deployment amidst the war, one of the boilers of Vikrant was rendered non-operational while the performance of the other three boilers were observed to be sub-optimal. He along with his team undertook several innovative repairs at sea away from the base port without seeking any possible assistance from the British Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs)." Officials said that the in-house actions involved fixing of steel bands around the boiler, adjustment of safety valves which involved great risks, leaving the boiler room unmanned yet remotely being monitored and numerous other technical measures. Officials added that these tasks not only required technical expertise but also exemplary leadership qualities to convince his men to do the job full of risk. “His contributions during the war were pivotal in every way. Admiral SM Nanda, the then Chief of Naval Staff, bestowed upon him the title of ‘An Engineer Par Excellence’. His bravery, patriotism and dedicated service is a testimony to various significant achievements earning him the ‘Vir Chakra' for his gallant actions in the 1971 War." said the release.
