Rehearsals in full swing for Beating Retreat and Tattoo ceremony

India celebrates Navy Day on 4th December to celebrate Navy's role in 1971 Indo-Pakistan war when missile boats carried out a daring attack on Karachi harbour. (Express photo by Nirmal Harindran)

Three missile boats of the Indian Navy, INS Nipat, INS Nirghat and INS Veer played a pivotal role in the attack. (Express photo by Pradip Das)

The mission titled as Operation Trident commenced on the same date. (Express photo by Pradip Das)

On December 5, the Navy’s Western C-in-C, Vice Admiral SN Kohli received the code word “Angaar” which meant success in Operation Trident. (Express Photo By Ganesh Shirsekar)

Navy personnel rehearse for the Beating Retreat and Tattoo ceremony at Gateway of India on Monday. (Express photo by Nirmal Harindran)

President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi were among the firsts on Twitter to pay their tributes to the naval force. (Express photo by Pradip Das)

Indian Naval band rehearses for Beating Retreat as part of the Navy Day celebrations at Gateway of India in Mumbai. (Express Photo By Ganesh Shirsekar)

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, Minister of Railways and Coal Piyush Goyal and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad also paid their tributes to the Navy.(Express photo by Nirmal Harindran, 2nd December 2018, Mumbai.

The 1971 war happened over a course of 13 days and saw possibly the largest number of prisoners of war since the World War II. (Express photo by Nirmal Harindran)

The outcome of this war was the independence of East Pakistan and also the creation of the People’s Pakistan of Bangladesh. (Express photo by Nirmal Harindran)