Over 3,300 Recruits, One Parade: INS Chilka Prepares for Its Biggest Passing Out

After 16 weeks of drill, swimming, academics and early starts, more than 3,300 young men and women will march onto the parade ground on 13 November as trained sailors. The ninth batch of Indian Navy Agniveers and Indian Coast Guard Naviks will pass out in the largest ceremony the base has ever held.

According to the Navy, Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Krishna Swaminathan will be the Chief Guest and Reviewing Officer. The Valedictory Function will be presided over by Vice Admiral Sameer Saxena, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Southern Naval Command.

A record in the making

The numbers tell their own story. When the first batch of Agniveers passed out in 2023, 2,585 recruits marked the occasion in a first-of-its-kind post-sunset parade. Since then, batches have varied in size, with one earlier this year, in June, bringing more than 3,000 trainees, including women Agniveers and Coast Guard Naviks, through the same gates. This week’s batch of over 3,300 tops them all.

The training behind those figures is deliberately all-round. Trainees spend their weeks on academics, physical conditioning, swimming, parade training and outdoor activities, finished with a camp. The Navy says equal weight is given to character, leadership, discipline, camaraderie and teamwork, with the service’s core values of Duty, Honour and Courage running through every module. The aim, in the Navy’s words, is to turn raw recruits into disciplined, agile, resilient and professionally competent sea warriors.

A day for families

For the recruits, the parade is a milestone. For their families, it is often the first chance in months to see them in uniform. Parents, relatives, veterans and invited guests are expected to fill the stands to watch the culmination of a journey that began with a selection process and ended with a salute.

The ceremony will also include the presentation of awards to meritorious trainees, the champion division and the best instructor, recognising the people who shaped the batch as well as the recruits themselves. The occasion will also see the unveiling of Ankur, a bilingual trainees’ magazine.

Those who cannot make it to Odisha can still follow the parade. The Indian Navy will stream the ceremony live on its official social media platforms, so families scattered across the country, and anyone curious about how India’s sailors are made, can watch it unfold.

For the more than 3,300 who will march past the reviewing stand, the parade closes one chapter and opens another. The next one begins at sea.