ICGS Meera Behn decommissioned at Okha after 20 years
ICGS Meera Behn decommissioned at Okha after two decades of Coast Guard service
The Indian Coast Guard ship ICGS Meera Behn was formally decommissioned at Okha Port on Saturday, August 22, bringing more than two decades of service to an end.
The ceremony was held around sunset with full Armed Forces honours. Deputy Inspector General Manjeet Singh Gill, Commander of Coast Guard District Headquarters No. 15 at Okha, presided over the event. Commandant (JG) Thinkal Tharakan, the ship’s commanding officer, led the vessel’s final ceremony. Civil and military officials, members of the ship’s crew and representatives of Coast Guard units based at Okha attended.
The event followed the traditional procedure used when a Coast Guard ship leaves active service. It began with a Guard of Honour. As the sun went down, the Coast Guard Ensign was lowered from the ship for the last time. The Decommissioning Pennant was then lowered, marking the formal end of the vessel’s operational service.
Commandant (JG) Thinkal Tharakan submitted the final decommissioning report to DIG Manjeet Singh Gill. With that report, ICGS Meera Behn’s active duty officially came to a close.
The ship had served from the Gujarat coast for many years. Official Coast Guard records show that Meera Behn was part of Coast Guard District Headquarters No. 15 at Okha, where it was listed alongside other vessels and units operating in the area.
Its service record also included rescue and law-enforcement duties. In October 2013, for example, ICGS Meera Behn responded to a fishing boat called Appa Sita Ram after the vessel reported flooding about 45 nautical miles north-west of Okha. The Coast Guard crew helped remove water from the boat, repaired a crack in its bow and towed it to Okha.
Another Coast Guard record from March 2013 describes the ship’s involvement in a response to a fishing boat, Shri Raj, after a fire was reported. The ship operated in the Okha area as part of its patrol duties and later entered Okha after the operation.
The ship was also involved in maritime law-enforcement work. A Ministry of Defence document records that ICGS Meera Behn intercepted an Iranian boat carrying five crew members and seized 61 packets of suspected narcotic substances. The boat was later taken to Okha harbour and handed over to the Marine Police.
These records give a clearer picture of the work carried out by the vessel during its years at sea. Coast Guard patrol ships can be called upon for several duties, including coastal surveillance, search and rescue, protection of fishing activity, anti-smuggling operations and assistance to vessels in trouble.
The name Meera Behn connects the Coast Guard vessel with India’s freedom movement.
Meera Behn was the name given to Madeleine Slade, a British woman who became a close follower of Mahatma Gandhi. The Gandhi Heritage Portal records that Madeleine Slade joined Gandhi’s Satyagraha Ashram on November 7, 1925, and was given the name Mirabehn. She later became one of the people associated with Gandhi’s work at the ashram.
The Coast Guard’s choice of the name therefore carried a direct connection with Gandhi’s life and the wider history of India’s independence movement. Gandhi’s collected works also contain correspondence addressed to Mirabehn as Madeleine, showing the continuing association between the two.
Goa Shipyard Limited built Meera Behn for the Indian Coast Guard. The ship was commissioned on July 25, 2006, according to the information provided for the decommissioning ceremony.
Goa Shipyard’s own product history lists Meera Behn among the Fast Patrol Vessels built for the Coast Guard and records its delivery on June 30, 2006. The same list places it among a group of Coast Guard patrol vessels built by the yard during the mid-2000s.
The original service account describes Meera Behn as a water-jet-propelled Extra Fast Patrol Vessel, or XFPV, designed for high speed and quick movement during maritime operations. Coast Guard technical material describes XFPVs as vessels capable of reaching speeds of about 35 knots, with an endurance of about 1,500 nautical miles.
Current Coast Guard records classify Meera Behn under the Sarojini Naidu class of Fast Patrol Vessels. The same official listing includes Subhadra Kumari Chauhan, Kasturba Gandhi, Savitribai Phule and Aruna Asaf Ali in that class.
The Coast Guard has continued to add newer patrol vessels as older ships reach the end of their working lives. In January 2024, the Ministry of Defence signed a Rs 1,070 crore contract with Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders for 14 new Fast Patrol Vessels for the Indian Coast Guard. The vessels are intended for duties including coastal patrol, fisheries protection, search and rescue, anti-smuggling and anti-piracy operations.
Goa Shipyard, which built Meera Behn, has also continued supplying newer vessels to the Coast Guard. Its recent construction programme includes several offshore patrol vessels, while newer Fast Patrol Vessels have entered service in recent years.
For the crew who served aboard Meera Behn, however, the final sunset ceremony marked the end of a much more personal chapter.
Addressing the personnel and guests at Okha, DIG Manjeet Singh Gill paid tribute to the ship and the people who had served on it. He referred to the contribution made by ICGS Meera Behn during more than two decades of Coast Guard duty and thanked the crew for their service in protecting India’s maritime interests.
The lowering of the Coast Guard Ensign brought the ceremony to its final moment. After more than 20 years at sea, the name Meera Behn has now moved from the active fleet to the Coast Guard’s history.
