INS Trishul arrives in Greece’s Souda Bay for naval exchanges
INS Trishul at Greece’s Souda Bay. (Photo: Indian Navy)
New Delhi: The Indian Navy’s guided-missile frigate, INS Trishul, arrived at Souda Bay on the Greek island of Crete on October 31, 2026, as part of its Mediterranean deployment. The port call will include professional exchanges with the Hellenic Navy and visits to maritime support and training facilities, according to a defence ministry statement.
The programme includes meetings with senior Hellenic Navy officials and representatives of the Indian embassy in Athens, alongside professional discussions, cross-deck visits and cultural exchanges. The crew will also familiarize themselves with facilities at Naval Support Activity Souda Bay and the Nato Maritime Interdiction Operational Training Centre.
Located within the Hellenic Navy’s Souda naval base, the training centre provides instruction in maritime security operations, including boarding, searches and seizure procedures. Its work focuses on preparing naval personnel to conduct maritime interdiction operations through classroom instruction and practical training.
Trishul’s crew will pay tribute at the Souda Bay War Cemetery during the visit. The ship will also open to visitors, although the release did not specify visiting hours or the duration of the port call.
The stop follows Trishul’s visit to Civitavecchia in Italy, which concluded on October 28, 2026. During that call, the crew held exchanges with Italian naval personnel and visited the aircraft carrier ITS Cavour, while the ship hosted members of the Indian diaspora and local visitors.
The Greek visit builds on an established pattern of Indian naval engagements at Souda Bay, where Trishul was among four Indian warships that called in April 2017. More recently, INS Tamal visited the port in August 2025 during its passage to India following commissioning in Russia.
These exchanges form part of the wider defence relationship between India and Greece, which elevated their bilateral ties to a strategic partnership in August 2023. Their joint statement identified security cooperation as an area for expansion and emphasized freedom of navigation and respect for international maritime law in the Mediterranean and the Indo-Pacific.
