When India was granted its independence in 1947, the nation had a small and very young navy. This tiny nucleus would expand over the coming years into a large and modern military force as would befit a country as large and economically powerful as India. By the early 1980s the nation had a well balanced naval force with frigates, submarines and support arms together with one aircraft carrier, INS Vikrant. Today we are looking at a small desk calendar issued by the Indian Navy in 1983:

The calendar is in both English and Hindi and opens with a message from the commander in chief of the Indian Navy:

The calendar has a wide range of superb photographic images covering all aspects of the navy, its men and ships. We have images of naval aircraft:

Lowering a boat:

Working in an engine room of a submarine:

A frigate at sea:

Sailors on parade on the quarter deck:

And a submarine on the surface:

The Indian Navy has grown from strength to strength since this point and today is one of the major naval powers in the region. The ships in this calendar have long gone for scrap, but this calendar shows a snapshot of the navy at this one particular moment in time.