INS Imphal
- Indian Navy had no role to play in the Battle of Imphal in 1944 between the Allied forces and the Japanese during the World War-II.
- But the naming of one of its new warships as INS Imphal, on the 75-year of the battle on the hills, has made many in the Northeast feel elated and thankful to the Navy.
- The Battle of Imphal that took place around Imphal, the present capital of Manipur, between March to July in 1944 saw the Allied forces drive the Japanese forces back into neighbouring Burma or present Myanmar.
- The Japanese armies attempted to destroy the Allied forces at Imphal and invade India but were driven away with the help of local soldiers. Along with the simultaneous Battle of Kohima on the road, the battle was the turning point of the Burma Campaign, part of the South-East Asian Theatre of the World War-II.
- INS Imphal will join the ranks of operational destroyers like INS Delhi, INS Mumbai, INS Mysore, INS Kolkata, INS Kochi and INS Chennai.
- “The interesting fact about naming the ship as INS Imphal is to honour the Battle of Imphal and Kohima and representation of a capital town of a Northeast state. This is the first Naval ship named after any city in our Northeast,”
