‘Heroes Forever’ is a series dedicated to Army, Air Force, Navy and the Police personnel who have gone beyond the call of duty. This is our token of appreciation on behalf of the whole nation to recognize their courage and determination. Nilma Dole [email protected]

Time       :  1400hrs
Date       :  09th November 2008
Location : In between PPD and KKS

As the afternoon sky shone upon the waters of the Indian Ocean, the P416 and P461 were making waves patrolling for suspected enemy activity. Sure enough, just past 1400hrs, some suspected enemy movement was detected over the horizon making their way towards where the naval FACs were floating.

Able Seaman Jayaratne who was onboard the P461, said "My commander observed about 7 LTTE boats on the radar and asked us to keep a strong head and not to show that we were intimidated by their presence". Hence, the strategy that they adopted was to make sure that they were well on target by the time LTTE were in fighting distance. "We took aim and fired as they were about shooting distance from us taking them by surprise because they thought we wouldn't be ready for the confrontation" said the Able Seaman.

"We had 16 men onboard and a highly effective weapons system where the main gun system was controlled by our Commander" said Able Seaman Jayaratne. However, things started turning sour when more LTTE boats came on from other directions to bring down the FACs. "Despite knowing that we were outnumbered, we managed to hold fort and give it everything we had" he said. "We were able to suppress the LTTE boats in the front with our main gun weaponry system but the situation wasn't still to our advantage" said the Able Seaman. However, they didn't give up hope and pressed on with sheer courage and determination.

"However, after intense firing for about an hour and a half, our weapons were exhausted and we were not faced with a tight situation" he said. Nevertheless, the OIC continued to fight with weapons but the LTTE managed to hit them from all sides, severely damaging the FACs.

In a sudden twist of fate, the LTTE wanted to assure them of a victory by sending three LTTE sea tiger suicide boats to make sure the navy was suppressed. "We didn't panic when we identified the suicide boats but we managed to keep a safe distance on our FACs knowing fully well what they intended to do" said the Communicator Padmalal who was onboard the P416.

The first suicide boat that was approaching them just brushed past the side of the P416 FAC without detonating. "Usually, when the suicide boat touches our FAC, it has an inbuilt time bomb to blow itself up but in this case due to the unplanned strategies on sea, it didn't explode to our luck" said the Communicator. The next suicide boat caught fire when it exploded on its side as a result of losing control but it didn't much damage to the FACs. The third one also didn't do blow up as it moved past the FACs but did eventually catch fire after some time. Thereafter, most of the LTTE boats were now giving up for they were exhausting their resources.

With the last ounce of fighting spirit that was in the Navy, many of the strong navy officers rose up to the challenge and used the existing firepower to supress the LTTE. After losing their suicide boats, the LTTE succumbed to the navy and gave up the challenge. The navy managed to prevent defeat despite losing two of their commanders and a few navy officers.

Able Seaman Jayaratne's story started when he wanted to join a career to serve his country.

He first applied to the police service and then to the navy as a second option. Karma ensured that his navy application was successful and he counts about 5 years of service. He advises the youth that you can learn a lot and improve as a person by joining the navy.

Communicator Padmalal joined the navy after his OL and counts 5 years of service to the country. His brother, who is in the army, was his role model inspiring him to join the armed forces and in turn, serve his country.

Communicator Padmalal counts about 5 years of service in the navy and advises would-be navy officers that joining the navy opens your eyes to many things and you can learn the best in technology and skills as well as disciplining oneself.