On 17 May 2023, Maritime History Society celebrated its 45th Founder’s Day at Mulla Auditorium. Vice Adm MS Pawar, PVSM, AVSM, VSM (Retd) was the guest speaker for this event. He delivered a talk on the "Inception of Maratha Navy". Vice Adm Pawar spoke of the Maratha Armar being an indigenous naval establishment, founded under the leadership of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, built to stand up to the challenges posed by the colonial powers. He brought out Shivaji Maharaj’s constant engagements with the Mughals, Siddis, Dutch, French and Sawants. Drawing parallels on the importance of sea and Sea Control, VAdm Pawar spoke about Shivaji’s historical saying ‘he who owns the Navy owns the Sea’ while postulating significance of maritime power. The Admiral also highlighted the battle of Basrur where Shivaji carried out a surprise attack at midnight, a day before Shivaratri.

The commemorative lecture was followed by release of the book ‘Bharat’s Military Conquests in Foreign Lands (900 BCE – 1680 CE): Indian Military Operations and Expeditions from the Mediterranean to the Pacific’ authored by Mr. Venkatesh Rangan. The book focuses on the history of dynastic and native naval military operations for 3000 years through 11 operations in the Persian Gulf, Red Sea, South China Sea and parts of the Indian Ocean and Indo-Pacific.

The Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Naval Command, Vice Adm Dinesh K Tripathi, AVSM, NM, was the Chief Guest of the event and delivered the keynote address. The event was attended by around 800 people that included naval personnel, academia, retired naval officers and civilians.