View Our Watch Gen. Denis Perera Oration flipbook.
1 ‘Our Watch’: Building a Future-Ready Navy (The 12th death anniversary of Deshamanya Gen. Dennis Perera fell on 11th August. This is the Dennis Perera memorial oration 2026 delivered by Vice Admiral Damian Fernando RSP, VSV, USP, rcds, MA in IS&S (UK), MSc (DS) Mgt, AFNI, JP (Whole Island), the 27th Commander of the Sri Lanka Navy)
2 “Are we merely preparing for today’s challenges or are we building institutions capable of confronting tomorrow’s uncertainties? No institution preserves its relevance by remaining still” Vice AdmiralDamian Fernando, RSP, VSV, USP, rcds, MA in IS&S (UK), MSc (DS) Mgt, AFNI, JP (Whole Island) Commander of the Sri Lanka Navy
3 PREFACE here is a particular kind of apprehension that accompanies the task of writing about a great man. It is not the fear of finding words, but the fear that words may prove inadequate. When I was invited to deliver the General Deshamanya Denis Perera Memorial Oration, by Rear Admiral (Retd) Palitha Weearsinghe, I confess that I approached the task with some trepidation. General Denis Perera was not merely a distinguished soldier whose career could be recounted and admired. He was a man whose influence had become part of the institutions he helped to create and through them, part of the lives of generations who followed. The more I read about him, however, the less intimidated I became and the more conscious I grew of the uncommon nature of his contribution. I began to see that his greatness lay not principally in the appointments he held, the honours he received or the authority he exercised. It lay in something more durable. His capacity to build institutions that could outlive him. This distinction seemed to me to be of considerable importance. Individuals are temporary; institutions, if wisely built, endure. A commander eventually lays down his command. A generation eventually gives way to another. But the standards established by a generation may continue to shape those who come after it. In this sense, General Denis Perera’s legacy is not simply a memory of the past. It is an obligation placed upon the present. That realization became increasingly personal as I reflected upon my own responsibility as the 27th Commander of the Sri Lanka Navy. The question was no longer merely what General Denis Perera had achieved, but what his example required of those entrusted with the institutions he and others had built. I had already arrived at a conviction before preparing this oration: that during my watch, my foremost responsibility must be to strengthen the Navy, not merely for the demands of today, but for the uncertainties of tomorrow. The study of General Denis Perera gave that conviction a deeper meaning. His life reminded me that command is not the possession of an institution for a period of time; it is the temporary custody of an inheritance.
4 It was with this thought that I sought to place before the Board of Management and the entire Sri Lanka Navy three principles which I believe must guide our course: Agility, Credibility and Strategic Relevance. Agility, because an institution that waits for change to become unavoidable has already surrendered much of its advantage. Credibility, because trust is not proclaimed; it is earned, quietly and repeatedly, through professionalism, integrity and conduct. And Strategic Relevance, because no institution can justify its continued existence merely by remembering what it once was. It must continue to matter to the nation it serves, to the region in which it operates and to the future it is preparing to meet. Yet, as I came to appreciate while preparing this oration, there is something that stands beneath all three. People. No Navy is ultimately made strong by ships, weapons, technology or doctrine alone. These are instruments. The enduring strength of an institution resides in the character, competence and commitment of its men and women. And behind those men and women stand families whose sacrifices are seldom recorded in operational reports, yet without which much of what a Navy achieves would simply not be possible. A future-ready Navy must therefore be more than technologically prepared. It must be intellectually agile, professionally credible and strategically relevant; but it must also be an institution worthy of the loyalty and trust of the people who serve within it. To care for them and their families is not an indulgence added to the business of defence. It is part of that business. The title ‘Our Watch’ therefore acquired a significance for me that I had not initially anticipated. A watch is temporary. It belongs to no individual. One receives it from those who came before, keeps it for a while, and eventually hands it to those who follow. The important question is not whether we held it, PREFACE
5 but whether we kept it faithfully and whether we had the wisdom to leave it stronger than we found it. This, perhaps, is the simplest way in which I have come to understand General Denis Perera’s enduring lesson. The duty of a generation is not merely to preserve an inheritance. It is to improve it. The oration that follows is therefore not intended as a biography, nor merely as a tribute to a remarkable soldier and institution builder. It is an attempt to reflect upon what his example might mean to those who have inherited the responsibility of leadership today. It is also a personal examination of the obligation that accompanies command: to anticipate what lies beyond the visible horizon, to prepare people and institutions for challenges that have not yet arrived, and to pass the watch forward with greater strength than that with which it was received. If there is a single thought that I hope remains after these pages have been read, it is this: leadership is ultimately an act of stewardship. We are here for a while. The institutions we serve must remain. And when our watch is over, the only enduring measure of our service may be found in what we chose to strengthen, what we chose to protect and what we chose to leave behind for those who follow. That is the responsibility of ‘Our Watch’. PREFACE Vice Admiral Damian Fernando, RSP, VSV, USP, rcds, MA in IS&S (UK), MSc (DS) Mgt, AFNI, JP (Whole Island) Commander of the Navy
6
7
8 EXECUTIVE SUMMERY At its heart, ‘Our Watch’ is a meditation on stewardship-the enduring covenant that binds one generation of leaders to the next. Drawing upon the timeless naval tradition of keeping watch, the oration transforms a sailor’s duty into a universal metaphor for leadership; to remain vigilant while others rest, to read the horizon before the storm appears and to pass the helm forward stronger than it was received. Inspired by the life and legacy of General Deshamanya Denis Perera, the address affirms that great leaders are remembered not for the offices they held, but for the institutions they strengthened, the character they nurtured, and the values they entrusted to future generations. His enduring example challenges today’s custodians to think beyond immediate success and build institutions capable of confronting tomorrow’s uncertainties. Traversing Sri Lanka’s maritime heritage and the Navy’s remarkable evolution- from humble beginnings through decades of asymmetric conflict to its emergence as a trusted regional maritime force-the oration presents a compelling vision of a Future- Ready Navy founded upon Agility, Credibility, and Strategic Relevance. It embraces the promise of artificial intelligence, autonomous systems and emerging technologies, yet insists that no algorithm can replace judgement, integrity or the profoundly human nature of leadership. The address culminates in a powerful strategic warning: history seldom condemns nations for failing to foresee the future, but it judges them harshly for recognizing transformative change too late. Invoking the cautionary lesson of a modern day “Sputnik Moment”, it urges the Navy and the nation to act while foresight remains a choice rather than a necessity. In the end, the watch is not a possession but a sacred trust. Each generation is measured not by the eloquence of its vision, but by the strength of the inheritance it leaves behind-a Navy more agile, more credible, more resilient, and more worthy of the confidence of the nation it serves. ‘OUR WATCH’: BUILDING A FUTURE READY NAVY (12th General Deshamanya Denis Perera Oration -11th August’2026) Vice Admiral Damian Fernando RSP, VSV, USP, rcds, MA in IS&S (UK), MSc (DS) Mgt, AFNI, JP (Whole Island) The Commander of the Sri Lanka Navy
9 It is both a profounjd honour and a deeply humbling privilege to deliver this memorial oration. We in uniform employ the word privilege rather liberally- rather as the English say, “How do you do?”, without the fain Sputnikest interest in the answer. This evening, however, I use the word in its fullest and most deliberate sense. I extend my sincere appreciation to the Association of Retired Flag Rank Officers for preserving what has become one of Sri Lanka’s foremost forums for strategic reflection and professional discourse. There is, I have long suspected, an unwritten convention governing memorial lectures. The audience hopes the speaker will honour the past with dignity, illuminate the future with wisdom and perhaps their most earnest aspiration- conclude before he himself qualifies for a memorial lecture. I shall endeavour to satisfy all three expectations, though I offer no guarantee as to the order in which they may be fulfilled. If I were asked to distil this evening’s reflections into a single phrase, it would simply be this; ‘Our Watch’. It is a word of remarkable simplicity, yet one that carries the accumulated weight of 75 years.
10 Tonight, our thoughts turn first to the extraordinary life of General Deshamanya Denis Perera- a soldier, an institution-builder whose legacy cannot be measured merely by appointments held, honours bestowed or ribbons accumulated. Such things adorn a career; they do not define it. General Denis Perera understood a truth that historians perhaps appreciate more readily than soldiers themselves; individuals are transient, institutions endure and beneath both lies something even more enduring still- ‘character’. Behold the true inheritance of military service; not steel, but character; not rank, but example; not power, but trust. The General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University, the Diyathalawa Military Academy, the Women’s Corps and the Commando Regiment stands today as enduring testimonials to that conviction-not merely as institutions alone, but as living reminders that the greatest monuments are seldom built of stone. They are built in minds, in traditions and in the quiet standards successive generations refuse to compromise. We gather, therefore, not merely to commemorate a distinguished soldier, but to renew our own covenant with principles that must outlive every one of us. General Denis Perera belonged to that rare company of leaders who understood that truth. His legacy therefore presents every succeeding generation with the same intriguing question; “Are we merely preparing for today’s challenges, or are we building institutions capable of confronting tomorrow’s uncertainties? No institution preserves its relevance by remaining still”. That, I believe, is General Denis Perera’s enduring lesson. And it is upon that voyage that I invite you to accompany me this evening.
11 For a sailor, the watch is never a mere entry upon a duty roster, nor simply another turn upon the quarterdeck. When one watch ends, another begins and responsibility passes quietly, from one pair of hands to the next, as it has since the first Phoenician trader entrusted his cargo to the night. It is an inheritance. While others sleep, another must remain awake. Another must read the horizon. Another must anticipate danger before danger announces itself. Another must hold the ship steadily upon her course. Then, almost without ceremony, responsibility passes to another pair of hands, just as it has since the earliest mariners entrusted their fragile vessels to uncertain seas beneath unfamiliar stars. Every enduring institution possesses moments when history quietly alters its course. Such moments rarely announce themselves with trumpets. They are seldom recognised by those living through them. Only decades later do historians identify them as turning points. The story of the Sri Lanka Navy is composed of precisely such moments. A succession of generations. A succession of watches faithfully kept. Our maritime story, of course, began long before the commissioning of our first warship. For more than two millennia this island has stood astride one of the world’s great maritime crossroads. Long before the phrase Indo-Pacific entered the vocabulary of diplomats, strategists and international conferences, Roman merchants sought our cinnamon, Arab navigators trusted the monsoon winds that carried them to our shores and the great Chinese Admiral Zheng He anchored his fleets in these waters. Our ancestors recognised a truth which successive maritime powers- the Portuguese, the Dutch and the British alike would each rediscover, often at considerable cost. A NAVY FORGED BY HISTORY
12 The sea was never a barrier. It was a bridge; it carried commerce; it carried ideas; it carried cultures. And because it connected the world, it demanded protection. When the Royal Ceylon Navy came into being in 1950, it inherited neither a formidable fleet nor abundant resources. Measured purely in material strength, its beginnings were modest. Yet what those early sailors inherited outweighed every deficiency in numbers. They inherited responsibility. Responsibility for safeguarding an island whose destiny has always been inseparable from the sea. They were not merely operating ships. They were building an institution. Patiently, quietly, without expectation of applause. That patient labour would be tested by nearly three decades of conflict against one of the most adaptive maritime threat the modern world has witnessed. The LTTE Sea Tigers were neither a traditional navy nor ordinary pirates. They employed asymmetric tactics, unconventional thinking and relentless innovation. There existed no established doctrine. No comprehensive manual. No convenient precedent to consult. Our sailors learned while fighting. They adapted while under fire. They evolved more rapidly than an adversary whose methods changed almost from month to month. Courage alone could never have secured success. Victory demanded imagination. It demanded resilience. It demanded young officers and sailors prepared to think beyond doctrine whenever doctrine proved insufficient.
13 Out of necessity emerged innovation. Sri Lanka Navy became one of the world’s most experienced practitioners of asymmetric warfare. Small craft operations were refined. Maritime intelligence matured. Special operations expanded. Long-range interdiction operations evolved far beyond our immediate waters. The campaign against the LTTE’s floating logistics network became one of the defining, decisive maritime contributions to restoring peace to our nation. Yet beyond the operational success lay a lesson of even greater permanence. Institutions that learn more rapidly than their adversaries acquire an advantage which no treaty can confer and no budget can purchase. When the guns finally fell silent in 2009, our responsibilities did not diminish. They merely expanded. Peace demanded leadership of a different character. General Denis Perera often reminded those around him with characteristic simplicity;“Ten good soldiers, wisely led, will defeat a hundred without a head”. Time has done nothing to diminish the wisdom of that observation. Leadership has never been measured merely by authority. Today our maritime responsibilities extend far beyond conventional defence. IUU fishing- illegal migration, narcotics smuggling, human trafficking, maritime terrorism. environmental crime, humanitarian assistance, regional cooperation. Each demands vigilance of a different kind. Each enlarges the meaning of national service. The Sri Lanka Navy therefore evolved once again not merely as a force safeguarding sovereignty, but as a trusted regional maritime partner, earning through consistent professionalism what no proclamation or declaration could ever bestow.
14 Our founders secured the sovereignty of a newly independent nation. Those who followed laid the foundations of a professional Navy. Another generation was called upon to preserve the unity and territorial integrity of the Republic through one of the longest and most demanding conflicts in our history. Our generation has inherited a challenge of a different character, yet no less exacting. We must ensure that the Sri Lanka Navy remains strategically indispensable in an age where change no longer arrives by decades, but by months; where yesterday’s certainty may become tomorrow’s irrelevance; and where complacency has become the most dangerous adversary of every professional institution. OUR GENERATION’S WATCH
15 The maritime theatre before us is undergoing one of the most significant strategic transformations since, which I believe would make even Admiral Alfred Thayer Mahan reach for his notebook. The Indian Ocean has once again become what history has so often made it whenever great powers grow ambitious: not merely a body of water, but the principal arena through which commerce, influence, technology and strategic competition converge. History, after all, has an extraordinary sense of repetition. The Portuguese sought mastery of these waters. The Dutch followed. The British transformed the Indian Ocean into the maritime highway of an empire upon which, it was famously said, the sun never set. Today, different flags traverse the same sea. Nearly two-thirds of the world’s seaborne petroleum passes through this ocean. Almost half of global container traffic traverses these waters. Some of the busiest maritime corridors on earth lie within our wider neighbourhood. It is therefore hardly surprising that naval investment across the region has accelerated with remarkable speed, reshaping the strategic landscape before our very eyes. Geography has undoubtedly blessed Sri Lanka. But history offers an equally sobering reminder. Geography creates opportunity. It guarantees nothing. Many nations have occupied enviable positions upon the map, only to discover that strategic relevance belongs not to those who are well placed, but to those who are well prepared. History has never rewarded complacency. It rewards foresight. Nor must we search the distant past to appreciate how fragile the maritime order has become. Recent months have supplied sufficient evidence. When conflict erupted once again in the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz- a narrow passage scarcely twenty-one nautical miles across at its narrowest point, yet carrying some 25% to 27% of the
16 world’s seaborne oil and nearly a fifth of its liquefied natural gas-collapsed by more than 90% within days. Crude oil prices surged beyond 100 US Dollars per barrel; LNG prices leapt nearly three quarters in under a fortnight. A strait you could swim across on a clam day reminded us how a single chokepoint, briefly closed can shake economies thousands of miles from its shore- a lesson the Venetians once learned about the Bosporus. Its consequences are invariably global. At almost the same time, persistent attacks upon commercial shipping in the Red Sea have driven merchant vessels to abandon the Suez route altogether, undertaking instead the far longer voyage around the Cape of Good Hope-a detour. Thousands of additional nautical miles, paid for in fuel, time and insurance by every economy, however distant dependent upon the sea. The oceans have once again reminded mankind of an enduring truth. A war fought upon land may close a strait at sea. A strait closed at sea may empty shelves in markets an ocean away. Such is the interconnected world in which today’s sailor serves. The sea no longer merely connects continents. It connects destinies. In fact, in his book ‘Connectography’, global strategist Parag Khanna argues that human civilization is shifting from a map of traditional nation states and rigid borders to a global network where connectivity is destiny. Ladies and gentlemen, The international maritime order itself now finds itself subjected to profound examination. The aspiration towards a rules-based order remains both necessary and desirable. Yet history also teaches that every international system reflects not only universal principles, but the interests of those possessing the greatest capacity to shape it. UNCLOS remains one of humanity’s most remarkable legal achievements.
17 It deserves neither blind reverence nor casual dismissal. To disregard it would be unwise. To regard it as beyond interpretation would be equally imprudent. Every enduring legal framework, its authority depends not merely upon its text, but upon the collective willingness of nations to uphold both its letter and its spirit. Therein lies what I might respectfully describe as the ‘Champion’s Dilemma’. Those who champion international rules inevitably confront the temptation to interpret those same rules according to circumstance. It is imperative and wise not to treat the UNCLOS as a rope of sand, hoping it will perish in the twisting. History suggests that such temptations are hardly new. Nor are they confined to any single nation or generation. The wise navigator therefore neither rejects the compass because others have occasionally misread it, nor entrusts his entire voyage to the compass alone. He consults both the instrument and the horizon. So too must nations. For Sri Lanka, this is no academic discussion confined to conference halls or policy papers. It is our geography; it is our economy; it is our responsibility.
18 Our future cannot be secured merely by becoming a larger Navy. Arithmetic alone has never produced strategic advantage. Our future depends upon becoming a more intelligent Navy. A Navy that anticipates before it reacts. A Navy that innovates without abandoning its traditions. A Navy that masters emerging technologies without surrendering professional judgement to them. A Navy whose greatest strength remains neither steel nor software, but wisdom. Three principles, I believe, must therefore guide the course we now set. The first is Agility. “Not merely the capacity to respond swiftly, but the discipline to recognise change before change compels response.” The finest navigator does not wait for the storm to arrive before shortening sail. He has already read the sky. The second is Credibility. Credibility is not established through declarations, nor through carefully drafted communiqués. It is earned quietly. Patrol by patrol; exercise by exercise; decision by decision. It is built through professionalism so consistent that trust becomes almost instinctive. The third is Strategic Relevance. History records many once-formidable navies that disappeared, not because they were defeated in battle, but because they gradually ceased to matter. Irrelevance has claimed more institutions than conflict itself. A Navy remains relevant only so long as it continues to answer the strategic needs of the nation it serves. BUILDING A FUTURE- READY NAVY
19 These three principles cannot exist independently. Agility without credibility becomes recklessness. Credibility without agility becomes stagnation. Neither, standing alone, can guarantee relevance. Together, however, they become something far greater than organisational aspirations. They become strategy itself. Not strategy proclaimed from podiums. Strategy practised, patiently and consistently, over generations. For strategy, in its truest sense, is simply the disciplined habit of preparing today for challenges that have not yet announced their arrival. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the watch now entrusted to our generation. Ladies and gentlemen, Throughout the long march of maritime history, the character of naval power has never remained fixed. The trireme yielded to the galley. The galley surrendered to the great sailing ships. Steam displaced sail. Steel replaced timber. The battleship yielded pride of place to the aircraft carrier. Today, another transformation unfolds before our eyes. Artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, quantum technologies, cyber capabilities and space-based surveillance are redefining the character of maritime operations at a pace few could have imagined even a decade ago. Yet while the instruments of naval power continue to evolve, its purpose remains remarkably constant. The sea has changed little. Human nature has changed even less. And the duty entrusted to those who sail in defence of their nation has not changed at all. Our mission remains what it has always been- to safeguard sovereignty; to protect our maritime interests; to preserve freedom of navigation; to reassure our friends; and whenever possible, to prevent conflict not by inviting war, but by maintaining such professionalism and credibility that war itself becomes the less attractive choice.
20 The strategic environment before us, however, grows more intricate with each passing year. Maritime security can no longer be understood merely through the traditional vocabulary of fleets and firepower. MDA or Maritime Domain Awareness is kind-off trendy. Today it encompasses the protection of undersea infrastructure, the resilience of global supply chains, cyber security, energy security, humanitarian assistance, disaster response, environmental stewardship and the safeguarding of the digital architecture upon which maritime commerce increasingly depends. No navy, however capable, can confront these challenges in isolation. No nation, however powerful, can secure the oceans alone. The sea has always rewarded cooperation more generously than competition. It remains so today. We live in an age captivated by technology. Each year presents us with a new collection of acronyms, each accompanied by the confident assurance that this latest innovation will fundamentally redefine warfare. The vocabulary expands almost as rapidly as the technologies themselves. I confess to viewing some of these predictions with cautious optimism rather than unquestioning enthusiasm. History has made me respectfully sceptical of every generation that confidently announces the end of uncertainty. There was once a belief that the machine gun had made manoeuvre obsolete. Another generation believed strategic bombing alone could win wars. Still another declared that nuclear weapons had rendered conventional conflict irrelevant. History, with characteristic patience, corrected them all. Technology alters the character of war. It has never abolished the enduring demands of leadership. I have yet to encounter an algorithm capable of inspiring courage in moments of fear. No autonomous system has learned to comfort an anxious young sailor embarking upon his first deployment.
21 No software has yet discovered how to explain, with genuine conviction, to a military family why duty has once again postponed birthdays, anniversaries and precious moments that cannot be recovered. Until that day arrives and I suspect it remains some distance over the horizon-leadership shall remain, reassuringly, a profoundly human responsibility. This is not an argument against technology. Not a Luddite’s objection. Quite the contrary. We must embrace innovation. We must invest in research. We must cultivate technological mastery. Artificial intelligence must sharpen decision-making. Autonomous systems must extend human capability. Data must enrich professional judgement. But let us never permit technology to become a substitute for judgement itself. Technology may determine how we operate. It must never determine why we serve.
22 In building a Future-Ready Navy stands another story. A spouse who quietly accepts absence without complaint. Parents who carry anxieties they seldom express. Children who gradually learn that birthdays are sometimes celebrated through screens rather than around tables. These sacrifices appear in no operational reports. No campaign medal records them. No citation adequately acknowledges them. Yet without those unseen sacrifices, the visible achievements of military service would be impossible. PEOPLE BEFORE PLATFORMS
23 This evening, therefore, I pay tribute not only to the men and women who wear the uniform, but equally to the families who silently strengthen it. In particular, I acknowledge Madam Rajini Perera and family, whose quiet sacrifice accompanied General Denis Perera throughout a lifetime of service. They, too, kept the watch. Caring for our people is therefore not an act of generosity. It is an operational imperative. Accommodation matters. Education matters. Professional development matters. Healthcare matters. Mental well-being matters. Recognition matters. Not because they are privileges. But because institutions that genuinely care for their people cultivate something infinitely more valuable than compliance. They cultivate trust. And trust remains the only strategic advantage no adversary can replicate. The watch continues...
24 We inherited this watch from generations of Sri Lankan sailors whose courage was tested by war, whose professionalism was refined by adversity, and whose devotion to duty never sought recognition. We have no right merely to preserve what they entrusted to us. Our duty is greater than preservation. It is improvement. To leave behind a Navy more agile than the one we inherited. More credible; more innovative; more respected; more strategically relevant; more worthy of the confidence our nation places in it. For there shall come another generation. They will stand where we stand tonight. They will judge us not by the ambitions we proclaimed, but by the Navy we placed in their keeping. Let it never be said that we diminished that inheritance. Let it instead be remembered that, for a brief season, we held the watch faithfully; that we strengthened what had been entrusted to us; and that we passed it forward with honour, with wisdom and with confidence. For ships shall change; technology shall change; strategies shall change. The character of conflict shall continue to evolve. But duty does not; integrity does not; service does not. General Deshamanya Denis Perera understood that enduring truth. The question before us is not whether we admire his example. It is whether we shall prove worthy of it. THE WATCH CONTINUES
25 Ladies and gentlemen, General Deshamanya Denis Perera’s greatest legacy was not simply the institutions he established, but the enduring spirit of stewardship he instilled within them. Through that legacy, he continues to inspire those who serve today and those yet to come, reminding every generation that the true measure of leadership lies not in preserving an inheritance unchanged, but in strengthening it before faithfully passing the watch to those who follow. As for me, during my watch, I remain resolutely committed to steering our Navy towards a force that is future ready in thought, credible in conduct and strategically relevant to our nation, our region and the wider maritime fraternity. I am acutely conscious that history seldom punishes nations for failing to predict the future; it judges them more severely for recognising change too late. We cannot afford our own ‘Sputnik Moment’. We must act while foresight remains a choice, rather than waiting until necessity leaves us none. And so, ladies and gentlemen, allow me to leave you not with a quotation, but with a conviction. The watch is not ours to possess; it is ours to preserve; it is ours to strengthen; it is ours to pass on. May those who come after us find that we enlarged the inheritance placed in our hands. May they discover that we left the seas safer than we found them, the Service stronger than we inherited it and the standard of leadership higher than the one expected of us. If, in years yet to come, another generation can say of ours that they kept the watch faithfully, no greater tribute could be paid, no finer memorial could be built and no more enduring legacy could be left. This is ‘Our Watch’. May we be worthy of it. May the blessings of the Noble Triple Gem be upon you all, upon the men and women of the Sri Lanka Navy and upon our Armed Forces. God Bless you all! Thank you very much!
26