Kanhoji Angre - Legacy

Legacy

Kanhoji Angre stands as one of the most notable admirals of the Maratha Navy who inflicted many casualties on colonial powers. However, the British and other shipping powers who were heckled by Angre claimed that he was a privateer, purposely forgetting that he was the appointed admiral of the Maratha Navy.

Kanhoji is also credited with the foresight that a Blue Water Navy's role is to keep the enemy engaged away from the shores of the land. At one time he was so successful that he even employed certain Europeans in his fleet, including making one Dutchman his Commodore. At the height of power, Kanhoji's commanded hundreds of warships and the British Navy could do little to combat the Maratha Navy.

Kanhoji's harassment of British commercial interests (who hence called him a pirate) and the Battle of Swally led them to establish a small naval force that eventually became the modern Indian Navy. Angre's Samadhi (a place where he cremated) is situated at the city of Alibag, Maharashtra.

A statue of Angre stands tall in Naval Dockyard in Mumbai. The fort which overlooks the Naval Docks may not be there but the boundary wall is still intact and within it lays the Headquarters of Western Naval Command and is called INS Angre (Indian Naval Ship Angre).