Guam Island

About Guam Island:

• It is the largest, most populous, and southernmost of the Mariana Islands in the Northern Pacific Ocean.
• It is an island territory of the United States of America.
• It was a Spanish colony till 1898, then became a US territory after the Spanish-American War.
• Climate: has a pleasant tropical climate tempered by the northeast trade winds and the north equatorial ocean current that flows west across the Pacific.
• Native Guamanians, ethnically called Chamorros, are of basically Malayo-Indonesian descent with a considerable admixture of Spanish, Filipino, Mexican, and other European and Asian ancestries.
• Capital: The capital city is Hagatna.

Key facts about INS Shivalik

• It is the first stealth multi-role frigates built for the Indian Navy.
• It is built at the Mazagon Dock Limited (MDL), located in Mumbai.
• It was commissioned into the Indian Navy on April 29, 2010.
• Features:
• Maximum Speed: 32 knots (59 km/h)
• It features improved stealth and land-attacking features over the preceding Talwar-class frigates. 
• It is also the first Indian Navy ship to use the CODOG propulsion system.
• It is equipped with a mix of Russian, Indian, and Western weapon systems.

Q1: What are Ocean currents?

These are horizontal flow of a mass of waters in a fairly defined direction over great distances. They are like stream of water (like rivers) flowing through the main body of the ocean in a regular pattern. Ocean currents (Avg speed 3.2 km to 10 kmph) with higher speed are called streams and currents with lower speed are called drifts.

Source: INS Shivalik reaches Guam, an island territory of the U.S.