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Eastern Naval Command

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Eastern Naval Command
Active1 March 1968
CountryIndia
BranchIndian Navy
TypeCommand
HeadquartersVisakhapatnam,Andhra Pradesh
Commanders
FOC-in-CVice AdmiralRajesh Pendharkar,AVSM,VSM
FOCEastern FleetRear AdmiralGurcharan Singh,NM

TheEastern Naval Commandis one of the three command-level formations of theIndian Navy.[1]It is headquartered inVisakhapatnam,Andhra Pradesh.[2]The command is responsible for the all naval forces in theBay of Bengaland parts of theIndian Oceanand the naval establishments on the east coast of India.

The Command was established on 1 March 1968.[3][4]The Command is commanded by aThree StarFlag Officer of the rank of Vice Admiral with the title Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Command (FOC-in-C).Vice AdmiralRajesh Pendharkaris the current FOC-in-C ENC, who took over on 1 August 2023.

The HQ of the Eastern Naval Command at Visakhapatnam.

History

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After theindependenceand thepartition of Indiaon 15 August 1947, the ships and personnel of theRoyal Indian Navywere divided between theDominion of Indiaand theDominion of Pakistan.The division of the ships was on the basis of two-thirds of the fleet to India, one third to Pakistan.[5]

The Surface Fleet of the Navy was called Indian Fleet and was commanded by the Flag Officer Commanding Indian Fleet (FOCIF). Initially, the shore establishments on the eastern coast were headed by a captain in the appointment of Naval Officer-in-Charge, Vishakapatnam (NOIC).[6]This was subsequently upgraded to the appointment of Commodore East (COMEAST), aOne Starappointment. The FOCIF and COMEAST reported into theChief of the Naval Staff.In July 1967, COMEAST was upgraded to thetwo-starappointment of Flag Officer, East Coast (FOEC).[7]On 1 March 1968, the Eastern Fleet was also created. With this, the appointment of FOEC was re-designated Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Naval Command (FOC-in-C ENC). The Indian Fleet was split between theWestern Fleetand theEastern Fleetwith the Fleet Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet (FOCEF) reporting into the FOC-in-C ENC.[8]On 1 March 1971,Vice AdmiralNilakanta Krishnantook over as FOC-in-C, the first three-star officer to lead the command.[9]

Area of responsibility

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Under the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Naval Command (FOC-in-C East) is theFlag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet(FOCEF),Commodore Commanding Submarines (East)(COMCOS (E)), Admiral Superintendent Dockyard forVisakhapatnam,shore establishments, and five Naval Officers-in-Charge (NOICs).

The Eastern naval Command has the states ofAndhra Pradesh,OdishaandTamil Naduetc., under its area of responsibility.[10]

The FOC-in-C (East) is the submarine operating authority, under whom COMCOS (E) operates. The 11th (Sindhughoshclass submarine) and 8th (Foxtrot class) Submarine Squadrons operate under COMCOS (E).INSVirbahu,a submarine base commissioned on 19 May 1971, is the alma mater of the Indian Navy submariners.

INS Jalashwaflagship of Eastern Naval Command

Organization

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The Eastern Naval Command is organized as follows:[11]

Post Current Holder References
Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Vice AdmiralRajesh Pendharkar,AVSM,VSM [12]
Chief of Staff Vice AdmiralSameer Saxena,AVSM, NM [13]
Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet Rear AdmiralRajesh Dhankhar,NM [14]
Flag Officer Commanding Tamil Nadu & Puducherry Naval Area Rear AdmiralRavi Kumar Dhingra,VSM [15]
Flag Officer Submarines Rear AdmiralK. Venkatraman, VSM [16]
Admiral Superintendent Dockyard (ASD) - Visakhapatnam Rear AdmiralR. Vijay Sekhar,AVSM,NM [17]
Commodore Commanding Submarines (East) CommodoreL. M. Fernandes [18]
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Admiral DK Joshi, then Chief of the Naval Staff, receiving a guard of honour during a visit to the Eastern Naval Command in November 2013

The headquarters inVisakhapatnam,is also a strategically important dockyard for two nuclear-powered submarines. Due to congestion and heavy shipping traffic, a new 20 square km baseINS Varshais being developed for exclusive naval use about 50 km south of Visakhapatnam.

The Eastern Navy fleet is distributed among its bases atParadip,Tuticorin,KakinadaandChennaion the east coast, and in theAndaman and Nicobar Islands.[10]The Navy has opened its latest naval air base,INS Baaz,at the southernmost tip of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands to secure the strategically importantStraits of Malacca,and another naval air station in Kolkata to base an unmanned aerial vehicle squadron.[19][20]

The ex-INSVikrantas a museum ship in Mumbai.
INS Vikrant during its sea trials
Base City State/Territory Role
INS Circars Visakhapatnam Andhra Pradesh Logistics and Administrative support
INS Dega Naval Air Station
INS Virbahu Submarine base
INS Satavahana Submarine Training Base of the Indian Navy
INHS Kalyani Naval Hospital
INS Kalinga Naval Missile Depot
INS Eksila Marine gas turbine maintenance
INS Karna[21] MARCOS Base
INS Varsha(Under Construction) Future submarine base for the ENC
INS Adyar Chennai Tamil Nadu Logistics and Maintenance support
NAE Chennai Chennai Naval Air Enclave atChennai International Airport
INS Parundu Uchipuli Naval Air Station
INS Rajali Arakkonam Naval Air Station
INS Kattabomman Tirunelveli Submarine VLF facility
INS Tuticorin Tuticorin Logistics support
INS Netaji Subhash Kolkata West Bengal Logistics and Administrative support
INS Paradip(Under Construction)[22] Paradip Odisha Forward Operating Base
INS Bhubaneswar(Under Construction) Bhubaneswar Naval Air Enclave

Capabilities

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In 2005, Eastern Naval Command was home to 30 warships.INSJalashwais the flagship of Eastern Fleet and provides amphibious capabilities to theIndian Navyin theBay of Bengal.Eastern Fleet is equipped with submarine pens and maintenance dockyards. The Amphibious Task Group of Eastern Naval Fleet has INSJalashwa(LPD). It also includes fiveRajput-class destroyers,fourKora-class corvettes, threeGodavari-class frigates, threeShivalik-class frigates,Sindhughosh-class submarinesand theAkula-classsubmarineINSChakra.Naval aviation is provided byWestland Sea Kinghelicopters. Apart from these, a number of smaller vessels such asfast attack craftmade the total fleet strength of the command 52 vessels in 2012.

Future

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Until 1997,INSVikrant(1961)was the flagship of Eastern Fleet. After her de-commissioning in 1997, the Eastern Fleet has been without anaircraft carrier.[19][23]Its aircraft carrier capability will get restored after first indigenously built aircraft carrierINSVikrant(2013)joins the Eastern Fleet by 2023 after completing extensive sea trials and is likely to based inVishakapatnam.[24][25]

List of commanders

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S.No Name Assumed office Left office Notes References
Naval Officer-in-Charge, Visakhapatnam (NOIC Visakhapatnam)
1 CaptainGeoffrey Gowlland 1948 1951 Seconded from theRoyal Navy [26]
2 CaptainBhaskar Sadashiv Soman December 1951 2 December 1953 Later served as Chief of the Naval Staff [6][27]
3 CaptainReginald Sawhny 2 December 1953 June 1954 [6]
4 CaptainR. S. David June 1954 [28][29]
Commodore, East Coast (COMEAST)
1 CommodoreM. K. Heble 12 June 1958 5 February 1960 [30]
2 CommodoreG. S. Kapoor 5 February 1960 June 1962 [31][32]
3 CommodoreJ. S. Mehra 14 June 1962 June 1965 [33][34]
4 CommodoreDouglas St. John Cameron June 1965 31 May 1967 [35]
Flag Officer, East Coast (FOEC)
1 Rear AdmiralKesavapillai Ramakrishnan Nair July 1967 1 March 1968 [7]
Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Naval Command (FOC-in-C ENC)
1 Rear AdmiralKesavapillai Ramakrishnan Nair 1 March 1968 1 March 1971 [36]
2 Vice AdmiralNilakanta KrishnanPVSM,DSC 1 March 1971 March 1973 [36]
3 Vice AdmiralK. L. KulkarniPVSM March 1973 1 April 1976 [37][38][39]
4 Vice AdmiralSwaraj ParkashPVSM,MVC,AVSM 1 April 1976 1 March 1977 [40]
5 Vice AdmiralS. H. SarmaPVSM 1 March 1977 2 February 1978 [41]
6 Vice AdmiralM. R. SchunkerPVSM,AVSM 2 February 1978 24 March 1980 [42][43]
7 Vice AdmiralMihir K. RoyPVSM,AVSM 24 March 1980 8 April 1984 [44][45]
8 Vice AdmiralJayant Ganpat NadkarniPVSM,AVSM,NM,VSM 8 April 1984 28 February 1986 Later served asChief of the Naval Staff [46][47]
9 Vice AdmiralS. C. ChopraPVSM,AVSM,NM 28 February 1986 27 February 1989 [48]
10 Vice AdmiralLaxminarayan RamdasPVSM,AVSM,VrC,VSM 27 February 1989 30 November 1990 Later served asChief of the Naval Staff [49]
11 Vice AdmiralVijai Singh ShekhawatPVSM,AVSM,VrC 31 December 1990 31 October 1992 Later served asChief of the Naval Staff [50]
12 Vice AdmiralB. GuhaPVSM,AVSM 10 November 1992 31 May 1995 [51]
13 Vice AdmiralP. S. DasPVSM,UYSM,VSM 31 May 1995 27 February 1998 [52]
14 Vice AdmiralVinod PasrichaPVSM,AVSM,NM 28 February 1998 31 Dec 2000 [53][54]
15 Vice AdmiralJohn Colin De SilvaPVSM,AVSM 31 Dec 2000 15 January 2001 [54]
16 Vice AdmiralRaman PuriPVSM,AVSM,VSM 15 January 2001 30 September 2003 [55][56]
17 Vice AdmiralO. P. BansalPVSM,AVSM,VSM 1 October 2003 30 September 2005 [56][57][55]
18 Vice AdmiralSureesh MehtaPVSM,AVSM 1 October 2005 31 October 2006 Later served asChief of the Naval Staff [58][59]
19 Vice AdmiralArun Kumar SinghPVSM,AVSM,NM 1 November 2006 31 March 2007
20 Vice AdmiralRaman Prem SuthanPVSM,AVSM,VSM 1 April 2007 30 March 2008 Later served asVice Chief of the Naval Staff [60][61]
21 Vice AdmiralNirmal Kumar VermaPVSM,AVSM 1 April 2008 31 August 2009 Later served asChief of the Naval Staff [62]
22 Vice AdmiralAnup SinghPVSM,AVSM,NM 1 September 2009 31 October 2011 [63]
23 Vice AdmiralAnil ChopraPVSM,AVSM 1 November 2011 2014 Later served as FOC-in-C Western Naval Command [64][65][66]
24 Vice AdmiralSatish SoniPVSM,AVSM,NM 16 June 2014 29 February 2016 [67][68]
25 Vice AdmiralHarish BishtPVSM,AVSM 1 March 2016 30 October 2017 [69]
26 Vice AdmiralKarambir SinghPVSM,AVSM 31 October 2017 30 May 2019 Later served as Chief of the Naval Staff [70]
27 Vice AdmiralAtul Kumar JainPVSM,AVSM,VSM 1 June 2019 28 February 2021 [71]
28 Vice AdmiralAjendra Bahadur SinghPVSM,AVSM,VSM 28 February 2021 28 November 2021 Later served as FOC-in-C Western Naval Command [72][73]
29 Vice AdmiralBiswajit DasguptaPVSM,AVSM,YSM,VSM 1 December 2021 31 July 2023 [74]
30 Vice AdmiralRajesh PendharkarAVSM,VSM 1 August 2023 Incumbent

See also

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References

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  2. ^"The might of the Indian Navy: ENC - Times of India".The Times of India.Retrieved1 January2016.
  3. ^"Golden Jubilee Celebrations of ENC | Indian Navy".indiannavy.nic.in.
  4. ^Hiranandani, G M (2000).Transition to triumph: history of the Indian Navy, 1965-1975.Lancer Publishers.ISBN978-1897829721.
  5. ^Bhatia (1977), p. 28: "Consequent on the partition of the country on 15 August 1947, two thirds of the undivided fleet and associated assets came to India."
  6. ^abc"I.N. Appointments"(PDF).Press Information Bureau of India - Archive.28 November 1953.Retrieved22 February2020.
  7. ^ab"Admiral Nair, New Flag Officer, East Coast"(PDF).Press Information Bureau of India - Archive.17 July 1967.Retrieved1 February2020.
  8. ^Hiranandani, G M (2000).Transition to triumph: history of the Indian Navy, 1965-1975.Lancer Publishers. p. 615.ISBN978-1897829721.
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