Western Naval Command

Western Naval Command
Crest of the Western Naval Command
Country India
Branch Indian Navy
TypeCommand
HeadquartersMumbai, Maharashtra
Commanders
FOC-in-CVice Admiral Sanjay Jasjit Singh, AVSM, NM
FOCWFRear Admiral C. R. Praveen Nair, NM
FOMARear Admiral Manish Chadha, VSM

The Western Naval Command is one of the three command–level formations of the Indian Navy.[1] It is headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. As the senior–most of the three formations,[2] the command is responsible for the all naval forces in the Arabian Sea and western parts of the Indian Ocean and the naval establishments on the west coast of India.

The Command was formed on 1 March 1968.[3] The Command is commanded by a Three Star Flag Officer of the rank of Vice Admiral with the title Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Command (FOC-in-C). Vice Admiral Sanjay Jasjit Singh is the current FOC-in-C WNC, who took over on 3 January 2024.[4]

History

After the independence and the partition of India on 15 August 1947, the ships and personnel of the Royal Indian Navy were divided between the Dominion of India and the Dominion of Pakistan. The division of the ships was on the basis of two-thirds of the fleet to India, one third to Pakistan.[5] Two new appointments were created, the Rear Admiral Commanding Indian Naval Squadron (RACINS), the commander of the surface fleet of the Navy, and the Commodore-in-Charge Bombay, a one-star officer who headed the shore establishments on the western coast. To bring the service more in line with other navies, on 1 May 1952 the Rear Admiral Commanding Indian Naval Squadron was re-designated Flag Officer Commanding (Flotillas), Indian Fleet,[6]

On 30 December 1957, the office of Flag Officer Commanding (Flotillas) was re-designated Flag Officer Commanding Indian Fleet (FOCIF), while the command of the shore establishments was upgraded to the Two Star appointment of Flag Officer Bombay (FOB) in June 1958.[7] The FOCIF and FOB reported to the Chief of the Naval Staff. On 1 March 1968, the FOB was upgraded to the Three Star of Vice Admiral and was re-designated Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Naval Command (FOC-in-C WNC). The Indian Fleet was renamed as Western Fleet with the Flag Officer Commanding Western Fleet (FOCWF) reporting into the FOC-in-C WNC.[8][2]

Area of responsibility

The Western Naval Command (WNC) is the sword arm of the Indian Navy and naval operations conducted on the western seaboard would be central to the outcome of any conflict at sea against Pakistan. The Western Fleet is the two-star level operational formation of the Western Naval Command. It utilises Mumbai and Karwar as its home ports, with INS Kunjali, its HQ in Mumbai. The fleet at the WNC is based under Flag Officer Commanding Maharashtra Naval Area (FOMA) and provides naval defence in the sensitive north Arabian Sea adjacent to Pakistan. INS Kadamba, a large naval base, was constructed under Project Seabird and completed in 2005. This naval base, at Karwar in Karnataka, is used exclusively by the Indian Navy.[1]

Capabilities

INS Vikramaditya (R33) at sea.

The Flagship carrier of the Western Fleet is INS Vikramaditya. The WNC is equipped with submarine pens, a carrier dock and main maintenance dockyards. The Carrier Battle Group of the Western Fleet consists of INS Vikramaditya, Delhi class destroyers, Talwar class frigates, Brahmaputra class frigates, INS Kolkata, Indian navy's one of the most powerful destroyer[9] and Sindhughosh class submarines. The Naval Aviation is provided by MiG-29K fighters along with airborne early warning Kamov Ka-31 Helicopters.

Full-fledged shipbuilding facilities on the western seaboard include the Mazagon Dock Limited in Mumbai, the Goa Shipyard Limited and the Cochin Shipyard Ltd in Kerala, which is India's largest repair dry dock.

Organization

The Western Naval Command is organized as follows:[10]

Post Current Holder References
Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Vice Admiral Sanjay Jasjit Singh, AVSM, NM [4]
Chief of Staff Vice Admiral Ajay Kochhar, AVSM, NM [11]
Flag Officer Commanding Western Fleet (FOCWF) Rear Admiral Rahul Vilas Gokhale, NM [12]
Flag Officer Commanding Maharashtra Naval Area (FOMA) Rear Admiral Anil Jaggi [13]
Flag Officer Goa Area (FOGA) & Flag Officer Naval Aviation (FONA) Rear Admiral Ajay D. Theophilus [14]
Flag Officer Commanding Gujarat Naval Area (FOGNA) Rear Admiral Sathish Vasudev, NM [15]
Flag Officer Commanding Karnataka Naval Area (FOK) Rear Admiral K. M. Ramakrishnan, VSM [16]
Flag Officer Defence Advisory Group (FODAG)
Admiral Superintendent Dockyard (ASD) - Mumbai Rear Admiral Deepak Kumar Goswami, AVSM [17]
Commodore Commanding Submarines (West) Commodore Anurag Srivastava [18]

Naval bases under Western Naval Command are the following[19]

Base City State/Territory Role
INS Dwarka Okha Gujarat Logistics and Maintenance support
INS Sardar Patel[20] Porbandar Logistics Support
INS Kadamba Karwar Karnataka Logistics and Maintenance support
INS Vajrakosh Naval ammunition and missile depot
INHS Patanjali Naval Hospital
INS Gomantak Vasco da gama Goa Logistics and Maintenance support
INS Hansa Dabolim Naval Air Station
INHS Jeevanti Vasco-da-gama Naval Hospital
INS Angre Mumbai Maharashtra Logistics and Administrative support
INS Abhimanyu MARCOS base
INS Agnibahu Missile boat squadron base
INHS Asvini Naval Hospital
INS Kunjali Naval Air Station
INS Shikra Naval Air Station
INS Tanaji Naval ammunition depot
INS Trata Coastal Missile Defense
INS Tunir Naval missile depot
INS Vajrabahu Submarine base

List of Commanders

S.No Name Assumed office Left office Notes References
Commodore-in-Charge Bombay (COMBAY)
1 Commodore Henry Richmond Inigo-Jones 15 August 1947 31 December 1950 Formerly Royal Indian Navy. [21]
2 Commodore R. M. T. Taylor 31 December 1950 March 1954 Seconded from the Royal Navy [22]
3 Commodore Ajitendu Chakraverti March 1954 16 November 1954 First Indian to hold the appointment. [23]
4 Commodore Adhar Kumar Chatterji 17 November 1954 November 1956 Later served as Chief of the Naval Staff. [24]
5 Commodore Bhaskar Sadashiv Soman November 1956 12 June 1958 Later served as Chief of the Naval Staff. [25][7]
Flag Officer Bombay (FOB)
1 Rear Admiral Bhaskar Sadashiv Soman 12 June 1958 April 1960 Later Chief of the Naval Staff. [26]
2 Rear Admiral S. G. Karmarkar MBE June 1960 June 1964 [27][28]
3 Rear Admiral R. S. David June 1964 15 February 1968 [29][30]
4 Rear Admiral Sardarilal Mathradas Nanda PVSM, AVSM 16 February 1968 1 March 1968 Later Chief of the Naval Staff. [29]
Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Naval Command (FOC-in-C WNC)
1 Vice Admiral Sardarilal Mathradas Nanda PVSM, AVSM 1 March 1968 28 February 1970 Later served as Chief of Naval Staff [31][32]
2 Vice Admiral Nilakanta Krishnan PVSM, DSC 28 February 1970 12 February 1971 [33]
3 Vice Admiral Sourendra Nath Kohli PVSM 12 February 1971 27 February 1973 Later served as Chief of Naval Staff [34]
4 Vice Admiral Jal Cursetji PVSM 27 February 1973 28 February 1976 Later served as Chief of Naval Staff [35][36]
5 Vice Admiral Ronald Lynsdale Pereira PVSM, AVSM 28 February 1976 5 April 1977 Later served as Chief of Naval Staff [37][38]
6 Vice Admiral Rustom K. S. Ghandhi PVSM, VrC April 1977 3 March 1979 [39]
7 Vice Admiral V. E. C. Barboza PVSM, AVSM* 3 March 1979 March 1981 [40]
8 Vice Admiral Manohar Prahlad Awati PVSM, VrC March 1981 30 March 1983 [41][42][43]
9 Vice Admiral Radhakrishna Hariram Tahiliani PVSM, AVSM 31 March 1983 30 April 1984 Later served as Chief of Naval Staff [44]
10 Vice Admiral Subimal Mookerjee PVSM 30 April 1984 28 February 1986 [45][46]
11 Vice Admiral Sukhmal Jain PVSM, AVSM 28 February 1986 31 December 1990 [47][48]
12 Vice Admiral H. Johnson PVSM, VSM 1 January 1991 31 August 1992 [49]
13 Vice Admiral KASZ Raju PVSM, AVSM, NM 31 August 1992 31 December 1994 [50]
14 Vice Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat PVSM, AVSM 31 December 1994 30 September 1996 Later served as Chief of Naval Staff. [51][52]
15 Vice Admiral Kailash K. Kohli PVSM, AVSM 20 October 1996 31 March 1998 [48]
16 Vice Admiral Madhvendra Singh PVSM, AVSM 1 April 1998 31 March 2001 Later served as Chief of Naval Staff, and as Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee [53][54]
17 Vice Admiral Vinod Pasricha PVSM, AVSM, NM 1 April 2001 31 December 2002 [55]
18 Vice Admiral Arun Prakash PVSM, AVSM, VrC, VSM 1 January 2003 30 September 2003 Later served as Chief of Naval Staff, and as Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee [56][57]
19 Vice Admiral Madanjit Singh PVSM, AVSM 1 October 2003 28 February 2006 [58][59]
20 Vice Admiral Sangram Singh Byce PVSM, AVSM, NM 1 March 2006 31 July 2007 [60][58]
21 Vice Admiral Jagjit Singh Bedi PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, VSM 1 August 2007 30 April 2009 [61][62]
22 Vice Admiral Sanjeev Bhasin PVSM, AVSM, VSM 1 May 2009 30 April 2012 [63]
23 Vice Admiral D. K. Joshi PVSM, AVSM, YSM, NM, VSM 1 May 2012 31 August 2012 Later served as Chief of Naval Staff. Current Lieutenant Governor of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. [64]
24 Vice Admiral Shekhar Sinha PVSM, AVSM, NM* 1 September 2012 31 May 2014 Retired from the Navy after being superseded. [65]
25 Vice Admiral Anil Kumar Chopra PVSM, AVSM 1 June 2014 31 March 2015 [66]
26 Vice Admiral S. P. S. Cheema PVSM, AVSM, NM 1 April 2015 31 January 2016 Also headed the Strategic Forces Command and the Southern Naval Command, apart from serving as the Chief of Integrated Defence Staff. [67][68]
26 Vice Admiral Sunil Lanba PVSM, AVSM 1 February 2016 31 May 2016 Later served as Chief of Naval Staff, and as Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee [69]
27 Vice Admiral Girish Luthra PVSM, AVSM, VSM 1 June 2016 31 January 2019 [70][71]
28 Vice Admiral Ajit Kumar P PVSM, AVSM, VSM 1 February 2019 28 February 2021 [72]
29 Vice Admiral R. Hari Kumar PVSM, AVSM, VSM 28 February 2021 29 November 2021 Later served as Chief of Naval Staff [73]
30 Vice Admiral Ajendra Bahadur Singh PVSM, AVSM, VSM 30 November 2021 28 February 2023 [74]
31 Vice Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi PVSM, AVSM, NM 1 March 2023 3 January 2024 Current Chief of the Naval Staff [75]
32 Vice Admiral Sanjay Jasjit Singh AVSM, NM 3 January 2024 Incumbent [76]

See also

References

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