Vice Chief of the Naval Staff (India)

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Vice Chief of the Naval Staff (India)

The Vice Chief of the Naval Staff (VCNS) is a statutory position in the Indian Armed Forces, that is usually held by a three star vice admiral. The Vice Chief is the deputy of the Chief of the Naval Staff and is usually the second highest ranking officer of the Indian Navy. The current VCNS is Vice Admiral Krishna Swaminathan who took over from Vice Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi on 1 May 2024.

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Vice Chief of the Naval Staff
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since 1 May 2024
 Indian Navy
TypePrincipal Staff Officer
StatusVice Chief
AbbreviationVCNS
Reports toChief of the Naval Staff
SeatNaval Headquarters, New Delhi
Formation11 May 1967
First holderSourendra Nath Kohli
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History

At the time of independence of India on 15 August 1947, the Chief of Staff to the Commander-in-Chief, Royal Indian Navy was the de facto Second-in-command. The appointment was held by an officer of the rank of Commodore. In 1949, the Chief of Staff was also made Deputy Commander-in-Chief RIN.[1] In 1955, the post was re-designated Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff.[2] In 1959, the post was upgraded to Two-star rank.[3]

On 11 May 1967, the office was re-designated to Vice Chief of the Naval Staff, in line with the Indian Army and Indian Air Force. It was first held by Sourendra Nath Kohli. The appointment was then in the two-star rank of rear admiral.[4] On 12 December 1967, Nilakanta Krishnan succeeded Kohli as VCNS, with the office being raised to the three-star rank of Vice-Admiral in March 1969.[5]

Organisation

The VCNS heads the Staff Branch-I at the Naval Headquarters. The following Directors General/Controllers/Assistant Principal Staff Officers report into the VCNS.[6]

Order of precedence

The VCNS ranks at No. 23 on the Indian order of precedence, along with the Vice Chiefs of Staff of the Indian Army and Indian Air Force and the Army Commanders (GOC-in-C), Naval Commanders (FOC-in-C) and Air Commanders (AOC-in-C).[7] The VCNS is at the Apex Pay grade (Grade 17), with a monthly pay of ₹225,000 (US$3,200).[8]

Appointees

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Perspective

The following table chronicles the appointees to the office of the Vice Chief of the Naval Staff.

More information S.No., Name ...
S.No. Name Assumed office Left office Notes
1 Rear Admiral Sourendra Nath Kohli 11 May 1967 11 December 1967 Later Chief of the Naval Staff.[4]
2 Vice Admiral Nilakanta Krishnan PVSM, DSC 12 December 1967 [n 1] 20 February 1970 Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Naval Command during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971.[9][10]
3 Vice Admiral Jal Cursetji PVSM 20 February 1970 26 February 1973 Later Chief of the Naval Staff.[11]
4 Vice Admiral V. A. Kamath PVSM 31 March 1973 31 March 1977 Later Director General of the Indian Coast Guard.[12]
5 Vice Admiral Ronald Lynsdale Pereira AVSM 5 April 1977 28 February 1979 Later Chief of the Naval Staff.[13]
6 Vice Admiral Swaraj Parkash PVSM, MVC, AVSM 1 March 1979 31 March 1980 Later Director General of the Indian Coast Guard.[14]
7 Vice Admiral M. R. Schunker PVSM, AVSM 1 April 1980 1 March 1982 Later Director General of the Indian Coast Guard.[15]
8 Vice Admiral Sardari Lal Sethi AVSM, NM 1 March 1982 30 May 1983 [16][17]
9 Vice Admiral Subimal Mookerjee AVSM 31 May 1983 29 April 1984 [18]
10 Vice Admiral Radhakrishna Hariram Tahiliani PVSM, AVSM 2 May 1984 27 November 1984 Later Chief of the Naval Staff.[19]
11 Vice Admiral K. K. Nayyar PVSM, AVSM 28 November 1984 28 February 1986 [20]
12 Vice Admiral Jayant Ganpat Nadkarni PVSM, AVSM, NM, VSM 28 February 1986 30 November 1987 Later Chief of the Naval Staff.[21][22]
13 Vice Admiral Gulab Mohanlal Hiranandani PVSM, AVSM, NM 8 December 1987 28 February 1989 [23]
14 Vice Admiral S. C. Chopra PVSM, AVSM, NM 28 February 1989 30 June 1990 Later Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Naval Command.[24]
15 Vice Admiral H. Johnson PVSM, VSM 30 June 1990 31 December 1990 [25][26]
16 Vice Admiral Suren P. Govil PVSM, AVSM 31 December 1990 31 October 1992 [27]
17 Vice Admiral Vijai Singh Shekhawat PVSM, AVSM, VrC 31 October 1992 30 September 1993 Later Chief of the Naval Staff.[28]
18 Vice Admiral S. K. Chand PVSM, AVSM 15 October 1993 30 November 1995 [29]
19 Vice Admiral Kailash K. Kohli AVSM 30 November 1995 19 October 1996 Later Director General of the Indian Coast Guard.[30]
20 Vice Admiral Sushil Kumar PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, NM 19 October 1996 31 March 1998 Later Chief of the Naval Staff.[31]
21 Vice Admiral P. J. Jacob AVSM, VSM 31 March 1998 28 February 2001 [32]
22 Vice Admiral Madhvendra Singh PVSM, AVSM 1 March 2001 1 January 2002 Later Chief of the Naval Staff.[32]
23 Vice Admiral John Colin De Silva PVSM, AVSM 1 January 2002 30 September 2003 [33]
24 Vice Admiral Arun Prakash PVSM, AVSM, VrC, VSM 17 October 2003 30 July 2004 Later Chief of the Naval Staff.[34]
25 Vice Admiral Yashwant Prasad PVSM, AVSM, VSM 30 July 2004 31 October 2005 [35]
26 Vice Admiral Venkat Bharathan PVSM, AVSM, VSM 31 October 2005 30 November 2006 [36]
27 Vice Admiral Nirmal Kumar Verma PVSM, AVSM 30 November 2006 1 April 2008 Later Chief of the Naval Staff.[37]
28 Vice Admiral R. P. Suthan 30 April 2008 30 July 2009 Later Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Naval Command.[38]
29 Vice Admiral D. K. Dewan 1 September 2009 30 August 2011 [39]
30 Vice Admiral Robin K. Dhowan PVSM, AVSM, YSM 31 August 2011 16 April 2014 Later Chief of the Naval Staff.[40][41]
31 Vice Admiral Sunil Lanba PVSM, AVSM 2 June 2014 30 March 2015 Later Chief of the Naval Staff.[42][43]
32 Vice Admiral Parasurama Naidu Murugesan AVSM, VSM 31 March 2015 30 May 2016 [44][45]
33 Vice Admiral Karambir Singh PVSM, AVSM 31 May 2016 30 October 2017 Later Chief of the Naval Staff.[46]
34 Vice Admiral Ajit Kumar P PVSM, AVSM, VSM 30 October 2017 30 January 2019 Later Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Naval Command.[47]
35 Vice Admiral G. Ashok Kumar PVSM, AVSM, VSM 30 January 2019 31 July 2021 [48]
36 Vice Admiral Satish Namdeo Ghormade PVSM, AVSM, NM, ADC 31 July 2021 31 March 2023 [49]
37 Vice Admiral Sanjay Jasjit Singh AVSM, NM 1 April 2023 31 December 2023 Present Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Naval Command.[50]
38 Vice Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi AVSM, NM 4 January 2024 30 April 2024 Present Chief of the Naval Staff[51]
39 Vice Admiral Krishna Swaminathan AVSM, VSM 1 May 2024 Incumbent [52]
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See also

Notes

  1. Appointed as rear admiral, appointment raised to the rank of vice-admiral 26 March 1969.[5]

** Went on to become Chief of the Naval Staff.

References

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