Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff (India)

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Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff
Vice Admiral ensign of Indian Navy.svg
Flag of the Vice Admiral
Vice Admiral Tarun Sobti, VSM.jpg
since 1 October 2023
Naval Ensign of India.svg  Indian Navy
TypePrincipal Staff Officer
Status3rd highest ranking naval officer
AbbreviationDCNS
Reports to Chief of the Naval Staff
Seat Naval Headquarters, New Delhi

The Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff (DCNS) is a senior appointment in the Indian Navy. The DCNS is a PSO (Principal Staff Officer) at Naval Headquarters in New Delhi. [1] The office is held by a Three star officer in the rank of Vice Admiral. The current DCNS is Vice Admiral Tarun Sobti who took over Vice Admiral Sanjay Mahindru on 1 October 2023.

Contents

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. [2] In 1955, the post was re-designated Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff. [3] In 1959, the post was upgraded to Two-star rank. [4] In 1967, this post was re-designated to Vice Chief of the Naval Staff and then Rear Admiral Sourendra Nath Kohli took over as the first VCNS. [5]

From 1972

The appointment was brought back in 1972 in the rank of Rear Admiral. The appointment of Assistant Chief of the Naval Staff (ACNS) was redesignated DCNS. The DCNS had the directorates of Operations, Intelligence, Signals, Air Staff, Air Materiel and Submarines under him. [6] In 1984, the post was upgraded to three-star rank. [7]

Current organisation

The DCNS heads the Staff Branch-II at the Naval Headquarters. The following Director General/Assistant Principal Staff Officers report into the DCNS. [8]

Order of precedence

The DCNS ranks at No. 24 on the Indian order of precedence, along with Lieutenant Generals of the Indian Army and Air Marshals of the Indian Air Force. [9] The DCNS is in the HAG+ pay scale (pay level 16), and draws salary depending on the years in service. However, since they should not draw equivalent or more than the next higher level, the remuneration is capped at ₹224,000. [10] [11]

Deputy Chiefs of Naval Staff

1947-1967

S.No.NameAssumed officeLeft officeNotes
Chief of Staff to Commander-in-Chief, Royal Indian Navy
1 Commodore M. H. St. L. Nott DSO , OBE August 1947March 1948Seconded from the Royal Navy. Killed in an air crash. [12]
Commodore Ajitendu Chakraverti March 1948November 1948Officiating. First Indian officer to be promoted to Commodore. Later Flag Officer Commanding Indian Fleet. [13]
2 Commodore Harold Drew CBE , DSC November 1948February 1949Seconded from the Royal Navy. [14]
Deputy Commander-in-Chief
2 Commodore Harold Drew CBE , DSC February 1949February 1952Seconded from the Royal Navy. [14] [15]
3 Commodore Godfrey French February 1952March 1954Seconded from the Royal Navy. [16] [17]
4 Commodore Ram Dass Katari March 1954March 1955Later took over as the first Indian Chief of the Naval Staff. [18]
Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff
4 Commodore Ram Dass Katari April 1955March 1956Later took over as the first Indian Chief of the Naval Staff. [19]
5 Commodore Ajitendu Chakraverti March 1956April 1958First Indian officer to be promoted to Commodore. Later Flag Officer Commanding Indian Fleet. [20]
6 Rear Admiral Adhar Kumar Chatterji April 1958 [n 1] May 1962Later Chief of the Naval Staff. [21]
7 Rear Admiral Sardarilal Mathradas Nanda AVSM May 1962December 1964Later Chief of the Naval Staff. [22]
8 Rear Admiral Sourendra Nath Kohli December 1964May 1967Later Chief of the Naval Staff. [5]

1973-present

S.No.NameAssumed officeLeft officeNotes
1 Rear Admiral Swaraj Parkash MVC , AVSM (first tenure)March 1973November 1973Later Director General of the Indian Coast Guard. [23]
2 Rear Admiral N. P. Datta AVSM (first tenure)November 1973April 1974 [23] [24]
3 Rear Admiral Swaraj Parkash MVC , AVSM (second tenure)April 1974March 1976 [25]
4 Vice Admiral N. P. Datta AVSM (second tenure)March 1976November 1977 [26] [27]
5 Rear Admiral M. R. Schunker AVSM November 1977February 1978 [28]
6 Rear Admiral D. S. Paintal AVSM February 1978October 1980 [29]
7 Rear Admiral Radhakrishna Hariram Tahiliani AVSM 4 October 198020 February 1982Later Chief of the Naval Staff. [30]
8 Vice Admiral Subimal Mookerjee AVSM 20 February 198227 June 1983 [31]
9 Vice Admiral Gulab Mohanlal Hiranandani AVSM , NM 27 June 198328 November 1984 [32]
10 Vice Admiral S. Jain PVSM , AVSM 2 February 198520 February 1986 [33] [34]
11 Vice Admiral Laxminarayan Ramdas AVSM , VrC , VSM 20 February 198628 November 1987Later Chief of the Naval Staff. [35]
12 Vice Admiral R. P. Sawhney28 November 198725 February 1989Later Fortress Commander, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Southern Naval Command. [36] [37]
13 Vice Admiral KASZ Raju AVSM , NM 10 March 198928 December 1990Later Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Southern Naval Command and Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Naval Command. [38] [39]
14 Vice Admiral B. Guha28 December 199010 November 1992 [39] [40]
15 Vice Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat AVSM 10 November 199231 December 1994Later Chief of the Naval Staff. [40] [41]
16 Vice Admiral Avnish Rai Tandon AVSM 1 January 199524 April 1996 [42]
17 Vice Admiral Madhvendra Singh AVSM 24 April 199630 October 1996Later Chief of the Naval Staff. [43] [44]
18 Vice Admiral Vinod Pasricha30 October 199628 February 1998 [44] [45]
19 Vice Admiral Madanjit SinghMarch 1998March 1999 [46]
20 Vice Admiral Harinder SinghMarch 1999November 2000 [47]
21 Vice Admiral Raman Puri24 November 2000January 2002 [48] [49]
22 Vice Admiral S. V. GopalachariJanuary 2002August 2004 [50]
23 Vice Admiral Sureesh Mehta AVSM August 200427 September 2005Later Chief of the Naval Staff. [51]
24 Vice Admiral Jagjit Singh Bedi UYSM , AVSM , VSM 27 September 200524 July 2006Later Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Southern Naval Command and Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Naval Command. [52]
25 Vice Admiral Raman P. Suthan AVSM , VSM 24 July 200626 April 2007 [53] [54] [55]
26 Vice Admiral Anup Singh26 April 200730 November 2009Later Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Naval Command [53]
27 Vice Admiral Robin K. Dhowan AVSM , YSM 30 November 200916 September 2011Later Chief of the Naval Staff. [56]
28 Vice Admiral Satish Soni AVSM , NM 16 September 201129 May 2012Later Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Southern Naval Command and Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Naval Command. [57]
29 Vice Admiral Pradeep Kumar Chatterjee AVSM , NM 29 May 201231 May 2014Later Commander-in-Chief, Andaman and Nicobar Command. [58] [59]
30 Vice Admiral Rama Kant Pattanaik AVSM , YSM 31 May 201431 October 2015 [58]
31 Vice Admiral Karambir Singh AVSM 31 October 20156 June 2016Later Chief of the Naval Staff. [60]
32 Vice Admiral G. Ashok Kumar AVSM , VSM 6 June 201630 January 2019Later Vice Chief of the Naval Staff. [61]
33 Vice Admiral Murlidhar Sadashiv Pawar AVSM , VSM 3 January 201931 May 2021 [62]
34 Vice Admiral Ravneet Singh AVSM , NM 1 June 202131 March 2022 [63]
35 Vice Admiral Sanjay Mahindru AVSM , NM 1 April 202230 September 2023 [64]
36 Vice Admiral Tarun Sobti UYSM , AVSM , VSM 1 October 2023Incumbent [65]

See also

Notes

  1. Post upgraded to Rear Admiral 5 March 1959. [4]

References

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  2. "NHQ REORGANISATION" (PDF). pibarchive.nic.in. 3 February 1949.
  3. Nanda, S M (October 2015). The man who bombed Karachi : a memoir. HarperCollins Publishers India. p. 113. ISBN   978-8172235628.
  4. 1 2 "Part I-Section 4: Ministry of Defence (Navy Branch)" (PDF). The Gazette of India. 23 May 1959. p. 124.
  5. 1 2 "Admiral Kohli First Naval Vice-Chief" (PDF). Press Information Bureau of India - Archive. 11 May 1967. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
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  7. Transition to eminence : the Indian Navy 1976-1990. Principal Director of Administration, Integrated Headquarters, Ministry of Defence (Navy) in association with Lancer Publishers. 2005. ISBN   978-8170622666.
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  9. "President's Secretariat" (PDF). Office of the President of India. Rajya Sabha. 1979-08-26. Retrieved 2010-08-05.
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  12. "DEATH OF COMMODORE NOTT" (PDF). pibarchive.nic.in. 3 April 1948.
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  14. 1 2 "PIB (DEFENCE WING)" (PDF). pibarchive.nic.in. 6 November 1948.
  15. "NEW CHIEF OF STAFF FOR THE NAVY" (PDF). pibarchive.nic.in. 7 January 1952.
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  53. 1 2 "Vice Admiral Anup Singh to take over as Deputy Chief of Naval Staff". Press Information Bureau of India - Archive. 23 April 2007.
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  57. "Appointments". Sainik Samachar - Archive. 16 September 2011.
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