Western Naval Command
Introduction The '''Western Naval Command''' is one of the three command–level formations of the Indian Navy. It is headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. As the senior–most of the three formations, 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.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.
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. 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,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.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.
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.
Capabilities  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 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:PostCurrent HolderReferencesFlag Officer Commanding-in-ChiefVice Admiral Sanjay Jasjit Singh, AVSM, NMChief of StaffVice Admiral Sanjay Bhalla, AVSM, NMFlag Officer Commanding Western Fleet (FOCWF)Rear Admiral  C. R. Praveen Nair, NMFlag Officer Commanding Maharashtra Naval Area (FOMA)Rear Admiral Manish Chadha, VSMFlag Officer Goa Area (FOGA) & Flag Officer Naval Aviation (FONA)Rear Admiral Vikram Menon, VSMFlag Officer Commanding Gujarat Naval Area (FOGNA)Rear Admiral Anil JaggiFlag Officer Commanding Karnataka Naval Area (FOK)Rear Admiral K. M. Ramakrishnan VSMFlag Officer Defence Advisory Group (FODAG)Rear Admiral A. V. Bhave, VSMAdmiral Superintendent Dockyard (ASD) - MumbaiRear Admiral Deepak Kumar Goswami, AVSMCommodore Commanding Submarines (West)Commodore Anurag Srivastava
Naval bases Naval bases under Western Naval Command are the following BaseCity State/TerritoryRole INS DwarkaOkha GujaratLogistics and Maintenance supportINS Sardar PatelPorbandarLogistics Support INS KadambaKarwar KarnatakaLogistics and Maintenance supportINS VajrakoshNaval ammunition and missile depotINHS PatanjaliNaval HospitalINS GomantakVasco da gamaGoaLogistics and Maintenance supportINS HansaDabolimNaval Air StationINHS JeevantiVasco-da-gamaNaval HospitalINS AngreMumbaiMaharashtraLogistics and Administrative supportINS AbhimanyuMARCOS baseINS AgnibahuMissile boat squadron baseINHS AsviniNaval HospitalINS KunjaliNaval Air StationINS ShikraNaval Air StationINS TanajiNaval ammunition depotINS TrataCoastal Missile DefenseINS TunirNaval missile depotINS VajrabahuSubmarine base
List of Commanders  Rank Name Appointment Date Left Office Notes References'''Commodore-in-Charge Bombay (COMBAY)'''CommodoreHenry Richmond Inigo-Jones15 August 194731 December 1950Formerly Royal Indian Navy.R. M. T. Taylor31 December 1950March 1954Seconded from the Royal NavyAjitendu ChakravertiMarch 195416 November 1954First Indian to hold the appointment.Adhar Kumar Chatterji17 November 1954November 1956Later served as Chief of the Naval Staff.Bhaskar Sadashiv SomanNovember 195612 June 1958Later served as Chief of the Naval Staff. '''Flag Officer Bombay (FOB)'''Rear AdmiralBhaskar Sadashiv Soman12 June 1958April 1960Later Chief of the Naval Staff.S. G. Karmarkar June 1960June 1964R. S. DavidJune 196415 February 1968Sardarilal Mathradas Nanda16 February 19681 March 1968Later Chief of the Naval Staff. '''Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Naval Command (FOC-in-C WNC)'''Vice AdmiralSardarilal Mathradas Nanda1 March 196828 February 1970Later served as  Chief of Naval StaffNilakanta Krishnan28 February 197012 February 1971Sourendra Nath Kohli12 February 197127 February 1973Later served as  Chief of Naval StaffJal Cursetji27 February 197328 February 1976Later served as  Chief of Naval StaffRonald Lynsdale Pereira28 February 19765 April 1977Later served as  Chief of Naval StaffRustom K. S. GhandhiApril 19773 March 1979V. E. C. Barboza3 March 1979March 1981Manohar Prahlad AwatiMarch 198130 March 1983Radhakrishna Hariram Tahiliani31 March 198330 April 1984Later served as  Chief of Naval StaffSubimal Mookerjee30 April 198428 February 1986Sukhmal Jain28 February 198631 December 1990H. Johnson 1 January 199131 August 1992KASZ Raju31 August 199231 December 1994Vishnu Bhagwat31 December 199430 September 1996Later served as Chief of Naval Staff.Kailash K. Kohli20 October 199631 March 1998Madhvendra Singh1 April 199831 March 2001Later served as Chief of Naval Staff, and as Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff CommitteeVinod Pasricha1 April 200131 December 2002Arun Prakash1 January 200330 September 2003Later served as  Chief of Naval Staff, and as Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff CommitteeMadanjit Singh1 October 200328 February 2006Sangram Singh Byce1 March 200631 July 2007Jagjit Singh Bedi1 August 200730 April 2009Sanjeev Bhasin1 May 200930 April 2012Devendra Kumar Joshi1 May 201231 August 2012Later served as  Chief of Naval Staff. Current Lieutenant Governor of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.Shekhar Sinha1 September 201231 May 2014Retired from the Navy after being superseded.Anil Kumar Chopra1 June 201431 March 2015Surinder Pal Singh Cheema1 April 201531 January 2016Also headed the Strategic Forces Command and the Southern Naval Command, apart from serving as the Chief of Integrated Defence Staff.Sunil Lanba1 February 201631 May 2016Later served as  Chief of Naval Staff, and as Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff CommitteeGirish Luthra1 June 201631 January 2019Ajit Kumar P1 February 201928 February 2021R. Hari Kumar28 February 202129 November 2021Current Chief of Naval Staff Ajendra Bahadur Singh30 November 202128 February 2023Dinesh K Tripathi1 March 20233 January 2023Current Vice Chief of the Naval Staff.Sanjay Jasjit Singh3 January 2024''Incumbent''
See also * Eastern Naval Command* Southern Naval Command
References