NAVY

NAVY The Indian Navy is a well balanced and cohesive three dimensional force, capable of operating above, on and under surface of the oceans efficiently safeguarding our national interests. The Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS) exercises operational and administrative control of the Indian Navy from Integrated Headquarters of MOD(Navy). He is assisted by the Vice Chief of the Naval Staff (VCNS) and three other Principal Staff Officers, namely the Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff (DCNS), the Chief of Personnel (COP) and the Chief of Material (COM). The Navy has the following three commands, each under the control of a Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief:- The Western Naval Command (Headquarters at Mumbai). The Eastern Naval Command (Head quarters at Visakhapatnam) The Southern Naval Command (Headquarters at Kochi) The Western and the Eastern Naval Command are operational commands and exercise control over operations in the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal respectively. The Southern Command is designed as the Training Command.

The cutting edge of the Indian Navy is its two fleets, namely the Western Fleet based at Mumbai and the Eastern Fleet based at Visakhapatnam. Besides the fleets, there is a flotilla based at Mumbai, Visakhapatnam and Port Blair (A & N Islands) that provides Local Naval Defence in the respective region. Naval ships are also based at other ports along the east and the west coast of India and the island territories thus ensuring continued naval presence in the areas of national interest. Further there are various Naval Officer-in-Charge (NOIC), under each command, responsible for the Local naval Defence of ports under their respective jurisdictions. The defence of the Andaman & Nicobar islands is a joint responsibility of all the three services and is coordinated by the headquarters, Andaman & Nicobar Command, located at PortBlair. This is the only unified command in our defence forces and is headed by a Commander-in-chief, as appointment on rotation among three services. The Local Naval Defence of the Lakshadweep group of islands is the Naval Officer-in-Charge, Lakshadweep.

The Flag Officer Naval Aviation (FONA) based at Goa is responsible for overseeing all matters pertaining to aviation while Flag Officer Submarines (FOSM), who is also the Assistant Chief of the Naval Staff (Submarines) based at Integrated Headquarters of MOD(Navy), New Delhi is responsible for overseeing all the submarine related issues.