# Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet

Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet (FOCEF) is the title of the Indian Navy Officer who commands the Eastern Fleet, headquartered in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. The FOCEF is a Two Star Officer holding the rank of Rear Admiral. The current FOCEF is Rear Admiral Susheel Menon, who assumed office on 21 August 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.
The operational ships of the remaining Royal Indian Navy, minus Pakistan, were initially placed under the command of the Commodore Commanding Indian Naval Squadron (COMINS), later the Rear-Admiral Commanding Indian Naval Squadron (RACINS), whose title was then changed to Flag Officer (Flotilla) Indian Fleet (FOFIF). These appointments were initially held by British officers: Commodore H.N.S. Brown, who was the Commanding Officer of INS Delhi (C74) and serving as COMINS, seemingly at the same time, and later, Commodore (later Rear Admiral) Geoffrey Barnard who became COMINS and later Rear-Admiral Commanding, INS. The Flotilla was later upgraded to the Indian Fleet under a Flag Officer Commanding Indian Fleet (FOCIF).
On the proclamation of a Republic in 1950, the 'Royal' title was dropped and the Navy became simply the Indian Navy. Barnard was succeeded by Rear Admiral N.V. ("Uncle Richard") Dickinson, Rear Admiral F.A. Ballance, and then the final British officer Rear Admiral St John Tyrwhitt as FOCIF. In 1956, Rear Admiral Ram Dass Katari became the first Indian flag officer, and was appointed the first Indian FOCIF on 2 October, when he took over from Rear Admiral Tyrwhitt. (title alternately given as Flag Officer (Flotilla)). In 1957, INS Mysore (C60) was commissioned, and the flag of Rear Admiral Katari was transferred, INS Mysore thus becoming the flagship of the Indian Fleet.
On 1 March 1968, the Eastern Naval Command was established and the Indian Fleet was renamed as the Western Fleet. In September 1971, Rear Admiral S H Sarma was summoned by the Chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral S M Nanda who told him that he was to move to Visakhapatnam and take up command of the yet-to-be-formed Eastern Fleet. The two-fleet concept of the Navy came into force with the constitution of the Eastern Fleet on 1 November 1971. Rear Admiral Sarma took over as the founding Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet (FOCEF). In mid 1971, The aircraft carrier INS Vikrant, along with the frigates INS Brahmaputra and INS Beas were moved from the Western Fleet to the Eastern Naval Command. Thus, INS Vikrant became the flagship of the Eastern Fleet.

## Organisation

The FOCWF is assisted by the fleet staff, headed by the Fleet Operations Officer (FOO), a one-star appointment. The Fleet Communications & Electronic Warfare Officer (FCO), Fleet Gunnery Officer (FGO), Fleet Navigation Officer (FNO), Fleet Anti-Submarine Warfare Officer (FASWO), Fleet Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Damage Control Officer (FNBCDO), Fleet Engineering Officer (FEO) and Fleet Electrical Officer (FLO) make up the rest of the fleet staff.

## List of commanders

| S.No. | Name | Assumed office | Left office | Notes |
| 1 | Rear Admiral S H Sarma PVSM | 1 November 1971 | 1 March 1973 | Later Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Naval Command. |
| 2 | Rear Admiral Ronald Lynsdale Pereira AVSM | 2 March 1973 | 10 January 1975 | Later Chief of the Naval Staff. |
| 3 | Rear Admiral R K S Ghandhi VrC | 28 January 1975 | 18 October 1975 | Also commanded the Western Fleet. Later Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Naval Command. |
| 4 | Rear Admiral V. E. C. Barboza AVSM & bar | 29 October 1975 | 14 April 1976 | Later Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Naval Command. |
| 5 | Rear Admiral D. S. Paintal AVSM | 16 April 1976 | 9 June 1977 | |
| 6 | Rear Admiral Mihir K. Roy AVSM, VSM | 10 June 1977 | 27 February 1978 | Director of Naval Intelligence during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. |
| 7 | Rear Admiral Oscar Stanley Dawson AVSM | 28 February 1978 | 20 March 1979 | Later Chief of the Naval Staff. |
| 8 | Rear Admiral S. L. Sethi AVSM, NM | 21 March 1979 | 4 January 1980 | Later Vice Chief of the Naval Staff. |
| 9 | Rear Admiral K. K. Nayyar AVSM | 5 January 1980 | 17 July 1981 | Later commanded the Western Fleet and served as Vice Chief of the Naval Staff. |
| 10 | Rear Admiral Sukmal Jain AVSM, NM | 18 July 1981 | 14 October 1982 | Later Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Naval Command. |
| 11 | Rear Admiral I. J. S. Khurana | 15 October 1982 | 28 June 1983 | Later Director General of the Indian Coast Guard. |
| 12 | Rear Admiral Laxminarayan Ramdas AVSM, VrC, VSM | 29 June 1983 | 27 March 1985 | Later Chief of the Naval Staff. |
| 13 | Rear Admiral S. P. Govil AVSM | 28 March 1985 | 7 March 1986 | Later Vice Chief of the Naval Staff. |
| 14 | Rear Admiral H. Johnson AVSM | 8 March 1986 | 8 July 1987 | Later Vice Chief of the Naval Staff. |
| 15 | Rear Admiral S. W. Lakhkar AVSM, NM | 9 July 1987 | 22 August 1988 | Later Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Naval Command. |
| 16 | Rear Admiral B. Guha AVSM | 23 August 1988 | 28 January 1990 | Later Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Naval Command. |
| 17 | Rear Admiral P. S. Das UYSM, AVSM | 29 January 1990 | 26 October 1991 | Later Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Naval Command. |
| 18 | Rear Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat AVSM | 27 October 1991 | 2 October 1992 | Later Chief of the Naval Staff. |
| 19 | Rear Admiral P. J. Jacob AVSM, VSM | 3 October 1992 | 2 January 1994 | Later Vice Chief of the Naval Staff. |
| 20 | Rear Admiral Harinder Singh AVSM | 3 January 1994 | 28 April 1995 | Later Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Southern Naval Command. |
| 21 | Rear Admiral Arun Prakash AVSM, VrC, VSM | 29 April 1995 | 26 November 1996 | Later Chief of the Naval Staff. |
| 22 | Rear Admiral Om Prakash Bansal AVSM, VSM | 27 November 1996 | 14 October 1997 | Later served as Commander-in-Chief, Andaman and Nicobar Command and as Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Naval Command. |
| 23 | Rear Admiral S. V. Gopalachari AVSM, VSM | 15 October 1997 | 10 November 1998 | Later Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff. |
| 24 | Rear Admiral K. V. Bharathan AVSM, VSM | 11 November 1998 | 14 March 2000 | Later Vice Chief of the Naval Staff. |
| 25 | Rear Admiral Arun Kumar Singh AVSM, NM | 15 March 2000 | 7 October 2001 | Later served as Commander-in-Chief, Andaman and Nicobar Command and as Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Naval Command. |
| 26 | Rear Admiral Pradeep Kaushiva UYSM, VSM | 8 October 2001 | 26 January 2003 | Later Commandant of the National Defence College. |
| 27 | Rear Admiral Raman Prem Suthan AVSM, VSM | 26 January 2003 | 29 April 2004 | Later Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Naval Command. |
| 28 | Rear Admiral S. K. Damle AVSM, NM, VSM | 30 April 2004 | 23 May 2005 | Later Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Southern Naval Command. |
| 29 | Rear Admiral Sanjeev Bhasin AVSM, VSM | 24 May 2005 | 23 March 2006 | Later Commandant of the National Defence College and Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Naval Command. |
| 30 | Rear Admiral D. K. Joshi AVSM, YSM, NM, VSM | 24 March 2006 | 15 March 2007 | Later Chief of the Naval Staff. |
| 31 | Rear Admiral Robin K. Dhowan AVSM, YSM | 15 March 2007 | 24 January 2008 | Later Chief of the Naval Staff. |
| 32 | Rear Admiral Satish Soni | 16 February 2008 | 26 November 2008 | Later Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Southern Naval Command and Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Naval Command. |
| 33 | Rear Admiral Anurag Thapliyal AVSM, NM | 26 November 2008 | 31 August 2009 | Later served as Commandant of Indian Naval Academy and as the Director General of the Indian Coast Guard. |
| 34 | Rear Admiral P. N. Murugesan VSM | 31 August 2009 | 24 January 2011 | Later served as Vice Chief of the Naval Staff. |
| 35 | Rear Admiral Harish Bisht | 24 January 2011 | 30 April 2012 | Later Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Naval Command. |
| 36 | Rear Admiral Ajit Kumar P | 30 April 2012 | 15 August 2013 | Later served as Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Naval Command. |
| 37 | Rear Admiral Atul Kumar Jain VSM | 10 July 2013 | 7 October 2014 | Later served as Chief of Integrated Defence Staff. |
| 38 | Rear Admiral Ajendra Bahadur Singh VSM | 7 October 2014 | 6 October 2015 | Later served as Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Naval Command and Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Naval Command. |
| 39 | Rear Admiral S. V. Bhokare YSM, NM | 12 October 2015 | 15 October 2016 | Later served as Inspector General Nuclear Safety. |
| 40 | Rear Admiral Biswajit Dasgupta YSM, VSM | 14 October 2016 | 15 January 2018 | Later Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Naval Command. |
| 41 | Rear Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi AVSM, NM | 15 January 2018 | 30 March 2019 | Current Chief of the Naval Staff. |
| 42 | Rear Admiral Suraj Berry AVSM, NM, VSM | 30 March 2019 | 10 February 2020 | Current Commander-in-Chief Strategic Forces Command. |
| 43 | Rear Admiral Sanjay Vatsayan NM | 10 February 2020 | 23 February 2021 | Current Deputy Chief of Integrated Defence Staff (Operations). |
| 44 | Rear Admiral Tarun Sobti VSM | 23 February 2021 | 20 December 2021 | Current Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff. |
| 45 | Rear Admiral Sanjay Bhalla | 20 December 2021 | 30 November 2022 | Current Chief of Personnel. |
| 46 | Rear Admiral Gurcharan Singh | 01 December 2022 | 10 November 2023 | Current Commandant of the National Defence Academy |
| 47 | Rear Admiral Rajesh Dhankhar NM | 10 November 2023 | 21 August 2024 | Current Director General Project Seabird |
| 48 | Rear Admiral Susheel Menon VSM | 21 August 2024 | Present | |