Commandant of Indian Naval Academy

The Commandant of the Indian Naval Academy is the head and in-charge of all the functioning of the Indian Naval Academy. The commandant of the academy is a three-star rank officer holding the rank of vice admiral. He is supported by the deputy commandant, a two-star appointment and the heads of the Academic Wing (rear admiral principal), Training Wing (commodore rank officer) and the Admin wing (commodore rank officer).^[1] The current Commandant is Vice Admiral C. R. Praveen Nair who took over in January 2024.

Commandant of the Indian Naval Academy
Flag of the Commandant (Vice Admiral's flag)
Incumbent Vice Admiral C. R. Praveen Nair, NM since 15 January 2024
Reports to	Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Southern Naval Command
Seat	Ezhimala, Kerala, India
Website	www.ina.gov.in

History

The Naval Academy (NAVAC) was set up in Cochin in 1969 as a temporary institution, to train officers for the Navy. The first Officer-in-charge (OIC) was Commander Laxminarayan Ramdas. The title of the head of the institution changed to commandant in 1980. The academy moved to Goa in 1986 under Commandants Captain M.S. Bedi and Captain O.P. Bansal.^[2]

In 2008, the academy moved to Ezhimala in Kerala and was re-christened the Indian Naval Academy (INA). Rear Admiral M. P. Muralidharan took over as the first commandant of INA.^[3]

List of Commandants

S.No	Name	Appointment Date	Left Office	Notes
1	Captain D. Mohindra, NM, VSM	September 1980	March 1982	[4]
2	Captain Madhvendra Singh	March 1982	July 1983	Later served as the Chief of the Naval Staff[5]
3	Captain M. V. Karnik	August 1983	April 1986
4	Captain M. S. Bedi	April 1986	July 1986
5	Captain O. P. Bansal, VSM	July 1986	June 1987
6	Captain K. Mohan Rao, VSM	July 1987	July 1989	Later Director General Project Seabird
7	Captain N. P. Mehta	July 1989	August 1990
8	Captain K. P. Mathew	August 1990	December 1991
9	Captain Jagjit Singh Bedi	December 1991	June 1993	Later Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Naval Command.
10	Commodore Nirmal Kumar Verma	July 1993	September 1994	Later Chief of the Naval Staff.
11	Commodore N. Venugopal, VSM	September 1994	December 1997
12	Commodore R. F. Contractor	December 1997	April 1999	Later Director General of the Indian Coast Guard.
10	Captain S. P. S. Cheema, NM	April 1999	June 2001	Later served as Flag Officer Commanding Western Fleet, Chief of the Integrated Defence Staff,[6] Commander-in Chief Strategic Forces Command,[7] Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Southern Naval Command,[8] and Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Naval Command[9]
13	Captain K. S. Aiyappa	June 2001	June 2004
14	Commodore N. N. Rao	June 2004	June 2007
15	Captain M. A. Hampiholi	June 2007	January 2008	Later served as Flag officer Commanding Western Fleet.[10]
Commandant INA, Ezhimala
16	Vice Admiral M. P. Muralidharan	January 2008 [n 1]	September 2009	First Commandant of the Indian Naval Academy at the Ezhimala campus.[12] Later served as Director General Indian Coast Guard (DGICG).[13]
17	Vice Admiral Anurag Thapliyal	September 2009 [n 2]	January 2012	[14][15][16] Later served as Director General Indian Coast Guard (DGICG) [17]
18	Vice Admiral Pradeep Chauhan	February 2012	November 2013	[18]
19	Vice Admiral Ajit Kumar P, AVSM, VSM	December 2013	October 2016	Later served as Vice Chief of the Naval Staff and Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Naval Command.
20	Vice Admiral SV Bhokare, YSM, NM	October 2016	February 2018	Later served as Inspector General Nuclear Safety.[19]
21	Vice Admiral R. B. Pandit, AVSM	February 2018	June 2019	Later served as Commander-in-Chief,Strategic Forces Command.[20]
22	Vice Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi, AVSM, NM	June 2019	July 2020	Current Vice Chief of the Naval Staff.[21][22]
23	Vice Admiral M. A. Hampiholi, AVSM, NM	July 2020	29 November 2021	Later served as Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Southern Naval Command[23]
24	Vice Admiral Puneet Kumar Bahl, AVSM, VSM	01 December 2021	31 December 2023	[24]
25	Vice Admiral Vineet McCarty, AVSM	15 January 2024	29 August 2024	Current Controller Personnel Services.[25]
26	Vice Admiral C. R. Praveen Nair, NM	29 August 2024	Present	[26]

Deputy Commandants

The list of Deputy Commandants and Chief Instructors of the INA:

S.No	Name	Appointment Date	Left Office	Notes
1	Rear Admiral Kapil Gupta, VSM	1 November 2008	18 April 2011	First Deputy Commandant of INA.[27]
2	Rear Admiral L. V. Sarat Babu, NM	7 June 2011	28 August 2012	Later Chairman and Managing Director, Hindustan Shipyard Limited.[27][28]
3	Rear Admiral G. V. Ravindran	29 August 2012	30 June 2014	[27][29]
4	Rear Admiral M. D. Suresh, NM	14 July 2014	29 January 2018	Later Chief of Staff, Southern Naval Command.[30]
5	Rear Admiral Puneet Chadha, VSM	27 March 2018	3 March 2019	Current Additional Director General National Cadet Corps.[31]
6	Rear Admiral Tarun Sobti, VSM	4 March 2019	11 January 2021	Current Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff.[32]
7	Rear Admiral A. N. Pramod	11 January 2021	1 April 2022	Current Flag Officer Maharashtra Naval Area.[33]
8	Rear Admiral Ajay D. Theophilus	1 April 2022	31 July 2023	Current Flag Officer Goa Area and Flag Officer Naval Aviation.[34]
9	Rear Admiral Prakash Gopalan	1 December 2023	Present	[35][36]

See also

• Commandant of the Indian Military Academy
• Commandant of the Air Force Academy
• Commandant of the National Defence Academy
• Commandant of the Officers Training Academy, Chennai