Hasan Hafeez Ahmed

For other people named Hasan Ahmed, see Hasan Ahmed (disambiguation).

Hasan Hafeez Ahmed (Urdu:حسن حفيظ احمد; b. 1926-8 March 1975^{: 329 [2]}), usually shortened to H.H. Ahmed, was a senior Pakistan Navy officer who served as the 1st Chief of Naval Staff (CNS) of Pakistan Navy from 1972 until his death from sickness in 1975.^[2]

Vice Admiral Hasan Hafeez Ahmed HQA  SPk  TQA
Chief of Naval Staff of Pakistan Navy
In office 3 March 1972 – 9 March 1975
Preceded by	Muzaffar Hassan
Succeeded by	Mohammad Shariff
Personal details
Born	Hasan Hafeez Ahmed 1926: 3 [1] Multan, Punjab, British Indian Empire Present-day Pakistan
Died	1975 (aged 48–49) Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan
Citizenship	British Subject (1926–1947) Pakistan (1947–1975)
Awards	Hilal-i-Quaid-e-Azam Sitara-e-Pakistan Tamgha-e-Quaid-e-Azam (1965)
Nickname	H.H. Ahmed
Military service
Branch/service	Royal Indian Navy (1945–1947) Pakistan Navy (1947–71)
Years of service	1945–1975
Rank	Vice Admiral
Unit	Navy Executive Branch
Commands	Commander Coast (COMCOAST) Comdnt. Cadet College Petaro
Battles/wars	World War II European Front Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 1971 Naval operations

Despite being appointed to the four-star appointment, he was retained at the three-star rank and took over the command of the Navy from its Commander-in-Chief Vice-Admiral Muzaffar Hassan who was dismissed from the military service.

Biography

Hasan Hafeez Ahmad was born in Multan, Punjab, British India, in 1926.^: 3 [1] He was educated in a local school in Multan and was a contemporary of Mansoor Shah who would later join the Pakistan Air Force in 1947.^{: 288–289 [3]}

After his high school graduation in 1943, he joined the Royal Indian Navy as a petty officer and participated in World War II.^{: 289 [3]} In 1945, he joined the Britannia Royal Naval College in Dartmouth, England where he graduated in 1947.^: 3 [1] Upon returning to British India, he joined the Pakistan Navy and was commissioned as a Sub-Lieutenant.^: 3 [1] He continued his training with the Royal Navy and specialized in technical naval courses from the United Kingdom in 1947-49.^: 3 [1]

In 1964, he attended the Joint Service Defence College in Latimer Buckinghamshire, England, and subsequently graduated with a joint staff degree in 1965.^: 3 [1] Upon his return, he was posted in Ministry of Defence as an undersecretary as a Director of Naval Operations and participated in the Indo-Pakistani war of 1965.^: 3 [1] After the war, he was posted to the Pakistan Embassy in Washington D.C. as a military attaché which he remained until 1966.^: 3 [1] In 1970, he was appointed the first commandant of the Pakistan Naval Academy as a Commodore and was appointed Commander Coast in 1971 as a Rear-Admiral. ^{: 3 [1]: 235 [4]: Annexure [5]}

After participating in the Indo-Pakistani war of 1971 he continued to serve as commander of the coastal defense command but demoted to Commodore in the Navy.^{: 180 [6]} In 1972, he was elevated as the first Chief of Naval Staff after the dismissal of Muzaffar Hassan. He was the most junior officer and superseded five seniors including three Rear-Admirals and two Commodores.^{: 76–77 [7]}

As a naval chief, his task was to reconstruct and rebuild the navy into a formidable force.^: 46 [8] In a short space of time, he transformed the Navy into three-dimensional force when he commissioned the naval aviation and commissioning the new Navy NHQ in Rawalpindi in the vicinity of Army GHQ in 1974.^: 46 [8]

On 8 March 1975, he died from sickness unexpectedly while serving as naval chief and commanding the navy, at the age of 49.^: 44 [9] He was the first of three chiefs of staff who died in the office- the others being General Asif Nawaz and Air Chief Marshal Mushaf Ali Mir.