Southern Naval Command

The Southern Naval Command is one of the three, command-level formations of the Indian Navy. Southern Naval Command is the largest naval command in India and it has its headquarters in Kochi, Kerala at INS Venduruthy. It is the Training Command of the Indian Navy.^[1]

Southern Naval Command
Crest of the Southern Naval Command
Country	India
Branch	Indian Navy
Type	Command
Headquarters	Kochi, Kerala
Commanders
FOC-in-C	Vice Admiral Vennam Srinivas, AVSM, NM

The Command is commanded by a Three Star Flag Officer of the rank of Vice Admiral with the title Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Southern Command (FOC-in-C). Vice Admiral Vennam Srinivas, AVSM, NM is the current FOC-in-C SNC, who took over on 31 December 2023.^[2]

History

The CNS Adm R K Dhowan inspecting the guard of honour at the Southern Naval Command

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.^[3]

The shore establishments on the southern coast were headed by the Commodore Cochin (COMCHIN), a one star appointment. The COMCHIN directly reported into the Chief of the Naval Staff. In 1967, the Goa Area was included under COMCHIN. On 1 March 1968, the Commodore Cochin (COMCHIN) was re-designated as Commodore Commanding Southern Naval Area (COMSOUTH).^[4] In August 1970, the appointment of COMSOUTH was upgraded to the two-star rank of Rear Admiral and was re-designated Flag Officer Commanding Southern Naval Area (FOCSOUTH).^[5] This appointment was later upgraded, in October 1977, to the three star rank of Vice Admiral and re-designated Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Southern Naval Command (FOC-in-C SNC).^[6][7] On 1 July 1986, the Southern Naval Command was made the Training Command. All the training establishments were placed under the command as well as the responsibility of formulating and executing of training policy.^[8]

Area of responsibility

The Southern Naval Command and is commanded by the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief. The Southern Naval Command is the Training Command of Indian Navy and is responsible for the training of all its personnel, both officers as well as sailors, from basic to advance stages. It has subsidiary units from Jamnagar in Gujarat to Lonavala in Maharashtra, Goa and in Orissa but the majority of training units are in Kochi. The Indian Naval Academy is also placed under the Southern Naval Command.^[9]

Kavaratti Islands is the home to INS Dweeprakshak, the main naval base of the Southern Naval Command in the Lakshadweep islands.

Capabilities

The Southern Naval Command consists of a Flag Officer Sea Training (FOST), a training squadron, training establishments and bases, and land forces and survey ships. It has a naval air station, and a ship repair yard.^[10]

Organisation

The Southern Naval Command is organised as follows:^[11]

Post	Current Holder	References
Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief	Vice Admiral Vennam Srinivas, AVSM, NM	[12]
Chief of Staff	Rear Admiral Upal Kundu	[13]
Commandant of Indian Naval Academy	Vice Admiral C. R. Praveen Nair, NM	[14]
Flag Officer Sea Training (FOST)	Rear Admiral Srinivas Maddula	[15]
Commandant Naval War College, Goa	Rear Admiral Arjun Dev Nair, VSM	[16]
Admiral Superintendent Yards (ASY) - Kochi	Rear Admiral Sanjay Sharma	[17]
Chief Staff Officer (Training)	Rear Admiral Satish Shenai, NM	[18]

Naval Bases

Ships of the 1st Training Squadron

Naval bases under Southern Naval Command are the following^[19]

Base	City	State/Territory	Role
INS Dweeprakshak	Kavaratti	Lakshwadweep	Logistics and Maintenance support
INS Minicoy[20]	Minicoy		Forward Operating Base
INS Androth (Under construction)	Androth		Forward Operating Base and Radar station
INS Garuda	Kochi	Kerala	Naval Air Station
INHS Sanjivani			Naval Hospital
INS Venduruthy			Logistics and Administrative support
INS Dronacharya			Naval Weapons Training
INS Chilka	Chilka	Odisha	Naval Training
INHS Nivarini			Naval Hospital
INS Mandovi	Panaji	Goa	Naval Training
INS Hamla	Mumbai	Maharashtra	Combined Operations Training
INS Shivaji	Lonavala		Technical Training
INHS Kasturi			Naval Hospital
INS Valsura	Jamnagar	Gujarat	Electric Equipment Training
INS Rajali	Arakkonam	Tamil Nadu	Naval Air Base
INS Agrani	Coimbatore		Leadership Training
INS Zamorin	Ezhimala	Kerala	Logistics and Maintenance support to Indian Naval Academy
INS Satavahana	Visakhapatnam	Andhra Pradesh	Submarine Warfare Training

List of Commanders

S.No	Name	Assumed office	Left office	Notes	References
Commodore-in-Charge Cochin (COMCHIN)
1	Commodore M. H. St. L. Nott DSO, OBE	August 1947	March 1948	Formerly Royal Indian Navy. Killed in an air accident at Corsica 27 March 1948.	[21]
2	Commodore Henry Bramhall Ellison	March 1948	July 1950	Seconded from the Royal Navy	[22]
3	Commodore Eric G. McGregor DSO	July 1950	November 1952	Seconded from the Royal Navy	[22]
4	Commodore A. D. H. Jay DSO, DSC	November 1952	January 1954	Seconded from the Royal Navy	[23]
5	Commodore Bhaskar Sadashiv Soman	January 1954	October 1956	Later Chief of the Naval Staff	[24]
6	Commodore Sadashiv Ganesh Karmarkar MBE	1 May 1957	April 1960		[25][26]
7	Commodore R. S. David	April 1960	June 1962		[27]
8	Commodore G. S. Kapoor	June 1962	December 1965		[28]
9	Commodore J. D. Mody	December 1965	February 1968		[29]
Commodore Commanding Southern Naval Area (COMSOUTH)
1	Commodore Inder Singh	March 1968	November 1970		[30]
Flag Officer Commanding Southern Naval Area (FOCSOUTH)
1	Rear Admiral V. A. Kamath PVSM	November 1970	March 1973		[5][31]
2	Rear Admiral Elenjikal Chandy Kuruvila PVSM, AVSM	March 1973	October 1973		[32]
3	Rear Admiral S. H. Sarma PVSM	October 1973	January 1975		[33]
4	Rear Admiral Ronald Lynsdale Pereira AVSM	January 1975	16 April 1976	Later Chief of the Naval Staff.	[34][35]
5	Rear Admiral V. E. C. Barboza AVSM*	16 April 1976	26 October 1977		[35][6]
Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Southern Naval Command (FOC-in-C SNC)
1	Vice Admiral V. E. C. Barboza AVSM*	26 October 1977	3 March 1979		[6][36]
2	Vice Admiral Oscar Stanley Dawson PVSM, AVSM	30 March 1979	26 February 1982	Later Chief of the Naval Staff.	[37]
3	Vice Admiral Radhakrishna Hariram Tahiliani AVSM	26 February 1982	30 March 1983	Later Chief of the Naval Staff.	[38]
4	Vice Admiral K. K. Nayyar AVSM	30 March 1983	28 November 1984	Later Vice-Chief of the Naval Staff.	[39]
5	Vice Admiral G. M. Hiranandani PVSM, AVSM, NM	28 November 1984	30 November 1987	Later Vice-Chief of the Naval Staff	[40]
6	Vice Admiral Laxminarayan Ramdas PVSM, AVSM, VrC, VSM	30 November 1987	25 February 1989	Later Chief of the Naval Staff	[40][41]
7	Vice Admiral R. P. Sawhney PVSM	25 February 1989	30 September 1990		[41]
8	Vice Admiral Suren P. Govil PVSM, AVSM	1 October 1990	30 December 1990		[42][43]
9	Vice Admiral KASZ Raju PVSM, AVSM, NM	30 December 1990	29 August 1992		[44]
10	Vice Admiral S. K. Chand PVSM, AVSM	29 August 1992	14 October 1993	Later Vice-Chief of the Naval Staff	[45][46]
11	Vice Admiral Inderjit Bedi PVSM, AVSM	17 October 1993	30 April 1996		[47][48]
12	Vice Admiral A. R. Tandon AVSM	30 April 1996	23 October 1996		[48]
13	Vice Admiral Madhvendra Singh AVSM, NM	23 October 1996	31 March 1998	Later Chief of the Naval Staff	[49]
14	Vice Admiral Sushil Kumar PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, NM	31 March 1998	30 December 1998	Later Chief of the Naval Staff	[50]
15	Vice Admiral R. N. Ganesh PVSM, AVSM, NM	8 March 1999	March 2001		[51]
16	Vice Admiral Harinder Singh PVSM, AVSM	March 2001	May 2002		[52][53]
17	Vice Admiral Madanjit Singh AVSM	31 May 2002	1 October 2003		[54]
18	Vice Admiral Yashwant Prasad PVSM, AVSM, NM	15 October 2003	1 August 2004		[55]
19	Vice Admiral S. C. S. Bangara PVSM, AVSM	1 August 2004	31 July 2006		[56]
20	Vice Admiral Jagjit Singh Bedi PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, VSM	31 July 2006	28 July 2007		[57]
21	Vice Admiral Sunil Kumar Damle PVSM, AVSM, NM, VSM	28 July 2007	31 August 2009
22	Vice Admiral K. N. Sushil PVSM, AVSM, NM	1 September 2009	31 May 2012
23	Vice Admiral Satish Soni PVSM, AVSM, NM	31 May 2012	2014	Later served as FOC-in-C of the Eastern Naval Command
24	Vice Admiral Surinder Pal Singh Cheema PVSM, AVSM, NM	2014	2015	Later served as FOC-in-C of the Western Naval Command	[58][59]
25	Vice Admiral Sunil Lanba AVSM	1 February 2016	31 May 2016	Later served as Chief of Naval Staff and as Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee	[60]
26	Vice Admiral Girish Luthra AVSM, VSM	2016	29 May 2016	Later served as FOC-in-C of the Western Naval Command	[61][62]
27	Vice Admiral AR Karve PVSM, AVSM	29 May 2016	30 July 2018		[63]
28	Vice Admiral Anil Kumar Chawla PVSM, AVSM, NM, VSM	30 July 2018	30 November 2021
29	Vice Admiral M A Hampiholi PVSM, AVSM, NM	30 November 2021	31 December 2023		[64]
30	Vice Admiral Vennam Srinivas AVSM, NM	1 January 2024	Incumbent		[65]

See also

• Western Naval Command
• Eastern Naval Command