Eastern Naval Command

Eastern Naval Command
पूर्वी नौसेना कमान
INS Jalashwa (L41), flagship of the Eastern Fleet
Country  India
Headquarters Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh
Commanders
Flag Officer Commanding in Chief Vice Admiral Harish Bisht
FOC Eastern Fleet Rear Admiral B Dasgupta, YSM, VSM[1]

The Eastern Naval Command of the Indian Navy is one of its three major formations.[2] It utilizes Visakhapatnam as its headquarters, and has bases there and at Kolkata. It is the first and the largest naval command in India.[3]

Area of responsibility

Under the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Naval Command (FOC-in-C East) is the Flag Officer Commanding, Eastern Fleet (FOCEF), Commodore Commanding Submarines (East) (COMCOS (E)), Admiral Superintendent Dockyard for Visakhapatnam, shore establishments, and five Naval Officers-in-Charge (NOICs).

The Eastern naval Command has the states of Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, and the island chain of Andaman and Nicobar under its area of responsibility.[4]

The FOC-in-C (East) is the submarine operating authority, under whom Commodore Commanding Submarines (East) [COMCOS (E)] operate. The 11th (Sindhughosh class submarine) and 8th (Foxtrot class) Submarine Squadrons operate under COMCOS (E). INS Virbahu, a submarine base commissioned on 19 May 1971, is the alma matar of the Indian Navy submariners.

Admiral DK Joshi, Chief of the Naval Staff, receiving a guard of honour during a visit to the Eastern Naval Command in November 2013

Organization

The Eastern Naval Command is organized as follows:[5]

Post Current Holder References
Flag Officer Commanding in Chief Vice_Admiral Harish_Bisht
Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet Rear Admiral B Dasgupta, YSM, VSM
Admiral Superintendent Dockyard (ASD) - Visakhapatnam Rear Admiral S R Sharma, VSM [6]
Commodore Commanding Submarines (COMCOS) - East
Naval Officer In-Charge (NOIC) - Andhra Pradesh Commodore K A Bopanna [7]
Naval Officer In-Charge (NOIC) - Tamil Nadu Commodore Alok Bhatnagar [8]
Naval Officer In-Charge (NOIC) - Orissa
Naval Officer In-Charge (NOIC) - West Bengal Commodore Suprobho K De [9]

Naval bases

The headquarters at Visakhapatnam is also a strategically important dockyard for two nuclear-powered submarines. Due to congestion and heavy shipping traffic, a new 20 square km base INS Varsha is being developed for exclusive naval use about 50 km south of Visakhapatnam.

The Eastern Navy fleet is distributed among its bases at Kolkata, Paradip, Tuticorin, Kakinada and Chennai on the east coast, and in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.[4] The Navy has opened its latest naval air base, INS Baaz, at the southernmost tip of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands to secure the strategically important Straits of Malacca, and another naval air station in Kolkata to base an unmanned aerial vehicle squadron.[10][11]

Base City State/Territory Role
INS Circars Visakhapatnam Andhra Pradesh Logistics and Administrative support
INS Dega Visakhapatnam Andhra Pradesh Naval Air Station
INS Virbahu Visakhapatnam Andhra Pradesh Submarine base
INHS Kalyani Visakhapatnam Andhra Pradesh Naval Hospital
INS Kalinga Visakhapatnam Andhra Pradesh Naval Missile Depot
INS Eksila Visakhapatnam Andhra Pradesh Marine gas turbine maintenance
INS Karna[12] Visakhapatnam Andhra Pradesh MARCOS base
INS Varsha (Under Construction) Visakhapatnam Andhra Pradesh Future submarine base for the ENC
INS Adyar Chennai Tamil Nadu Logistics and Maintenance support
INS Parundu Uchipuli Tamil Nadu Naval Air Station
INS Kattabomman Tirunelveli Tamil Nadu Submarine VLF facility
INS Tuticorin Tuticorin Tamil Nadu Logistics support
INS Netaji Subhash Kolkata West Bengal Logistics and Administrative support
INS Paradip (Under Construction)[13] Paradip Orissa Forward Operating Base
INS Bhubaneswar (Under Construction) Bhubaneswar Orissa Naval Air Enclave

Capabilities

The ex-INS Vikrant as a museum ship in Mumbai.

In 2005, Eastern Naval Command was home to 30 warships. INS Jalashwa is the flagship of Eastern Fleet and provides amphibious capabilities to Indian Navy in the Bay of Bengal. Eastern Fleet is equipped with submarine pens and maintenance dockyards. The Amphibious Task Group of Eastern Naval Fleet has INS Jalashwa (LPD). It also includes five Rajput class destroyers, four Kora class corvettes,three Godavari class frigates, three Shivalik class frigates, Sindhughosh class submarines and the Akula-class submarine INS Chakra. Naval aviation is provided by Sea King Helicopters. Apart from these, a number of smaller vessels such as fast attack craft make the total fleet strength of the command to 52 vessels in 2012.

Future

Until 1997, INS Vikrant was the flagship of Eastern Fleet. After her de-commissioning in 1997, the Eastern Fleet has been without an aircraft carrier. Once the newly acquired INS Vikramaditya is declared fully operational, the Navy will re-deploy the veteran INS Viraat to the eastern seaboard to form a new carrier group.[10][14]

References

  1. ↑ http://pib.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx?relid=(Release ID :151653)
  2. ↑ "Organisation of the Eastern Naval Command". Indian Navy. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
  3. ↑ "The might of the Indian Navy: ENC - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 2016-01-01.
  4. 1 2 "Indian Navy ENC Authorities & Units". Indian Navy. Retrieved 14 January 2013.
  5. ↑ "Organisation | Indian Navy". indiannavy.nic.in. Retrieved 2016-10-17.
  6. ↑ "S.R. Sarma is new chief of Naval Dockyard". The Hindu. 2015-01-09. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2016-10-17.
  7. ↑ "New Naval Officer in charge of A.P.". The Hindu. 2015-01-06. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2016-10-17.
  8. ↑ "Alok Bhatnagar assumes office as Naval Officer-in-Charge - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 2016-10-17.
  9. ↑ NYOOOZ. "Only military establishment to be named after Bengal icon | Kolkata NYOOOZ". NYOOOZ. Retrieved 2016-10-17.
  10. 1 2 "Navy boosting Eastern flank". New Indian Express. 31 December 2012. Retrieved 14 January 2013.
  11. ↑ "ENC Authorities & Units | Indian Navy". indiannavy.nic.in. Retrieved 2015-12-29.
  12. ↑ "Navy chief's maiden visit to ENC today". Retrieved 2016-07-10.
  13. ↑ "N O I C (OR) | Indian Navy". indiannavy.nic.in. Retrieved 2016-03-13.
  14. ↑ "INS Vikramaditya Trials Finally Begin".
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