Robin K Dhowan on
Thursday the 17th April,2014 took over as chief of the Indian Navy
nearly two months after D K Joshi quit the post in the wake of a series of
mishaps.
Admiral Dhowan, 59,
who has been the acting Navy chief since Joshi’s exit, has been appointed the
Chief of Navy Staff superseding Western Naval Commander Shekhar Sinha.
He will have a tenure
of 25 months, retiring in May 2016.
Joshi, who had 15
months left in service, resigned on February 26 following the mishap involving
submarine INS Sindhuratna in which two Navy officers were killed and several
others were injured.
In August last year,
submarine INS Sindhurakshak sank at the Naval Dockyard in Mumbai, killing 18
personnel on board.
The sudden
resignation by Joshi changed the line of succession in the Navy.
Had he retired in
August next year as per his tenure, Southern Naval Commander Vice Admiral
Satish Soni would have become the next chief.
Under the new
circumstances, National Defence College Commandant Vice Admiral Sunil Lamba is
expected to succeed Dhowan in May 2016.
Dhowan, who is the
22nd Navy chief, has taken over the reins of the force at a time when it is
grappling with mishaps involving its warships and other assets.
Dhowan, who had been
the Vice Chief of the force since August 2011, was supposed to superannuate on
May 31, this year.
Defence Minister A K
Antony had recommended the name of Dhowan, who was in contention for the top
job along with Western Naval Commander Sinha and Eastern Commander Anil Chopra.
Though he has not
headed any operational command, Dhowan has held various key positions and staff
appointments during his career.
His command
appointments include missile corvette INS Khukri, guided missile destroyers INS
Ranjit and INS Delhi and Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet (FOCEF).
The Admiral’s staff
assignments include key posts like Deputy Chief of Naval Staff and Assistant
Chief of the Naval Staff (Policy and Plans) at the headquarters in New Delhi.
No comments:
Post a Comment