Eastern Naval Command

TheEastern Naval Command of the Indian Navy is oneof its threemajor formations.[1] It utilizes Visakhapatnamas its headquarters, and has bases there and at Kolkata. Itis the first and the largest naval command in India.

1 Area of responsibility

Under the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, East-ern Naval Command (FOC-in-C East) is the Flag Offi-cer Commanding, Eastern Fleet (FOCEF), CommodoreCommanding Submarines (East) (COMCOS (E)), Ad-miral Superintendent Dockyard for Visakhapatnam,shore establishments, and five Naval Officers-in-Charge(NOICs). The current FOC-in-C East is Vice AdmiralSatish Soni, PVSM, AVSM, NM, ADC.[2]

The Eastern naval Command has the states of AndhraPradesh, Orissa, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, and theisland chain of Andaman and Nicobar under its area ofresponsibility.[3]

The FOC-in-C (East) is the submarine operating au-thority, under whom Commodore Commanding Sub-marines (East) [COMCOS (E)] operate. The 11th(Sindhughosh class submarine) and 8th (Foxtrot class)Submarine Squadrons operate under COMCOS (E). INSVirbahu, a submarine base commissioned on 19 May1971, is the alma matar of the Indian Navy submariners.

2 Naval bases

The headquarters at Visakhapatnam is also a strategicallyimportant dockyard for two nuclear-powered submarines.Due to congestion and heavy shipping traffic, a new 20square km base INS Varsha is being developed for exclu-sive naval use about 50 km south of Visakhapatnam.The Eastern Navy fleet is distributed among its bases atKolkata, Paradip, Tuticorin, Kakinada and Chennai onthe east coast, and in theAndaman andNicobar Islands.[3]TheNavy has opened its latest naval air base, INSBaaz, atthe southernmost tip of the Andaman andNicobar Islandsto secure the strategically important Straits of Malacca,and another naval air station in Kolkata to base an un-manned aerial vehicle squadron.[4]

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

3 Capabilities

In 2005, Eastern Naval Command was home to 30 war-ships. INS Jalashwa is the flagship of Eastern Fleet andprovides amphibious capabilities to Indian Navy in theBay of Bengal. Eastern Fleet is equipped with subma-rine pens and maintenance dockyards. The AmphibiousTask Group of Eastern Naval Fleet has INS Jalashwa(LPD). It also includes five Rajput class destroyers, fourKora class corvettes,three Godavari class frigates, threeShivalik class frigates, Sindhughosh class submarines andthe Akula-class submarine INS Chakra. Naval aviation isprovided by Sea King Helicopters. Apart from these, anumber of smaller vessels such as fast attack craft makethe total fleet strength of the command to 52 vessels in2012.

4 Future

Until 1997, INS Vikrant was the flagship of Eastern Fleet.After her de-commissioning in 1997, the Eastern Fleethas been without an aircraft carrier. Once the newly ac-quired INS Vikramaditya is declared fully operational,the Navy will re-deploy the veteran INS Viraat to theeastern seaboard to form a new carrier group.[4][5]

5 See also• Western Naval Command

• Southern Naval Command

• INS Shakti

6 References[1] “Organisation of the Eastern Naval Command”. Indian

Navy. Retrieved 1 January 2013.

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2 6 REFERENCES

[2] “Indian Navy FOC-in-C (East)". Indian Navy. Retrieved14 January 2013.

[3] “Indian Navy ENC Authorities & Units”. Indian Navy.Retrieved 14 January 2013.

[4] “Navy boosting Eastern flank”. New Indian Express. 31December 2012. Retrieved 14 January 2013.

[5] “INS Vikramaditya Trials Finally Begin”.

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7 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

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