List of Indian Navy Admirals from 1947-2024 for General Awareness

Do you know, who is the present Indian Navy Admiral Or Chief of Indian Navy? Vice Admiral Dinesh Kumar Tripathi, PVSM, AVSM, NM, currently serving as the Vice Chief of the Naval Staff, is the next Chief of the Naval Staff with effect from the afternoon of April 30, 2024. The outgoing Chief is Admiral R Hari Kumar, PVSM, AVSM, VSM.

Admiral R Hari Kumar, was appointed as the 25th  Chief of the Indian Navy. He took over from Admiral Karambir Singh on 30th November 2021, after serving for four decades in the Indian Navy.

The topic of Indian Navy Admirals is important for competitive exams. For various Government exams SSC, RRB, Bank etc., the topic is covered under general awareness sections. Also, the UPSC aspirants can expect one or two questions related to Chief of Indian Navy in UPSC prelims.

Hence, the article will provide the list of Indian Navy Admirals from 1947 to 2024 who served the office as Chief of Indian Navy Staff. The Indian Navy Admirals List is also available to download in PDF format for candidates’ convenience. 

List of Indian Navy Admirals PDF:-Download PDF Here

The Chief of the Naval Staff is the commander, the highest-ranking officer in the Indian Navy and the position is abbreviated as CNS. 

Given below is the list of Indian navy admirals and their tenure of office as Chief of Indian Navy:

• At Independence, the head of the Navy was designated the Commander-in-Chief, Royal Indian Navy. 
• The title of “Chief of the Naval Staff” was added on 1st March 1948, “Chief of the Naval Staff and Commander-in-Chief, Royal Indian Navy“.
• When India became a republic on 26th January 1950, the “Royal” designation was dropped. Thus designating the Indian Navy head to “Chief of the Naval Staff and Commander-in-Chief, Indian Navy“.
• The Commanders-In-Chief (Change in Designation) Act, 1955 re-designated the Indian Navy Head to “Chief of Naval Staff”.
• The position CNS is headed by both three-star rank Vice Admiral and two-star rank Rear Admiral. However, since 1966, the Chief of Naval Staff has always been a full Admiral.
• Appointments of CNS to the office are made by ACC – the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet. 
• The CNS generally reaches superannuation upon completion of 3 years service or at the age of 62, whichever is earlier.

Facts about the Indian Navy

• The Indian Navy is presently the seventh strongest maritime force on the planet, with only the United States, Russia, China, Japan, United Kingdom and France ahead of it. The force, as of June 2019, has 150 submarines and ships and 300 aircraft, and 67,252 active and 55,000 reserve personnel in service.
• The Indian Navy’s anti-ship cruise missile BrahMos is the world’s fastest operational system in its class. The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has recently increased the missile system’s range from 298 km to nearly 450 km.
• The Indian Navy’s special operations unit named MARCOS (originally called Marine Commando Force), founded in 1987, is trained and equipped to carry out operations in all environments – at sea, on land and in air. The force has acquired international recognition for professionalism.
• The Indian Navy’s ‘Sagar Pawan’, founded in 2003, is one of the only two naval aerobatic teams in the world, the other being the US Navy’s Blue Angels.
• The first independent operation for the Indian Navy happened in 1961, when it fought successfully againt the Portuguese navy during the Liberation of Goa.

List of Indian Navy Admirals:-Download PDF Here

Candidates preparing for competitive exams can check relevant articles for General Awareness section:

Understanding the relevance of Indian Navy Admirals for competitive exams is important for better preparation for which candidates must be well versed with the types of questions asked in the examination based on it. 

Hence, given below are sample question based on Indian Navy Admirals asked in the general awareness section of competitive exams:

Q.1. Who is the Chief of Indian Navy 2021?

1. R D Katari
2. Karambir Singh
3. Sunil Lamba
4. S N Kohli

Answer (2) Karambir Singh

Q.2. Which of the following is the Vice-Admiral of the Indian Navy?

1. R J Dhowan
2. Ramdas
3. Suresh Mehta
4. G Ashok Kumar

Answer (4) G Ashok Kumar

Q.3. Who was the first Navy Chief of India?

1. S N Kohli
2. R J Dhowan
3. R D Katari
4. Suresh Mehta

Answer (3) R D Katari

Q.4. Who was the first Commander-In-Chief of the Royal Indian Navy?

1. J S T Hall
2. Mark Pizey
3. Edward Parry
4. Stephen Carlile

Answer (1) J S T Hall

Q.5. When was the first Navy Chief of Independent India appointed?

1. 1950 
2. 1955
3. 1958
4. 1952

Answer (3) 1958

Q.6. In whose tenure were the Operations Trident and Python were carried out?

1. Oscar Stanley Dawson
2. Sushil Kumar
3. Sardarilal Mathradas Nanda
4. Bhaskar Sadashiv Soman

Answer (1) Oscar Stanley Dawson

Trivia: Operations Trident and Pythons were a naval military operation carried out by the Indian navy against Pakistan during the Indo-Pakistan war of 1971. Due to the extremely low casualty counts on the Indian side and achievement of all major objectives, it is widely regarded as one of the most successful naval operation since World War 2

Q.7. Who wrote the book We Dared, a memoir of the Indian Navy operations during the war of 1971?

1. Jal Cursetji
2. Sourendra Nath Kohli
3. Radhakrishna Hariram Tahiliani
4. Laxminarayan Ramdas

Answer (2) Sourendra Nath Kohli

Trivia: Admiral Sourendra Nath Kohli began his career as a volunteer in the Royal Navy in 1936. During World War 2 he served in the Persian Gulf and in the Far Eastern theatre. During the war with Pakistan in December 1971, As the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, he provided operational leadership for the devastating attacks on Karachi harbour. He also led the defence of Indian Naval facilities on the west coast, for which he was awarded the Padma Bhushan.

Q.8 What was the name of the navy operation carried out against Pakistan during the Kargil War?

1. Operation Silver

2. Operation Talwar

3. Operation Parikshit

4. Operation Polo

Answer (1): Operation Talwar

Trivia: Operation Talwar (Operation Sword) was the naval operation carried out by the Indian Navy during the Kargil War of 1999. Its mainf goal was to choke Pakistan’s trade channels.

Q.9 What was the earlier name of the INS Vikramaditya?

1. Stalingrad
2. Novgorosk
3. Murmansk
4. Baku

Answer: (4) Baku

Trivia: Originally built as Baku and commissioned in 1987, the INS Vikramaditya served with the Soviet Navy and later with the Russian Navy (as Admiral Gorshkov) before being decommissioned in 1996. It was acquired by the Indian Navy following years of intense negotiations.

Q.10 Which country has the largest number of Aircraft Carrier fleet in the world?

1. USA

2. France.

3. Russia

4. United Kingdom

Answer: (1) USA

Trivia: The US Navy has the largest fleet of carriers in the world, with eleven supercarriers currently in service. The US also has nine similarly sized Amphibious Warfare Ships

Candidates can check Previous Year Question Papers with solution PDF to understand the type of questions asked in the general awareness section of these examinations other than the ones given above.

For more topics on General Awareness for various government exams, check-

• SSC General Awareness
• Bank General Awareness

Aspirants of the government examinations can check the details and syllabus from the given links: