New Flag Appointments in the Navy
Vice Admiral Sangram Singh Byce, PVSM, AVSM, NM, takes
over as the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the
Western Naval Command today consequent to the
retirement of Vice Admiral Madanjit Singh. An
anti-submarine warfare specialist, he was commissioned
into the Indian Navy on 01 Jan 1969 and is an alumnus
of the National Defence Academy, Khadakwasla.. During
the 1971 operation against Pakistan, he commanded INS
Subhadra, which participated in the operations on the
western seaboard. During these operations, he was
awarded 'Mention- in-Dispatches' for gallantry.
Besides the command of Subhadra, the Admiral has to
his credit the command of INS Ghorpad, a Landing Ship
Tank, INS Trishul, a guided Missile Frigate and INS
Ranjit, a Guided Missile Destroyer. As the Joint
Director of Naval Operations at Naval Headquarters, he
was responsible for the planning, co-ordination and
conduct of operation 'CACTUS' in the Maldives in 1988.
During this period, he was also responsible for
co-ordinaton of Ops Pawan in SriLanka. For excellence
in Op planning, the officer was awarded Nao Sena Medal
(Devotion to Duty).
On elevation to Flag rank the Admiral has held the
appointment of Flag Officer Sea Training, Flag Officer
Commanding Western Fleet and Chief of Staff, Western
Naval Command. During his tenure as the Fleet
Commander, the Flag Officer planned and co-ordinated
events connected with International Fleet Review 2001.
On promotion to the rank of Vice Admiral, the Flag
Officer took over as the Deputy Chief of Integrated
Defence Staff (Operations) at Headquarters Integrated
Defence Staff in Jan 2003. Subsequently, he assumed
the office of Deputy Chief of Integrated Defence Staff
(Policy, Planning and Force Development) on 01 Dec 03.
Vice Admiral Arun Kumar Singh takes over as
Commander-in-Chief of the tri-services Andaman and
Nicobar Command. Commissioned on 01 Jan 69, he joined
the submarine arm of the Indian Navy and served on
various submarines, the Submarine Base INS Virbahu and
Submarine School INS Satvahana.
As a Commander and Captain, he has commanded
submarines, ships and submarine squadrons (including
command of the first Kilo class submarines squadron in
1988) and the submarine base INS Virbahu. He was also
served in Sri Lanka during OPS PAWAN (1988). As a
Commodore, the officer served as Director of Tactics
and Director of Submarine Operations at NHQ. After
promotion to Rear Admiral in Oct 96, the Flag Officer
held the dual hatted appointments of ACNS (Submarines)
and Flag Officer Submarine. As ACNS (SM), he authored
the 30-year submarine construction plan and was
responsible for modernization of the submarine force.
As Fleet Commander (2000- 01), he led the largest
ever-overseas deployment of ships and submarines to
South East Asia and the Far East and conducted
exercises with various navies in Sep - Oct 2000. As
Vice Admiral, he took over the appointment of Director
General Coast Guard on 20 Aug 04. He had the privilege
of witnessing the first Indian Coast Guard - Sri
Lankan Navy joint exercise off Colombo in Dec 2004
and the first Indian Coast Guard - Korea Coast Guard
joint exercise off Busan in Nov 05. He also directed
the Indian Coast Guard rescue and relief operations in
India and Sri Lanka and Maldives after the tsunami
disaster of 26 Dec 2004. He signed the "Communication
Link" MoU with DG Pakistan MSA at Islamabad on 03 Oct
05.
The Flag Officer has undergone the Long Navigation
Direction Course (Kochi), Nuclear Submarine and
Missile Course (Russia) and is an alumnus of the
Defence Services Staff College (Wellington), the
College of Naval Warfare (Mumbai), and the National
Defence College (New Delhi). He is a recipient of the
Param Vishist Seva Medal, Ati Vishist Seva Medal and
Nau Sena Medal.
VG/AK