Vice Admiral Vice admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, usually equivalent to lieutenant general and air marshal. A vice admiral is typically senior to a rear admiral and junior to an admiral. Australia In the Royal Australian Navy, the rank of Vice ...

C. R. Praveen Nair, NM is a serving Flag officer in the

Indian Navy The Indian Navy (IN) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Navy, maritime and Amphibious warfare, amphibious branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. The Chief of the Naval Staff (India), Chief ...

. He currently serves as the

Commandant of Indian Naval Academy The Commandant of the Indian Naval Academy is the head and in-charge of all the functioning of the Indian Naval Academy. The commandant of the academy is a three-star rank officer holding the rank of vice admiral. He is supported by the deputy ...

. He last served as the

Flag Officer Commanding Western Fleet Flag Officer Commanding Western Fleet (FOCWF) is the title of the Indian Navy Officer who commands the Western Fleet, headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. The FOCWF is a two star admiral holding the rank of Rear Admiral. The appointment is consi ...

. He earlier commanded the

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and hangar facilities for supporting, arming, deploying and recovering carrier-based aircraft, shipborne aircraft. Typically it is the ...

and was the commissioning

commanding officer The commanding officer (CO) or commander, or sometimes, if the incumbent is a general officer, commanding general (CG), is the officer in command of a military unit. The commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually give ...

of the

guided missile destroyer A guided-missile destroyer (DDG) is a destroyer whose primary armament is guided missiles so they can provide anti-aircraft warfare screening for the fleet. The NATO standard designation for these vessels is DDG, while destroyers which have a pr ...

Naval career

Nair attended the Naval Academy, Goa and was commissioned into the

on 1 July 1991. He later specialized in Communication and Electronic Warfare. He has served on board the

training ship A training ship is a ship used to train students as sailors. The term is mostly used to describe ships employed by navies to train future officers. Essentially there are two types: those used for training at sea and old hulks used to house class ...

and served as the communications and electronic warfare officer of the Kora-class corvette . Nair commanded the Kora-class corvette . He attended the

Defence Services Staff College The Defence Services Staff College (DSSC) is a defence service training institution of the Ministry of Defence, Government of India. It trains officers of all three services of the Indian Armed Forces – (Indian Army, Indian Navy, Indian Air ...

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

. He then served in the Talwar-class Training Team. He was the communications and electronic warfare officer of the Delhi-class

. He later served as the Fleet Electronic Warfare Officer and the Fleet Communication Officer of the Western Fleet. Captain_C

Nair attended the

Naval War College The Naval War College (NWC or NAVWARCOL) is the staff college and "Home of Thought" for the United States Navy at Naval Station Newport in Newport, Rhode Island. The NWC educates and develops leaders, supports defining the future Navy and associa ...

Newport, Rhode Island Newport is a seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Rhode Island, United States. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, and nort ...

. He served as the Directing Staff at Naval War College, Goa and as the Officer-in-Charge Signal School in Kochi. In 2016, he was appointed the commissioning

of the third and last ship of the Kolkata-class

Stealth Stealth may refer to: Military *Stealth technology, technology used to conceal ships, aircraft, and missiles **Stealth aircraft, aircraft which use stealth technology ** Stealth ground vehicle, ground vehicles which use stealth technology ** Ste ...

. As the CO, he commissioned the ship on 21 November 2016 in Mumbai. In April 2017, the ship was dedicated to the city of

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

, its namesake. As a

Commodore Commodore may refer to: Ranks * Commodore (rank), a naval rank ** Commodore (Royal Navy), in the United Kingdom ** Commodore (India), in India ** Commodore (United States) ** Commodore (Canada) ** Commodore (Finland) ** Commodore (Germany) or ' ...

, Nair served as the Fleet Operations Officer (FOO) of the

Eastern Fleet Eastern or Easterns may refer to: Transportation Airlines *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai * Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways *Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 192 ...

. For his tenure as FOO, he was awarded the

Nao Sena Medal Nau Sena Medal (also spelt ''Nao Sena Medal'', lit. ''Navy Medal'') is a gallantry award for servicemen in the Indian Navy. History The Nau Sena Medal was instituted on 26 January 1960 by the Government of India, with the approval of the Presid ...

for devotion to duty on 26 January 2020. He also served as the Commodore (Personnel) in the Personnel directorate at naval headquarters. In 2020, he took over as the sixth commanding officer of the

flag ship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...

of the Navy, the

. He has been a member of the Navy’ s premier Think-Tank, the Indian Naval Strategic and Operational Council (INSOC) for over three years.

Flag rank

Nair was promoted to flag rank in 2022 and was appointed Assistant Chief of Naval Staff (Policy & Plans) (ACNS P&P) at naval headquarters. He took over as the

on 10 November 2023 from Rear Admiral Vineet McCarty. After a nine-month tenure as FOCWF, he was promoted to the rank of Vice Admiral and appointed

, Ezhimala. He took over as Commandant on 29 August 2024.

Awards and decorations

Nair was awarded the

(Devotion to duty) in 2020.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nair, Praveen Indian Navy vice admirals Living people Flag Officers Commanding Western Fleet Year of birth missing (living people) Defence Services Staff College alumni Naval War College alumni Academic staff of Naval War College, Goa

Naval career

Flag rank

Awards and decorations

See also

References