Flag Officer Commanding Goa Naval Area (FOGA) is a senior appointment 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 ...

. One of the five Area Commanders of the Indian Navy, the FOGA is a two star admiral holding the rank of

Rear Admiral Rear admiral is a flag officer rank used by English-speaking navies. In most European navies, the equivalent rank is called counter admiral. Rear admiral is usually immediately senior to commodore and immediately below vice admiral. It is ...

. The FOGA is responsible for the operations and administration of all units and establishments in the state of

Goa Goa (; ; ) is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is bound by the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north, and Karnataka to the ...

. Since 1987, the FOGA dual-hats as the Flag Officer Naval Aviation. The current FOGA is

Ajay D. Theophilus, who assumed office on 1 August 2023.

History

After the

Liberation of Goa The Annexation of Goa was the process in which the Republic of India annexed the Portuguese State of India, the then Portuguese Indian territories of Goa, Daman and Diu, starting with the armed action carried out by the Indian Armed Forces ...

and its absorption into the Indian Union in 1961, a naval detachment was established at Vasco in January 1962. This detachment grew and was commissioned as INS Gomantak in March 1964. In June that year, the

naval air station A Naval Air Station (NAS) is a military air base, and consists of a permanent land-based operations locations for the military aviation division of the relevant branch of a navy (Naval aviation). These bases are typically populated by squadron ...

INS Hansa INS Hansa, is an Indian naval air station located near Dabolim in Goa, India. Data current as of October 2006. It is India's biggest naval airbase. The military air base has a civil enclave, that operates as Dabolim Airport. History ''INS ...

moved from

Sulur Sulur is a town located in the Coimbatore district of Tamil Nadu, India. It is a suburb of Coimbatore. It is the headquarters of Sulur Taluk of Coimbatore district. There are many market places and many big retail and wholesale shops are avail ...

to Dabolim. With the development of establishments and naval infrastructure, the post of Naval Officer-in-Charge Goa (NOIC Goa) was created. In 1977, the appointment of NOIC Goa was upgraded to

and re-designated Flag Officer Commanding Goa Naval Area (FOGA). Rear Admiral R. H. Tahiliani,

AVSM Ati Vishisht Seva Medal (AVSM, ) is a military award of India given to recognize "distinguished service of an exceptional order" to all ranks of the armed forces. The award is a peacetime equivalent of Uttam Yuddh Seva Medal, which is a Wartime ...

took over as the first FOGA on 30 December 1977. In 1986, it was proposed to rationalise the command and control of the naval air arm by creating the appointment of Flag Officer Naval Aviation (FONA). The FONA would be responsible for all aviation training and maintenance activity and act as the class authority for all aviation matters. The operational deployment of all aviation units would continue to be controlled and directed by the respective commanders-in-chief. With Goa being the home of the naval air arm, FOGA was the natural choice to also serve as the FONA. In March 1986, the serving FOGA Rear Admiral R. V. Singh assumed the appointment of FONA as well. Since then the FOGA has dual-hatted as the FONA.

Organisation

The FOGA is assisted by the NOIC (Goa) and the Chief Staff Officer at Headquarters Goa Naval Area (HQGNA), both one-star appointments. The FOMA reports to the

Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Naval Command The Western Naval Command is one of the three command–level formations of the Indian Navy. It is headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. As the senior–most of the three formations, the command is responsible for the all naval forces in the A ...

. The establishments under the FOGA include: * Headquarters Goa Naval Area (HQGNA) * The base depot ship INS Gomantak * The naval air station

* The naval hospital INHS Jeevanti * Sagar Prahari Bal, Goa

List of Commanders

References

Bibliography

* * * * {{Indian Navy Indian Navy Indian military appointments Indian Navy appointments

History

Organisation

List of Commanders

See also

References

Bibliography