Admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in many navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force. Admiral is ranked above vice admiral and below admiral of ...

Hikkaduwage Ananda Silva, VSV (4 January 1936 – 24 November 1999) was a Sri Lankan senior naval officer who was the 11th Commander of the Sri Lankan Navy.

Education

Educated at

S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia (abbreviated as STC), is a fee-levying Anglican selective entry boys' private school in Sri Lanka. Started as a private school by James Chapman, the first Anglican Bishop of Colombo, in 1851, it was founded as ...

, Silva excelled in sports and studies. He won several prizes and won colours for cricket, athletics, boxing and also was the Vice Captain of the College Boxing Team.Admiral H. A. Silva VSV - island.lk (30 November 2000)
/ref> His brother was Major General

Gratian Silva Major General (Sri Lanka), Major General Hikkaduwage Gratian Silva, Vishista Seva Vibhushanaya, VSV, British Institute of Management, FBIM (27 January 1933 – 8 November 2015) was a Sri Lankan general, he served as the Military Secretary (Sri La ...

Naval career

Silva joined the then

Royal Ceylon Navy The Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) (; ) is the naval arm of the Sri Lanka Armed Forces and is classed as the country's most vital defence force due to its island geography. It is responsible for the maritime defence of the Sri Lankan nation and its inte ...

as an

officer cadet Officer cadet is a rank held by military personnel during their training to become commissioned officers. In the United Kingdom, the rank is also used by personnel of University Service Units such as the University Officers' Training Corps. Th ...

on 12 October 1953 at the age of 17. He was selected for officer training at

Britannia Royal Naval College Britannia Royal Naval College Dartmouth, also known as Dartmouth, is the naval academy of the United Kingdom and the initial officer training establishment of the Royal Navy. It is located on a hill overlooking the port of Dartmouth, Devon, En ...

in Dartmouth and graduate in 1956 at the top of his batch. Subsequently as an acting sub lieutenant, he completed the Junior Naval Officers (Lieutenants) Course at the

Royal Naval College, Greenwich The Royal Naval College, Greenwich, was a Royal Navy training establishment between 1873 and 1998, providing courses for naval officers. It was the home of the Royal Navy's staff college, which provided advanced training for officers. The equi ...

and attended HMS Mercury and the

Royal Naval Engineering College The Royal Naval Engineering College was a specialist establishment for the training of Royal Navy engineers. It was founded as Keyham College in 1880, new buildings were opened in Manadon, Devon in 1940 and the old college site at Keyham close ...

for specialist training. He undertook his sea training on board

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

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 ...

HMS Triumph (R16) HMS ''Triumph'' was a Royal Navy light fleet aircraft carrier. She served in the Korean War and later, after reconstruction, as a support ship. Construction and design The ''Colossus'' class was a class of relatively small aircraft carriers ...

in the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

and the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

. On his return to Ceylon, he was promoted to

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

and served in several staff appointments at sea and on shore. As Lieutenant Commander, 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 ...

in 1972. Between 1975 and 1980, with the rank of

commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank as well as a job title in many army, armies. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countri ...

he served as the Commanding Officer of

SLNS Gajabahu SLNS ''Gajabahu'' (named after '' Gajabahu'', a former king of Sri Lanka) was a of the Sri Lanka Navy. She has since been converted to a training ship for the Naval & Maritime Academy, Trincomalee. She was originally HMCS ''Hallowell'' of the ...

, SLNS Sanudra Devi and the shore establishments SLNS Tissa, SLNS Elara and SLNS Gemunu. Promoted to

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

, he was appointed Naval Officer in Charge,

Trincomalee Trincomalee (; , ; , ), historically known as Gokanna and Gokarna, is the administrative headquarters of the Trincomalee District and major resort port city of Eastern Province, Sri Lanka, Eastern Province, Sri Lanka. Located on the east coast o ...

. He also held appointment as Master of the Ceylon Shipping Corporation ship MV Lanka Kanthi. In 1981, he graduated from the National Defence College,

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

. Silva was appointed Chief of Naval Staff with the rank of

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 ' ...

on 1 June 1983. On 1 August 1986, he was promoted to 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 ...

and was appointed

Chief of Staff of the Sri Lanka Navy Chief of Staff of the Navy has been the title of the second in command of the Sri Lanka Navy. The post is held by a regular officer of the rank of Rear Admiral and is the second most senior position in the navy. Chief of Staff is charged with ...

on 1 November 1986 he was appointed as the Navy Commander and was promoted to the rank of Vice Admiral on August 1, 1987. His tenure saw an increase in naval activity due to the escalation of the Sri Lankan Civil War. In May - June 1987, the Sri Lankan Armed Forces launched the

Vadamarachchi Operation Operation Liberation also known as the Vadamarachchi Operation was the military offensive carried out by the Sri Lankan Armed Forces in May and June 1987 to recapture the territory of Vadamarachchi in the Jaffna peninsula from the LTTE (Tamil ...

to defeat the

LTTE The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; , ; also known as the Tamil Tigers) was a Tamil militant organization, that was based in the northern and eastern Sri Lanka. The LTTE fought to create an independent Tamil state called Tamil Eelam ...

in Jaffna. At the highlight of the operation, India intervened to pressure the Sri Lanka Government to stop the offensive. The Indian government supported a flotilla of boats that sailed from Tamil Nadu, claiming to bring relief supplies, which the Sri Lankan Navy forced to turn back. India then responded with an air drop of 22 tons of humanitarian relief supplies violating Sri Lankan sovereign airspace with

Operation Poomalai Operation Poomalai (Tamil: ''Pūmālai'', lit. "Flower Garland"), also known as Eagle Mission 4, was the codename assigned to a mission undertaken by the Indian Air Force for airdropping supplies over the besieged city of Jaffna in Sri Lanka o ...

. Indian forces landed in Sri Lanka on July 29 with the signing of the

Indo-Sri-Lankan accord The Indo-Sri Lanka Peace Accord was an accord signed in Colombo on 29 July 1987, between Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Sri Lankan President J. R. Jayewardene. The accord was expected to resolve the Sri Lankan civil war, Sri Lankan Civ ...

. Silva retired on 31 October 1991 and was promoted to the rank of full admiral. He was succeeded by Clancy Fernando. During his long career in the navy he received the

Vishista Seva Vibhushanaya The Vishista Seva Vibhushanaya (VSV, Distinguished Service Order) ( Sinhala: විශිෂ්ට සේවා විභූෂණය ''viṣiṣta sēvā vibhūṣaṇaya'') is awarded to senior officers of the Military of Sri Lanka in recognit ...

, the

Ceylon Armed Services Long Service Medal The Ceylon Armed Services Long Service Medal ( Sinhala: සන්නද්ධ සේවා දීර්ඝ සේවා පදක්කම ''ārakśaka sēvā dhīrgha sēvā padakkama'') was a service medal of Ceylon from 1968 to 1972. It was gr ...

Sri Lanka Armed Services Long Service Medal __NOTOC__ The Sri Lanka Armed Services Long Service Medal ( Sinhala: ශ්‍රී ලංකා සන්නද්ධ සේවා දීර්ඝ සේවා පදක්කම ''Śrī Laṃkā ārakśaka sēvā dhīrgha sēvā padakkama'') i ...

Republic of Sri Lanka Armed Services Medal The Republic of Sri Lanka Armed Services Medal was awarded to members of the regular and volunteer forces of the Military of Sri Lanka who were in service on 22 May 1972, subject to recommendation by the commanders of the respective service co ...

Ceylon Armed Services Inauguration Medal The Ceylon Armed Services Inauguration Medal was awarded to members of the Ceylon armed services who served within their specific service branch during periods in 1949-1951 when their service branch was established: *Ceylon Army (10 October 1949 ...

President's Inauguration Medal __NOTOC__ The President's Inauguration Medal ( Sinhala: ජනාධිපති ධූරප්‍රාප්ත පදක්කම ''janādhipathi dhūraprāptha padakkama'') was a decoration of the Military of Sri Lanka, granted to all regula ...

and the

Vadamarachchi Operation Medal The Vadamarachchi Operation Medal ( Sinhala: වඩමාරච්චි මෙහෙයුම් පදක්කම ''vadamārachchi meheyum padakkama'') was a campaign medal presented to all ranks of the regular and volunteer forces of the Mi ...

Republic of Sri Lanka Armed Services ribbon bar

Vadamarachchi Operation Medal ribbon bar

Ceylon Armed Services Long Service Medal ribbon bar

Sri Lanka Armed Services Long Service Medal ribbon bar

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Silva, H. A. 1936 births 1999 deaths Commanders of the Navy (Sri Lanka) Sri Lankan vice admirals Graduates of Britannia Royal Naval College Graduates of the Royal Naval College, Greenwich Alumni of S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia Sinhalese military personnel National Defence College, India alumni Defence Services Staff College alumni