INS Virbahu is an

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 ...

submarine base A submarine base is a military base that shelters submarines and their personnel. Examples of present-day submarine bases include HMNB Clyde, Île Longue (the base for France's Force océanique stratégique), Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, N ...

of the

Eastern Naval Command The Eastern Naval Command is one of the three command-level formations of the Indian Navy. It is headquartered in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. The command is responsible for the all naval forces in the Bay of Bengal and parts of the Indian Ocea ...

located near

Visakhapatnam Visakhapatnam (; List of renamed places in India, formerly known as Vizagapatam, and also referred to as Vizag, Visakha, and Waltair) is the largest and most populous metropolitan city in the States and union territories of India, Indian stat ...

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (ISO 15919, ISO: , , AP) is a States and union territories of India, state on the East Coast of India, east coast of southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, seventh-largest state and th ...

History

INS Virbahu was commissioned as the shore support base for submarines on 19 May 1971. Initially, the 8th Submarine Squadron of Vela-class submarines was based here. The

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 ...

INS Virbahu was also designated as the

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 ...

Submarines, 8th Submarine Squadron. However, with the induction of the Sindhughosh class submarines, the 11th Submarine Squadron was established. As two Submarine Squadrons with eight submarines were based at Visakhapatnam, the scope of responsibility of the Commanding Officer, INS Virbahu, increased. The submarines were then placed under the control of Captain Submarines, 8th and 11th Submarine Squadron. With the increase of the number and type of submarines the operational authority of Submarine Squadrons was elevated from Captain Submarines to Commodore Submarines in April 1990. Since, the appointment of the Commodore Submarines had a command responsibility towards the submarines the appointment was thus re-christened as

Commodore Commanding Submarines (East) The Commodore Commanding Submarines (East) is an operational appointment in the Indian Navy. The COMCOS (E) is the commander of the all submarines and allied units of Eastern Naval Command. Based in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, the COMCOS is also ...

in Jun 1997. Though, all training, maintenance, operational and logistic matters pertaining to submarines were initially dealt by Virbahu, as the Submarine Arm expanded, the training role was taken over by INS Satavahana and the Class Authority functions by Submarine Headquarters. But the attachment to the old Alma Mater persists and Virbahu continues to be regarded as the 'Home of the Dolphins' even today.

Objective

The role of INS Virbahu is to provide administrative and logistic support to the 8th and 11th Submarine Squadrons. It also provides accommodation, messing, welfare and recreational facilities to the crews of submarines. INS Virbahu is the seat of the

(COMCOS (W)). The COMCOS is also the commanding officer of the base.

References

{{coord, 17, 41, 58.9, N, 83, 16, 14.3, E, scale:10000_region:IN, display=title Virbahu

History

Objective

See also

References