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 ...

Ravi Kumar Dhingra, VSM (born 25 July 1970) 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 Flag Officer Commanding Tamil Nadu & Puducherry Naval Area. A submariner, he earlier served as the Commodore Commanding Submarines (West).

Naval career

54th_Submarine_Day_commemorated_at_Western_Naval_Command_01

Dhingra graduated from the

National Defence Academy The National Defence Academy (NDA) is the joint defence service training institute of the Indian Armed Forces. Here, cadets of the Indian Army, Indian Navy, and Indian Air Force train together before they go on to their respective service a ...

, Khadakwasla and was commissioned into the

on 1 January 1992. He joined the submarine arm in 1994 and is a specialist in Navigation and Direction. After his specialisation, he served as the Navigating Officer of the Vela-class submarine and the

Sindhughosh-class submarine ''Sindhughosh''-class () submarines are diesel-electric submarines in active service with the Indian Navy. Their names are in Sanskrit, but in their Roman-alphabet forms sometimes a final short ''-a'' is dropped. The ''Sindhughosh'' submarine ...

. Dhingra 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 has a Masters in Defence and Strategic Studies and an M.Phil in Strategic Studies from the

University of Mumbai University of Mumbai is a public state university in Mumbai. It is one of the largest university systems in the world with over 549,000 students on its campuses and affiliated colleges. , the university had 711 affiliated colleges. It was est ...

. In his staff appointments, Dhingra has served as Staff Officer (Operations) and Commander Submarines at the

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 ...

INS Vajrabahu INS Vajrabahu is an Indian Navy submarine base of the Western Naval Command located near Mumbai in Maharashtra. It was commissioned on 1 February 1996. History After the Indian Navy acquired the Vela class submarines in 1973 from the Soviet Un ...

. Dhingra has commanded the Vela-class submarine . He served as the

executive officer An executive officer is a person who is principally responsible for leading all or part of an organization, although the exact nature of the role varies depending on the organization. In many militaries and police forces, an executive officer ...

of the

. He subsequently commanded her sister-boat . Dhingra also commanded the Godavari-class

guided missile frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and maneuvera ...

. During his command tenure, ''Gomati'' was adjudged the 'Most Spirited Ship' of the Western Fleet in 2018. For his command of ''Gomati'', he was awarded the

Vishisht Seva Medal The Vishisht Seva Medal (VSM, ) is a decoration of the Indian Armed Forces. It is awarded to recognize "distinguished service of a high order" to all ranks of the Indian Armed Forces. From 1980, the Yudh Seva Medal was introduced to recognize ex ...

on 26 January 2019. 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 ' ...

, Dhingra was appointed Commodore Commanding Submarines (West) (COMCOS (W)). As COMCOS, he also dual-hatted as 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 ...

, and commanded the 10th submarine squadron and the 11th submarine squadron. He subsequently served as the Principal Director Submarine Operations at naval headquarters.

Flag rank

Dhingra was promoted to flag rank and was appointed Flag Officer Commanding Tamil Nadu & Puducherry Naval Area (FOTNA). As FOTNA, he is responsible for the operations and administration of all units and establishments in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.

Awards and decorations

Dhingra was awarded the

in 2019 and the Chief of the Naval Staff Commendation Card in 2004.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dhingra, Ravi Kumar Indian Navy rear admirals Living people Defence Services Staff College alumni National Defence Academy (India) alumni Indian submarine commanders 1964 births Flag Officers Commanding Tamil Nadu & Puducherry Naval Area

Naval career

Flag rank

Awards and decorations

See also

References