Saeed Mohammad Khan (1 October 1935 – 4 December 2022), was a

Pakistan Navy The Pakistan Navy (PN) (; ''romanized'': Pākistān Bahrí'a; ) is the naval warfare branch of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The Chief of the Naval Staff, a four-star admiral, commands the navy and is a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Com ...

officer who served as the 12th Chief of Naval Staff (CNS) of the Pakistan Navy from 9 November 1991 until retiring from his military service on 9 November 1994. After his retirement, he served as the Pakistan Ambassador to the Netherlands, having been appointed by

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Benazir Bhutto Benazir Bhutto (21 June 1953 – 27 December 2007) was a Pakistani politician who served as the 11th prime minister of Pakistan from 1988 to 1990, and again from 1993 to 1996. She was also the first woman elected to head a democratic governmen ...

in the 1990s.

Biography

Naval career

Saeed Mohammad Khan was born on 1 October 1935 in

Bhopal Bhopal (; ISO 15919, ISO: Bhōpāl, ) is the capital (political), capital city of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh and the administrative headquarters of both Bhopal district and Bhopal division. It is known as the ''City of Lakes,'' due to ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

. His family

emigrated Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanentl ...

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

following the partition of India in 1947, and settled in

Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

, Pakistan. In 1954, he was commissioned as

Midshipman A midshipman is an officer of the lowest Military rank#Subordinate/student officer, rank in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Royal Cana ...

in the Operations Branch of the

and was sent to the United Kingdom to be trained at as a navigation specialist. Upon his return in 1958, he was promoted as sub-lieutenant in the Navy and served aboard PNS ''Tariq'' in gunnery. In the 1960s, he was 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 ...

of PNS ''Tariq'' and participated in the second war with India in 1965 and then in the third war with India in 1971 as an

artillery Artillery consists of ranged weapons that launch Ammunition, munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during sieges, and l ...

specialist and earned a nickname "Beast of the Sea" by his superiors.

Staff appointments and Chief of naval staff

His career in the Navy progressed well and was the Flag Officer Sea Training of

from 1980–84 as

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 ...

. In 1984,

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 vic ...

Khan was appointed Commander of Pakistan Fleet (COMPAK) and eventually appointed Vice Chief of Naval Staff (VCNS) under Admiral Yastur-ul-Haq Malik, the Chief of Naval Staff. As VCNS, Vice-Admiral Khan was responsible for the naval warfare exercise and command structure of the Navy. After the death and state funeral of President

Zia-ul-Haq Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq (12 August 192417 August 1988) was a Pakistani military officer and statesman who served as the sixth president of Pakistan from 1978 until his death in an airplane crash in 1988. He also served as the second chief of ...

, Vice-Admiral Khan supported then- Chief of Army Staff General Mirza Aslam Beg's decision for holding the

general elections A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. General elections ...

that saw the electoral victory of

and the

Pakistan Peoples Party The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) is a political party in Pakistan and one of the three major List of political parties in Pakistan, Pakistani political parties alongside the Pakistan Muslim League (N) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. With a Cent ...

to form the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

. Vice-Admiral Khan was later appointed chairman of

Pakistan National Shipping Corporation The Pakistan National Shipping Corporation (PNSC) is a Pakistani national flag carrier headquartered in Karachi. The corporation is principally engaged in the business of shipping, including charter of vessels, transportation of cargo and prov ...

(PNSC) which he led from 11 November 1988 until 13 December 1990. Vice-Admiral Khan was promoted to four-star rank on 11 August 1991 by

Benazir Bhutto. However, he was elevated as the Chief of Naval Staff when Admiral Malik left the command to him on 8 November 1991. It was during his stint as naval chief when the

Pressler amendment Pressler (or Preßler) () is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Johann Valentin Pressler (or Bressler) - Immigrant from the German Palatine during the Palatine Migration of 1709. Variants of the surname among his descend ...

came in effect that ultimately led to the military embargo on Pakistan and Navy lost eight of his surface ships that were to be returned to the United States in the 1990s. However, he successfully negotiated with

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 ...

First Sea Lord First Sea Lord, officially known as First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff (1SL/CNS), is the title of a statutory position in the British Armed Forces, held by an Admiral (Royal Navy), admiral or a General (United Kingdom), general of the ...

Julian Oswald who helped him close a deal with the

British government His Majesty's Government, abbreviated to HM Government or otherwise UK Government, is the central government, central executive authority of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

to sell the fleet of

Type 21 frigate The Type 21 frigate, or ''Amazon''-class frigate, was a British Royal Navy general-purpose escort that was designed in the late 1960s, built in the 1970s and served throughout the 1980s into the 1990s. Development In the mid-1960s, the Royal Na ...

s to Pakistan. This eventually resulted in commissioning the s in the 1990s. In an interview with ''Times Now'' an Urdu-language political correspondent, he ultimately warned of

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 ...

's expansion into the

blue-water navy A blue-water navy is a Navy, maritime force capable of operating globally, essentially across the deep waters of open oceans. While definitions of what actually constitutes such a force vary, there is a requirement for the ability to exercise Co ...

in order to establish the "

Greater India Greater India, also known as the Indian cultural sphere, or the Indic world, is an area composed of several countries and regions in South Asia, East Asia and Southeast Asia that were historically influenced by Indian culture, which itself ...

." In 1994, Admiral Khan is said to have recommended against acquiring the designs and development of the ''Agosta 90Bravo''-class submarines in coordination with France over the British ''Upholder''-class submarine. His recommendations were bypassed by the government and the ''Agosta 90B''-class submarines were acquired and built in successive long years.

Ambassadorship and retirement

On 9 November 1994, Admiral Khan handed over the command to Admiral

Mansurul Haq Mansurul Haq (16 October 1937 – 21 February 2018) was a senior officer of the Pakistan Navy who was forcibly retired from his service in 1997 on the allegations leveled against him in the corruption and kickbacks resulting during the technol ...

who was tenuring as the chairman of PNSC who was appointed by the Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. After retirement from his military service, Admiral Saeed Khan was appointed the Pakistan Ambassador to the Netherlands where he tenured for four years before returning to Pakistan. Khan died on 4 December 2022, at the age of 87.

Awards and Decorations

Foreign decorations

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Khan, Saeed Mohammad 1935 births 2022 deaths Indian emigrants to Pakistan Pakistan Military Academy alumni Pakistani military personnel of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 Chiefs of Naval Staff (Pakistan) Ambassadors of Pakistan to the Netherlands Recipients of Nishan-e-Imtiaz Recipients of Hilal-i-Imtiaz Recipients of Sitara-i-Imtiaz Recipients of Sitara-e-Basalat People from Bhopal State