The Southern Naval Command is one of the three, command-level formations of 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 ...

. Southern Naval Command is the largest naval command in India and it has its headquarters in

Kochi Kochi ( , ), List of renamed Indian cities and states#Kerala, formerly known as Cochin ( ), is a major port city along the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea. It is part of the Ernakulam district, district of Ernakulam in the ...

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

at INS Venduruthy. It is the Training Command of the Indian Navy. The Command is commanded by a Three Star Flag Officer of the rank of

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 Vice ...

with the title Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Southern Command (FOC-in-C).

Vennam Srinivas,

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 ...

, NM is the current FOC-in-C SNC, who took over on 31 December 2023.

History

After the

independence Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state, in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the status of ...

and the

partition of India The partition of India in 1947 was the division of British India into two independent dominion states, the Dominion of India, Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan. The Union of India is today the Republic of India, and the Dominion of Paki ...

on 15 August 1947, the ships and personnel of the

Royal Indian Navy The Royal Indian Navy (RIN) was the naval force of British Raj, British India and the Dominion of India. Along with the Presidency armies, later the British Indian Army, Indian Army, and from 1932 the Royal Indian Air Force, it was one of the ...

were divided between the

Dominion of India The Dominion of India, officially the Union of India, * * was an independent dominion in the British Commonwealth of Nations existing between 15 August 1947 and 26 January 1950. Until its Indian independence movement, independence, India had be ...

and the

Dominion of Pakistan The Dominion of Pakistan, officially Pakistan, was an independent federal dominion in the British Commonwealth of Nations, which existed from 14 August 1947 to Pakistan Day, 23 March 1956. It was created by the passing of the Indian Independence ...

. The division of the ships was on the basis of two-thirds of the fleet to India, one third to Pakistan. The shore establishments on the southern coast were headed by the Commodore Cochin (COMCHIN), a one star appointment. The COMCHIN directly reported into the Chief of the Naval Staff. In 1967, the Goa Area was included under COMCHIN. On 1 March 1968, the Commodore Cochin (COMCHIN) was re-designated as Commodore Commanding Southern Naval Area (COMSOUTH). In August 1970, the appointment of COMSOUTH was upgraded to the

two-star rank Military star ranking is military terminology, used in mainly English speaking countries, to describe general and flag officers. Within NATO's armed forces, the stars are equal to OF-6–10. Star ranking One-star A one-star rank is usuall ...

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 re-designated Flag Officer Commanding Southern Naval Area (FOCSOUTH). This appointment was later upgraded, in October 1977, to the three star rank of

and re-designated Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Southern Naval Command (FOC-in-C SNC). On 1 July 1986, the Southern Naval Command was made the Training Command. All the training establishments were placed under the command as well as the responsibility of formulating and executing of training policy.

Area of responsibility

The Southern Naval Command and is commanded by the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief. The Southern Naval Command is the Training Command of Indian Navy and is responsible for the training of all its personnel, both officers as well as sailors, from basic to advance stages. It has subsidiary units from Jamnagar in Gujarat to Lonavala in Maharashtra, Goa and in Orissa but the majority of training units are in Kochi. The

Indian Naval Academy The Indian Naval Academy (INA or INA Ezhimala) is the Defense (military), defence service training establishment for officer cadre of the Indian Navy and the Indian Coast Guard, located in Ezhimala, Kannur district, Kerala. Situated between Ez ...

is also placed under the Southern Naval Command. Kavaratti Islands is the home to

INS Dweeprakshak INS Dweeprakshak is a naval base of the Southern Naval Command of the Indian Navy located on Kavaratti island in the Lakshadweep archipelago. It was commissioned on 30 April 2012. History The Indian Navy has deployed detachments to the Lakshad ...

, the main naval base of the Southern Naval Command in the

Lakshadweep Lakshadweep () is a union territory of India. It is an archipelago of 36 islands divided into three island subgroups: the Amindivi Islands in the north, the Laccadive Islands (separated from Amindivi roughly by the 11th parallel north), and th ...

islands.

Capabilities

The Southern Naval Command consists of a Flag Officer Sea Training (FOST), a training squadron, training establishments and bases, and land forces and survey ships. It has a naval air station, and a ship repair yard.

Organisation

The Southern Naval Command is organised as follows:

Naval Bases

Naval bases under Southern Naval Command are the following

List of Commanders

References

{{Indian Navy Indian Navy Commands of the Indian Navy