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 ...

Surinder Pal Singh Cheema

PVSM Param Vishisht Seva Medal (PVSM) (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: , ) is a Military awards and decorations, military award of India. It is the highest peacetime medal of the Indian Armed Forces, and is awarded for "dist ...

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 a former 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 last served as Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

and

Southern Naval Command The Southern Naval Command is one of the three, command-level formations of the Indian Navy. Southern Naval Command is the largest naval command in India and it has its headquarters in Kochi, Kerala at INS Venduruthy. It is the Training Comman ...

s. He also served as the

Commander-in-Chief, Strategic Forces Command The Commander-in-Chief, Strategic Forces Command is the head of the Strategic Forces Command, the integrated tri-service command responsible for the management and administration of India's tactical and strategic nuclear weapons stockpile. The ...

and the

Chief of Integrated Defence Staff The Chief of Integrated Defence Staff to Chairman Chiefs of Staff Committee (CISC) is the statutory office that heads the Integrated Defence Staff (IDS), the principal inter-service syndicate of the Indian Armed Forces. Customarily held by a t ...

to the

Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee The Chiefs of Staff Committee (COSC) is an administrative forum of the senior-most military leaders of the Indian Armed Forces, which advises the Government of India on all military and strategic matters deemed privy to military coordination, ...

. He retired from the service on 31 January 2016, after almost four decades of service.

Early life and education

Cheema attended the

Sainik School, Kunjpura Sainik School, Kunjpura in the state of Haryana, one of the first five Sainik Schools (military school) established in 1961 in India, is jointly operated by the Government of Haryana state and GoI's Ministry of Defence. It aims to prepare stude ...

. He then 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 Khadakwasla Dam is a dam on the Mutha River from the centre of the city of Pune in Maharashtra, India. The dam created a reservoir known as Khadakwasla Lake which is the main source of water for Pune and its suburbs. In the vicinity of Khadakw ...

and was commissioned into the Indian Navy on 1 January 1977.

Military career

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar addressing the members of media at the commissioning of INS Vajrkosh

Cheema is a missile and gunnery specialist. He was the

Commissioning Commissioning is a process or service provided to validate the completeness and accuracy of a project or venture. It may refer more specifically to: * Project commissioning, a process of assuring that all components of a facility are designed, in ...

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 the

Missile boat A missile boat or missile cutter is a small, fast warship armed with anti-ship missiles. Being smaller than other warships such as destroyers and frigates, missile boats are popular with nations interested in forming a navy at lower cost. They ...

and commanded the missile

corvette A corvette is a small warship. It is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper (or " rated") warship. The warship class above the corvette is that of the frigate, while the class below was historically that of the sloo ...

. He also commissioned the stealth

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 ...

as the commanding officer. He served as the 14th

of the

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 ...

. Ashore, he commanded the naval base INS Mandovi in Goa. 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 ...

(DSSC),

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 ...

where he was awarded the Lentaigne and Scudder Medals (for best dissertation and being "first in overall order of merit"). He also attended the College of Naval Warfare (CNW),

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

Flag Rank

As a

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 ...

, Cheema commanded the Western Fleet from 2008 to 2009. In his staff appointments, he served as the Controller Personnel Services at the Integrated Headquarters. He served as the Deputy Chief of Integrated Defence Staff (DCIDS) for Perspective Planning and Force Development (PP&FD) and for DOT in two different assignments. Apart from these, he served as the Chief of the Staff of

Western Naval Command The Western Naval Command is one of the three command–level formations of the Indian Navy. It is headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. As the senior–most of the three formations, the command is responsible for the all naval forces in the A ...

. After promotion to the rank of

, he served in four different appointments as a Commander-in-Chief since being promoted to C-in-C grade on 31 August 2012. He served as the FOC-in-C of

from 2014 to 2015;

;

to the

; and as lastly as the FOC-in-C of

. He also served as the

Commandant of Indian Naval Academy The Commandant of the Indian Naval Academy is the head and in-charge of all the functioning of the Indian Naval Academy. The commandant of the academy is a three-star rank officer holding the rank of vice admiral. He is supported by the deputy ...

. He retired on 31 January 2016, after four decades of service; Vice Admiral

Sunil Lanba Admiral Sunil Lanba, PVSM, AVSM, PJG, ADC (born 17 July 1957) is a retired Indian naval officer who served as the 23rd Chief of the Naval Staff of the Indian Navy. He assumed the office on 31 May 2016 after Admiral Robin K. Dhowan and demit ...

succeeded him as FOC-in-C of Western Naval Command.

Awards and decorations

Gallery

File:Admiral RK Dhowan being congratulated by SPS Cheema after taking over as new Chief of Naval Staff.JPG, Admiral RK Dhowan being congratulated by SPS Cheema after taking over as new Chief of Naval Staff File:Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, the Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral RK Dhowan and other dignitaries at the undocking of INS Kalvari.JPG, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, the Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral RK Dhowan and other dignitaries at the undocking of INS ''Kalvari'' File:Exchange of baton between Vice Admiral SPS Cheema and Vice Admiral Sunil Lanba.jpeg, Exchange of the baton between Vice Admiral SPS Cheema and Vice Admiral Sunil Lanba File:Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar and Vice Admiral SPS Cheema on board FNS Charles De Gaulle.jpg, Goa Chief Minister

Laxmikant Parsekar Laxmikant Yashwant Parsekar (born 4 July 1956) is an Indian politician who served as the Chief Minister of Goa, from 2014 to 2017. He was the member of the Goa Legislative Assembly from Mandrem constituency, and he belonged to the Bharatiya J ...

and Vice Admiral SPS Cheema onboard FNS ''Charles De Gaulle'' File:Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar, Vice Admiral SPS Cheema, and Indian and French naval personnel on board aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle.jpg, Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar, Vice Admiral SPS Cheema, and Indian and French naval personnel onboard aircraft carrier ''Charles de Gaulle'' File:Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel on board INS Kolkata.jpg, Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel onboard INS ''Kolkata'' File:Maharashtra Governor C. Vidyasagar Rao during his visit to INS Shishumar.jpg, C. Vidyasagar Rao, Governor of Maharashtra, during his visit to INS ''Shishumar''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cheema, Surinder Pal Singh Indian Navy vice admirals Flag Officers Commanding Western Fleet Living people Place of birth missing (living people) Year of birth missing (living people) Recipients of the Param Vishisht Seva Medal Commandants of the Indian Naval Academy Recipients of the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal Recipients of the Nau Sena Medal Defence Services Staff College alumni Naval War College, Goa alumni Commanders-in-Chief, Strategic Forces Command