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 ...

Susheel Menon, VSM 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 Eastern Fleet. He earlier served as the Flag Officer Sea Training and commanded 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 ...

from 2021 to 2023.

Naval career

Menon was commissioned into the

on 1 July 1992. He is a specialist in Gunnery and was adjudged the Best All Round Officer at the Gunnery School INS Dronacharya. He spent his early years on board the

Pondicherry-class minesweeper The ''Pondicherry'' class are a class of minesweepers built for the Indian Navy by the Soviet Union. They are modified versions of the . The vessels were acquired in two batches. The first were purchased from 1977 to 1980 and the second from 198 ...

INS Kakinada as the Gunnery Officer and was part of the commissioning crew of Magar-class amphibious warfare vessel . He then commanded the Astravahini-class torpedo recovery vessel IN TRV-71. After his gunnery specialisation, Menon served as the as Gunnery Officer of the

Rajput-class destroyer The ''Rajput''-class guided-missile destroyers built for the Indian Navy are modified versions of Soviet s. They are also known as the Kashin-II class. The ships were built in the former Soviet Union after considerable Indian design modificatio ...

and the Talwar-class frigate as commissioning crew. In 2006, Menon attended the staff course at the Naval Command and Staff College, Jakarta in Indonesia. After the course, he was appointed Fleet Gunnery Officer of the Western Fleet. He then moved to Naval headquarters and served as a Joint Director in the Personnel branch. In 2010, he took over 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 Delhi-class

guided missile destroyer A guided-missile destroyer (DDG) is a destroyer whose primary armament is guided missiles so they can provide anti-aircraft warfare screening for the fleet. The NATO standard designation for these vessels is DDG, while destroyers which have a pr ...

. In 2011, Menon was appointed

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 Khukri-class corvette . After about eighteen months in command of ''Kirpan'', he attended the Higher Command Course at the

Naval War College The Naval War College (NWC or NAVWARCOL) is the staff college and "Home of Thought" for the United States Navy at Naval Station Newport in Newport, Rhode Island. The NWC educates and develops leaders, supports defining the future Navy and associa ...

Newport, Rhode Island Newport is a seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Rhode Island, United States. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, and nort ...

in the USA. After completing the course, he returned to India and was appointed

Directing staff Military education and training is a process which intends to establish and improve the capabilities of military personnel in their respective roles. Military training may be voluntary or compulsory duty. It begins with recruit training, proceed ...

at the Naval War College, Goa. He subsequently was appointed Naval assistant to the Vice Chief of the Naval Staff. Menon took over as the commanding officer of the

lead ship The lead ship, name ship, or class leader is the first of a series or class of ships that are all constructed according to the same general design. The term is applicable to naval ships and large civilian vessels. Large ships are very comple ...

of her-class of

guided-missile destroyer A guided-missile destroyer (DDG) is a destroyer whose primary armament is guided missiles so they can provide anti-aircraft warfare screening for the fleet. The NATO standard designation for these vessels is DDG, while destroyers which have a pr ...

s . For his command of ''Kolkata'', 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. In the rank of

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 ' ...

, he served as Commodore (Operations) at HQ

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 ...

and as Commodore (Strategy, Concepts and Transformation) at Naval headquarters. In December 2021, Menon took over as the 7th

of the

Flag rank

Menon was promoted to flag rank in May 2023 and was appointed Flag Officer Sea Training (FOST) at Kochi. As FOST, his charter included the conduct of the operational sea training of all ships of the

and the

Indian Coast Guard The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) is a maritime law enforcement and search and rescue agency of India with jurisdiction over its territorial waters including its contiguous zone and Exclusive economic zone of India, exclusive economic zone. It was st ...

. On 21 August 2024, he took over as the 48th Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet from Rear Admiral Rajesh Dhankhar.

Awards and decorations

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dhankhar, Rajesh Indian Navy rear admirals Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Flag Officers Sea Training Academic staff of Naval War College, Goa Recipients of the Vishisht Seva Medal Naval War College alumni National Defence Academy (India) alumni

Naval career

Flag rank

Awards and decorations

See also

References