Ministry of Defence28-February, 2006 17:32 IST
New Flag Appointments in the Navy
Vice Admiral Sangram Singh Byce, PVSM, AVSM, NM, takes over as the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Western Naval Command today consequent to the retirement of Vice Admiral Madanjit Singh. An anti-submarine warfare specialist, he was commissioned into the Indian Navy on 01 Jan 1969 and is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy, Khadakwasla.. During the 1971 operation against Pakistan, he commanded INS Subhadra, which participated in the operations on the western seaboard. During these operations, he was awarded 'Mention- in-Dispatches' for gallantry.

Besides the command of Subhadra, the Admiral has to his credit the command of INS Ghorpad, a Landing Ship Tank, INS Trishul, a guided Missile Frigate and INS Ranjit, a Guided Missile Destroyer. As the Joint Director of Naval Operations at Naval Headquarters, he was responsible for the planning, co-ordination and conduct of operation 'CACTUS' in the Maldives in 1988.

During this period, he was also responsible for co-ordinaton of Ops Pawan in SriLanka. For excellence in Op planning, the officer was awarded Nao Sena Medal (Devotion to Duty).

On elevation to Flag rank the Admiral has held the appointment of Flag Officer Sea Training, Flag Officer Commanding Western Fleet and Chief of Staff, Western Naval Command. During his tenure as the Fleet Commander, the Flag Officer planned and co-ordinated events connected with International Fleet Review 2001. On promotion to the rank of Vice Admiral, the Flag Officer took over as the Deputy Chief of Integrated Defence Staff (Operations) at Headquarters Integrated Defence Staff in Jan 2003. Subsequently, he assumed the office of Deputy Chief of Integrated Defence Staff (Policy, Planning and Force Development) on 01 Dec 03.

Vice Admiral Arun Kumar Singh takes over as Commander-in-Chief of the tri-services Andaman and Nicobar Command. Commissioned on 01 Jan 69, he joined the submarine arm of the Indian Navy and served on various submarines, the Submarine Base INS Virbahu and Submarine School INS Satvahana.

As a Commander and Captain, he has commanded submarines, ships and submarine squadrons (including command of the first Kilo class submarines squadron in 1988) and the submarine base INS Virbahu. He was also served in Sri Lanka during OPS PAWAN (1988). As a Commodore, the officer served as Director of Tactics and Director of Submarine Operations at NHQ. After promotion to Rear Admiral in Oct 96, the Flag Officer held the dual hatted appointments of ACNS (Submarines) and Flag Officer Submarine. As ACNS (SM), he authored the 30-year submarine construction plan and was responsible for modernization of the submarine force. As Fleet Commander (2000- 01), he led the largest ever-overseas deployment of ships and submarines to South East Asia and the Far East and conducted exercises with various navies in Sep - Oct 2000. As Vice Admiral, he took over the appointment of Director General Coast Guard on 20 Aug 04. He had the privilege of witnessing the first Indian Coast Guard - Sri Lankan Navy joint exercise off Colombo in Dec 2004 and the first Indian Coast Guard - Korea Coast Guard joint exercise off Busan in Nov 05. He also directed the Indian Coast Guard rescue and relief operations in India and Sri Lanka and Maldives after the tsunami disaster of 26 Dec 2004. He signed the "Communication Link" MoU with DG Pakistan MSA at Islamabad on 03 Oct 05.

The Flag Officer has undergone the Long Navigation Direction Course (Kochi), Nuclear Submarine and Missile Course (Russia) and is an alumnus of the Defence Services Staff College (Wellington), the College of Naval Warfare (Mumbai), and the National Defence College (New Delhi). He is a recipient of the Param Vishist Seva Medal, Ati Vishist Seva Medal and Nau Sena Medal.

VG/AK
(Release ID :16031)