Robin K Dhowan takes over as Chief of Staff of Indian Navy
17 Apr 2014
Admiral Robin K Dhowan has taken over as Chief of Staff of the Indian Navy, nearly two months after Adm D K Joshi quit as naval chief in the wake of a series of mishaps involving naval vessels.
Adm Dhowan, 59, who has been the acting Navy Chief since Joshi's exit, will have a tenure of 25 months, and will retire in May 2016.
Adm Joshi resigned on 26 February following the mishap involving submarine INS Sindhuratna in which two Navy officers were killed and several others were injured.
In August last year, submarine INS Sindhurakshak sank at the Naval Dockyard in Mumbai, killing 18 personnel on board.
Adm Dhowan supersedes Vice Admiral Shekhar Sinha of the Western Naval Command, who the senior-most officer.
Adm Sinha was edged out of the race, apparently because majority of the 14 mishaps, including two major submarine accidents, that took place in the Western Command during the last 10 months.
Adm Dhowan PVSM, AVSM, YSM, ADC, was commissioned in the Indian Navy on 1 January 1975. He is a navigation and direction specialist who has served with distinction in the command, staff and instructional appointments through his exemplary career spanning 40 years.
He is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy, Defence Services Staff College and Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island, USA.
He has commanded frontline warships INS Khukri, INS Ranjit, INS Delhi and served as Chief Staff Officer (Operations) Headquarters Western Naval Command and has also served as Indian Naval Adviser at the High Commission of India, London.
Adm Dhowan has commanded the Eastern Fleet as Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet and served as Chief of Staff at Headquarters Eastern Naval Command, Visakhapatnam. He also has the distinction of commanding the prestigious 'National Defence Academy', his alma mater as the Commandant.
Other staff appointments held by the Admiral at Naval Headquarters are Assistant Chief of the Naval Staff (Policy and plans), Deputy Chief of Naval Staff and Vice Chief of Naval Staff.
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