Commodore is a one-star rank in the

Indian Navy The Indian Navy is the maritime branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. The Chief of Naval Staff, a four-star admiral, commands the navy. As a blue-water navy, it operates sig ...

. Commodore ranks above the rank of

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

and below the

two-star rank An officer of two-star rank is a senior commander in many of the armed services holding a rank described by the NATO code of OF-7. The term is also used by some armed forces which are not NATO members. Typically, two-star officers hold the rank ...

rear admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star "admiral" rank. It is often regarde ...

. The equivalent rank in the

Indian Army The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four- ...

brigadier Brigadier is a military rank, the seniority of which depends on the country. In some countries, it is a senior rank above colonel, equivalent to a brigadier general or commodore, typically commanding a brigade of several thousand soldiers. In ...

and in the

Indian Air Force The Indian Air Force (IAF) is the air arm of the Indian Armed Forces. Its complement of personnel and aircraft assets ranks third amongst the air forces of the world. Its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial w ...

is air commodore. Rear_Admiral_Philipose_George_Pynumootil

History

After the

Independence of India The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British rule in India. It lasted from 1857 to 1947. The first nationalistic revolutionary movement for Indian independence emerged ...

, Captain

Ajitendu Chakraverti Rear Admiral Ajitendu Chakraverti was a Flag Officer in the Indian Navy. He served as the second Indian Flag Officer Commanding Indian Fleet, succeeding Rear Admiral Ram Dass Katari. He was the first Indian to be promoted to the high rank of Co ...

was the first Indian to be promoted to the rank of commodore, when he took over as the officiating Chief of Staff at Naval Headquarters.

Appointments

Officers in the rank of commodore hold important appointments like Commodore Commanding Submarines (COMCOS). The command and control of all submarines with 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

Eastern Eastern may refer to: Transportation *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai *Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways *Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991 *Eastern Air Li ...

Naval Commands resides with the COMCOS. The COMCOS (West) and COMCOS (East) report into the FOC-in-C of their respective commands. Officers in the rank of commodore serve as

commanding officer The commanding officer (CO) 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 given wide latitu ...

s of shore establishments like

INS Hansa INS Hansa, is an Indian naval air station located near Dabolim in Goa, India. Data current as of October 2006. It is India's biggest naval airbase. The military air base has a civil enclave, that operates as Dabolim Airport. History ''INS ...

INS Shivaji INS Shivaji is an Indian naval station located in Lonavala, Maharashtra, India. It houses the Naval College of Engineering which trains officers of the Indian Navy and the Indian Coast Guard. It was commissioned on 15 February 1945 as HMIS Shiva ...

, etc. Commodores also fill appointments of naval officer-in-charge (NOIC) of naval areas. The

naval attaché A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It include ...

s and naval advisors at India's high commissions and embassies in select countries are officers of the rank of commodore. At Naval headquarters, commodores hold the appointments of principal directors of directorates and branches.

Insignia

The pennant of a Commodore has a horizontal red stripe and a vertical red stripe intersecting at the centre. On top of the intersection is superimposed a navy-blue

Ashoka Chakra Ashoka (, ; also ''Asoka''; 304 – 232 BCE), popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was the third emperor of the Maurya Empire of Indian subcontinent during to 232 BCE. His empire covered a large part of the Indian subcontinent, ...

with the upper canton next to the staff containing one red roundel. The badge of rank consists of a band of gold lace, with a circle of lace above. A commodore wears

gorget patches Gorget patches (collar tabs, collar patches) are an insignia in the form of paired patches of cloth or metal on the collar of a uniform (gorget), used in the military and civil service in some countries. Collar tabs sign the military rank (group of ...

which are golden patches with one white star. In addition to this, the double-breasted

reefer jacket A pea coat (or peacoat, pea jacket, pilot jacket, reefer jacket) is an outer coat, generally of a navy-coloured heavy wool, originally worn by sailors of European and later American navies. Pea coats are characterized by short length, broad lap ...

has one broad golden sleeve stripe with a circle above.

Pay scale

Commodores are at pay level 13A, with a monthly pay between ₹139,600 and ₹217,600 with a monthly service pay of ₹15,500.

Famous Indian commodores

* Arogyaswami Paulraj -

Electrical engineer Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

and inventor

Rank insignia and personal flag

File:British_Royal_Navy_(sleeves)_OF-6.svg, Indian Navy commodore sleeve insignia File:11-Indian_Navy-CDRE.svg, Indian Navy commodore shoulder board File:Commodore_of_the_Indian_Navy_rank_flag.svg, Indian Navy commodore flag

References

Bibliography

* {{Indian Navy India Navy Indian Navy Military ranks of the Indian Navy One-star officers