Flag Officer Commanding Western Fleet (FOCWF) is the title of 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 ...

Officer who commands the

Western Fleet The Red Sea Fleet Command or officially Western Fleet (WF), also called ''" West Coast Fleet ",'' is a regional naval fleet and one of the two main formations of the Saudi Arabian Navy, with headquarters at Royal Naval Base at Jeddah, Western Pr ...

, headquartered in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

. The FOCWF is a

two star Two star, two stars and similar may refer to: * A grading of a hotel, restaurant, film, etc. in a star (classification) scheme * Two star petrol, a class of Leaded petrol formerly sold in the UK * Two-star rank, a senior military rank * Two-Handed ...

admiral holding the rank of

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 appointment is considered to be an important and a coveted one. The Current FOCWF is Rear Admiral

Vineet McCarty, who assumed office on 15 November 2022.

History

After the

independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...

and the

partition of India The Partition of British India in 1947 was the Partition (politics), change of political borders and the division of other assets that accompanied the dissolution of the British Raj in South Asia and the creation of two independent dominions: ...

on 15 August 1947, the ships and personnel of the

Royal Indian Navy The Royal Indian Navy (RIN) was the naval force of British India and the Dominion of India. Along with the Presidency armies, later the Indian Army, and from 1932 the Royal Indian Air Force, it was one of the Armed Forces of British India. Fr ...

were divided between the

Dominion of India The Dominion of India, officially the Union of India,* Quote: “The first collective use (of the word "dominion") occurred at the Colonial Conference (April to May 1907) when the title was conferred upon Canada and Australia. New Zealand and N ...

and the

Dominion of Pakistan Between 14 August 1947 and 23 March 1956, Pakistan was an independent federal dominion in the Commonwealth of Nations, created by the passing of the Indian Independence Act 1947 by the British parliament, which also created the Dominion of I ...

. The Chief of the Royal Indian Navy was designated ''Flag officer Commanding Royal Indian Navy (FOCRIN)''. Serving under him was the ''Commodore Commanding Indian Naval Squadron (COMINS)'', the precursor to the Fleet Commander. In 1951, the appointment was upgraded to

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 ...

and was designated ''Rear Admiral Commanding Indian Naval Squadron (RACINS)''. In 1952, with the increase in number of naval vessels, the appointment was designated ''Flag Officer (Flotillas) Indian Fleet (FOFIF)'' and ''Flag Officer Commanding Indian Fleet (FOCIF)'' in 1957. With the establishment of the

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 ...

on 1 March 1968, the Indian Fleet was renamed as the Western Fleet and the Commander was designated Flag Officer Commanding Western Fleet (FOCWF). The designations over time: * 1947 - 1951 - Commodore Commanding Indian Naval Squadron (COMINS) * 1951 - 1952 - Rear Admiral Commanding Indian Naval Squadron (RACINS) * 1952 - 1957 - Flag Officer (Flotillas) Indian Fleet (FOFIF) * 1957 - 1968 - Flag Officer Commanding Indian Fleet (FOCIF) * 1968 – present - Flag Officer Commanding Western Fleet (FOCWF)

List of Commanders

References

{{Indian Navy Indian Navy Indian military appointments Indian Navy appointments

History

List of Commanders

See also

References