Vice Admiral M A Hampiholi, AVSM, NM is a serving flag officer in the Indian Navy. He currently serves as the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Southern Naval Command. Previously, he served as the

Commandant of Indian Naval Academy The Commandant of the Indian Naval Academy is the head and in-charge of all the functioning of the Indian Naval Academy. The Commandant of the Academy is a Three-star rank officer holding the rank of Vice Admiral. He is supported by the Deputy C ...

and served as the Director General Naval Operations (DGNO) at Naval headquarters.

Early life

Hampiholi was born in Dharwad in Karnataka. He attended the

Sainik School, Bijapur Sainik School Bijapur is one of the 25 Sainik Schools of India. The Bijapur Sainik School was established by the government of India in 1963. The school prepares boys to join the armed forces. The school has contributed about 600 officers. Sai ...

. He graduated from the National Defence Academy in 1983 with the President's Gold Medal.

Naval career

Hampiholi was commissioned into the Indian Navy in the Executive branch on 1 July 1985. He is a specialist in Anti-submarine warfare. He has completed the staff course at the Defence Services Staff College (DSSC) in Wellington Cantonment and the higher command course at the

Naval War College, Goa The Naval War College (NWC) is a premier training institution of the Indian Navy, located in Goa. The college aims at developing leadership qualities of the officers of the Indian Armed Forces at the strategic and operational level. It is one of th ...

. He has also attended the National Defence College, New Delhi. In the early years of his career, he served as an ASW specialist aboard the Nilgiri-class

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied somewhat. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and ...

, the

Abhay-class corvette The ''Abhay''-class corvettes of the Indian Navy are the customised variants of the Soviet s. The class was primarily intended for coastal patrol and anti-submarine warfare. Last ship of the class is expected to be decommissioned till 2025. De ...

and the

Godavari-class frigate The ''Godavari''-class frigates (formerly Type 16 or Project 16 frigates) were guided-missile frigates of the Indian Navy. The ''Godavari'' class was the first significant indigenous warship design and development initiative of the Indian Nav ...

. Hampiholi has commanded the Veer-class missile vessel , the Magar-class amphibious warfare vessel and the Talwar-class

guided missile frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied somewhat. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and ...

. He has also served as the

Second-in-command Second-in-command (2i/c or 2IC) is a title denoting that the holder of the title is the second-highest authority within a certain organisation. Usage In the British Army or Royal Marines, the second-in-command is the deputy commander of a unit, ...

of the

Khukri-class corvette The ''Khukri''-class corvette is a class of corvettes intended to replace the ageing Petya II-class corvettes of the Indian Navy. The first two were ordered in December 1983 and the remaining in 1985. Around 65% of the ship contains indigen ...

. During his command of INS Talwar, he was conferred the Nausena Medal (Devotion to Duty). He also commanded the National Coast Guard of Mauritius from 2003 to 2005. From June 2007 to June 2009, Hampiholi served as the Commandant of the Naval Academy and the Commanding Officer of Naval base INS Mandovi. He has tenanted the instructional appointments of Instructor at the Anti Submarine Warfare School, Kochi and that of Senior Directing Staff at the

. Hampiholi, in his staff appointments, has served as the Joint Director of Personnel at Naval HQ, Naval Assistant to the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief

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 ...

. He also served as the Principal Director Staff Requirements at Naval HQ.

Flag rank

On promotion to Flag Rank, Hampiholi took over as the Assistant Chief of Naval Staff (Human Resource Development). He then assumed the office of Flag Officer Sea Training (FOST) at Kochi. As FOST, his charter included the conduct of the operational sea training of all ships of the Indian Navy and the Indian Coast Guard. On 22 January 2018, Hampiholi assumed the office of the Flag Officer Commanding Western Fleet. For his command of the Western Fleet, Hampiholi was awarded the

Ati Vishisht Seva Medal Ati Vishisht Seva Medal (AVSM) is a military award of India given to recognize "distinguished service of an exceptional order" to all ranks of the armed forces. The award is a peacetime equivalent of Uttam Yuddh Seva Medal, which is a Wartime Dis ...

on 26 January 2019. Hampiholi took over as the Director General Naval Operations on promotion to the rank of Vice Admiral on 27 March 2019. On 27 July 2020, he assumed office as the

Awards and decorations

Gallery

File:Vice Admiral Anil Kumar Chawla handing over the charge of SNC to Vice Admiral M A Hampiholi.jpg, Vice Admiral

Anil Kumar Chawla Vice Admiral Anil Kumar Chawla, PVSM, AVSM, NM, VSM, ADC is a retired Indian Navy officer, who served as Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Southern Naval Command The Southern Naval Command is one of the three command-level formations of t ...

handing over the charge of Southern Naval Command to Vice Admiral M A Hampiholi. File:Rear Admiral MA Hampiholi, Flag Officer Commander Western Fleet, at Varuna 2018.jpg, RAdm Hampiholi as FOCWF during Ex Varuna 2018

References