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

Indian Navy The Indian Navy (IN) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Navy, maritime and Amphibious warfare, amphibious branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. The Chief of the Naval Staff (India), Chief ...

Officer who commands the Western Fleet, headquartered in

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

. The FOCWF is a two star admiral holding the rank of

Rear Admiral Rear admiral is a flag officer rank used by English-speaking navies. In most European navies, the equivalent rank is called counter admiral. Rear admiral is usually immediately senior to commodore and immediately below vice admiral. It is ...

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

Rahul Vilas Gokhale, who assumed office on 23 August 2024.

History

After the

independence Independence is a condition of a 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 status of ...

and the

partition of India The partition of India in 1947 was the division of British India into two independent dominion states, the Dominion of India, Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan. The Union of India is today the Republic of India, and the Dominion of Paki ...

on 15 August 1947, the ships and personnel of the

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

were divided between the

Dominion of India The Dominion of India, officially the Union of India, * * was an independent dominion in the British Commonwealth of Nations existing between 15 August 1947 and 26 January 1950. Until its Indian independence movement, independence, India had be ...

and the

Dominion of Pakistan The Dominion of Pakistan, officially Pakistan, was an independent federal dominion in the British Commonwealth of Nations, which existed from 14 August 1947 to Pakistan Day, 23 March 1956. It was created by the passing of the Indian Independence ...

. 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 Military star ranking is military terminology, used in mainly English speaking countries, to describe general and flag officers. Within NATO's armed forces, the stars are equal to OF-6–10. Star ranking One-star A one-star rank is usuall ...

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)

Organisation

The FOCWF is assisted by the fleet staff, headed by the Fleet Operations Officer (FOO), a one-star appointment. The Fleet Communications & Electronic Warfare Officer (FCO), Fleet Gunnery Officer (FGO), Fleet Navigation Officer (FNO), Fleet Anti-Submarine Warfare Officer (FASWO), Fleet Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Damage Control Officer (FNBCDO),Fleet Armament Officer (FARMO), Fleet Naval Architecture Officer (FNAO), Fleet Engineering Officer (FEO) and Fleet Electrical Officer (FLO) make up the rest of the fleet staff.

List of Commanders

References

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

History

Organisation

List of Commanders

See also

References