Vice Admiral Vijay Shankar to take over as C-in-C of Andaman and Nicobar

New Delhi, August 25 : Vice Admiral Vijay Shankar will take over as Commander-in-Chief Andaman and Nicobar Command on 30 September.

Vice Admiral Shankar is presently the Commander-in-Chief of Strategic Force Command.

He would take the charge from Air Marshal S. Radhakrishnan.

Vice Admiral Shankar is an alumnus of the 34th course of National Defence Academy (NDA). He was commissioned in the Indian Navy on January 1970. He is a specialist in navigation and direction. He holds an M.Sc degree in Defence studies and is a graduate of the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington and Naval Higher Command Course and the Naval War College at New Port, USA.

He has held a variety of staff appointments, which include Deputy Director in the erstwhile Directorate of Combat Policy and Tactics, Director at Maritime Warfare Centre, Chief Instructor in Navigation and Direction School (K), Senior Instructor at the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington and Director of Staff Requirements at Naval Headquarters.

On promotion to the rank of Rear Admiral in April 1999, he took over as the Chief of Staff of the Southern Naval Command, after which he was appointed in-charge of the Aircraft Carrier Projects at Naval Headquarters. He was promoted to the rank of Vice Admiral in November 2005.

He held the appointment of Deputy Chief Integrated Defence Staff Operations and DOT (Doctrine, Organization and Training) at HQ IDS. He has been the Commander-in-Chief Strategic Forces Command since 31 December 2006.

His afloat appointments include specialist tenures onboard various fleet ships, Commissioning Navigator of INS Ghorpad and INS Rana. He was also Fleet Operation Officer, Western Fleet.

His Sea Commands include Commanding Officer of INS Panaji in 1973, INS Himgiri in 1987, INS Ganga 1993 and Command of the Aircraft Carrier INS Viraat in 1995.

He took over Command of the 'Sword Arm' of the Navy as the Flag Officer Commanding Western Fleet in Jan 2003.

His operational experience is backed by active service during the India Pakistan war of 1971. Command of INS Himgiri during Operation PAWAN and as Chief of Staff Southern Naval Command during Operation VIJAY

Operation Pawan was the codename assigned to the operations by the Indian Peace Keeping Force to take control of Jaffna from the LTTE in late 1987 to enforce the disarmament of the LTTE as a part of the Indo-Sri Lankan Accord.

In the 1999 Kargil conflict between India and Pakistan, Operation Vijay was the name of the successful Indian operation to push back the infiltrators from the Kargil Sector. It is sometimes referred to as Operation Vijay Kargil.

Vice Admiral Vijay Shankar is a recipient of the Param Vishisht Seva Medal and Ati Vishisht Seva Medal.

ANI