Eastern Fleet (India)
The Eastern Fleet is a Naval fleet of the Indian Navy. It is known as the 'Sword Arm' of the Eastern Naval Command and called the Sunrise Fleet. It is headquartered at Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh on the east coast of India. It is a part of the Eastern Naval Command and is responsible for the naval forces in the Bay of Bengal and parts of the Indian Ocean. The Eastern Fleet was constituted on 1 November 1971. The Fleet is commanded by a Rear Admiral with the title Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet (FOCEF). Rear Admiral Gurcharan Singh is the current FOCEF, who took over on 30 November 2022. History After the independence and the partition of India on 15 August 1947, the ships and personnel of the Royal Indian Navy were divided between the Dominion of India and the Dominion of Pakistan. The division of the ships was on the basis of two-thirds of the fleet to India, one third to Pakistan. The operational ships of the remaining Royal Indian Navy, minus Pakistan, were initially placed under the command of the Commodore Commanding Indian Naval Squadron (COMINS), later the Rear-Admiral Commanding Indian Naval Squadron (RACINS), whose title was then changed to Flag Officer (Flotilla) Indian Fleet (FOFIF). These appointments were initially held by British officers: Commodore H.N.S. Brown, who was the Commanding Officer of and serving as COMINS, seemingly at the same time, and later, Commodore (later Rear Admiral) Geoffrey Barnard who became COMINS and later Rear-Admiral Commanding, INS. The Flotilla was later upgraded to the Indian Fleet under a Flag Officer Commanding Indian Fleet (FOCIF). On the proclamation of a Republic in 1950, the 'Royal' title was dropped and the Navy became simply the Indian Navy. Barnard was succeeded by Rear Admiral N.V. ("Uncle Richard") Dickinson, Rear Admiral F.A. Ballance, and then the final British officer Rear Admiral St John Tyrwhitt as FOCIF. In 1956, Rear Admiral Ram Dass Katari became the first Indian flag officer, and was appointed the first Indian FOCIF on 2 October, when he took over from Rear Admiral Tyrwhitt. (title alternately given as Flag Officer (Flotilla). In 1957, was commissioned, and the flag of Rear Admiral Katari was transferred, INS Mysore thus becoming the flagship of the Indian Fleet. On 1 March 1968, the Eastern Naval Command was established and the Indian Fleet was renamed as the Western Fleet. On 1 November 1971, the Eastern Fleet was constituted. Rear Admiral S H Sarma, PVSM was appointed as the Founding Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet (FOCEF) who commanded the fleet during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 In mid 1971, The aircraft carrier , along with the frigates INS Brahmaputra and INS Beas were moved from the Western Fleet to the Eastern Naval Command. Thus, INS Vikrant became the flagship of the Eastern Fleet. According to Vice Admiral Nilakanta Krishnan, the then Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Naval Command (FOC-in-C ENC), the aim of the Eastern fleet was: "To destroy the enemy's