In a major shake-up of the top brass of the Navy, the Centre on Saturday appointed Vice-Admiral Sunil Lanba, incumbent Commandant of the National Defence College, as Vice-Chief of Naval Staff (VCNS).
Vice-Admiral Lanba is in line to become Chief of the Naval Staff when Admiral R.K. Dhowan retires in 2016. As part of the reshuffle, carried out on expected lines and on the basis of recommendations made by the last government, Vice-Admiral Anil Chopra, currently heading the Eastern Command in Vizag, will now take over the reins of the Mumbai-based Western Naval Command.
Vice-Admiral Satish Soni, at the helm of the Southern Command in Kochi, will move to the Eastern Command, with Strategic Forces Commander Vice-Admiral SPS Cheema taking over as head of the Southern Command, the training command of the maritime force.
Vice-Admiral R.K. Pattanaik replaced Vice-Admiral Pradeep Chatterjee as Deputy Chief of Naval Staff (DCNS) on Saturday itself, with the latter slated to assumed charge as Commander-in-Chief of the Andaman and Nicobar Command (CinCAN) in Port Blair on Sunday morning.
Vice-Admiral Girish Luthra will be Deputy Chief of Integrated Defence Staff, DCIDS (Operations).
The reshuffle comes in the wake of vacancies created at the top of the Navy following the resignation of Admiral D.K. Joshi as Navy Chief in February, owning moral responsibility for a series of mishaps that dented the image of the force.
With the government choosing then VCNS Vice-Admiral Dhowan to succeed Admiral Joshi superseding Vice-Admiral Shekhar Sinha, then head of the Western Command under which most accidents involving naval assets occurred, he put in his papers. This set off a new chain of succession in the force.
