Vice-Admiral Atul Kumar Jain takes over as chief of ENC

Gunnery and missile specialist, he earlier commanded the Eastern Fleet

Change of guard: Vice-Admiral Atul Kumar Jain (right) being welcomed by Vice-Admiral Karambir Singh, the outgoing FOC-in-C, at the Naval Base in Visakhapatnam .

Vice-Admiral Atul Kumar Jain took over as the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief (FOC-in-C), Eastern Naval Command (ENC), from Vice-Admiral Karambir Singh, at an impressive ceremonial parade at the Naval Base here on Thursday.

Vice-Admiral Jain inspected the ceremonial guard and reviewed platoons of naval personnel drawn from various ships and establishments of the ENC and attended by all Flag Officers and Commanding Officers of the ships, submarines and establishments.

Vice-Admiral Karambir Singh, the outgoing FOC-in-C will assume charge as the Chief of the Naval Staff on promotion to the rank of Admiral on Friday.

Commissioned into the Indian Navy in July 1982, Vice-Admiral Atul Kumar Jain is an alumnus of Sainik School Rewa, National Defence Academy (Pune), the Defence Services Staff College (Wellington), the College of Naval Warfare (Mumbai) and the National Defence College (Pretoria, South Africa). He is a graduate from Jawaharlal Nehru University (Delhi) and has received his Masters in Defence and Strategic Studies from Madras University.

A gunnery and missile specialist, Vice-Admiral Jain has held various operational, staff and command appointments in the course of his career spanning over 37 years.

Mr. Atul Kumar Jain has commanded INS Nirghat (missile boat), INS Khukri (missile corvette), INS Rajput (destroyer) and the indigenously built destroyer, INS Mysore.

Held many positions

He also had the privilege of being the commissioning Executive Officer of INS Brahmaputra and the Fleet Operations Officer of the Eastern Fleet at Visakhapatnam. His appointments ashore include Director, Naval Intelligence (protocol), Director, Foreign Liaison and Principal Director, Staff Requirement at Integrated Headquarters, Ministry of Defence (Navy), New Delhi.

On promotion to the Flag Rank in October 2011, he was appointed as the first Flag Officer Commanding Karnataka Naval Area. Thereafter, he commanded the prestigious Eastern Fleet and had also served as the Chief of Staff, HQ, SNC. He was promoted to the rank of Vice-Admiral on April 1, 2015, while he was the Controller Personnel Services (CPS).

For his distinguished service, he was awarded Vishisht Seva Medal in 2009 and Ati Vishisht Seva Medal in 2015.