The Commandant of the Indian Naval Academy is the head and in-charge of all the functioning of the Indian Naval Academy. The commandant of the academy is a three-star rank officer holding the rank of vice admiral. He is supported by the deputy commandant, a two-star appointment and the heads of the Academic Wing (rear admiral principal), Training Wing (commodore rank officer) and the Admin wing (commodore rank officer). The current Commandant is Vice Admiral Vice Admiral Alok Ananda who took over in August 2026.

History The Naval Academy (NAVAC) was set up in Cochin in 1969 as a temporary institution, to train officers for the Navy. The first Officer-in-charge (OIC) was Commander Laxminarayan Ramdas. The title of the head of the institution changed to commandant in 1980. The academy moved to Goa in 1986 under Commandants Captain M.S. Bedi and Captain O.P. Bansal.

In 2008, the academy moved to Ezhimala in Kerala and was re-christened the Indian Naval Academy (INA). Rear Admiral M. P. Muralidharan took over as the first commandant of INA.

List of Commandants S.No Name Appointment Date Left Office Notes 1 Captain D. Mohindra September 1980 March 1982 2 Captain Madhvendra Singh March 1982 July 1983 Later served as the Chief of the Naval Staff 3 Captain M. V. Karnik August 1983 April 1986 4Captain M. S. Bedi April 1986 July 1986 5 Captain O. P. Bansal July 1986 June 1987 6 Captain K. Mohan Rao July 1987 July 1989 Later Director General Project Seabird 7 Captain N. P. Mehta July 1989August 1990 8 Captain K. P. MathewAugust 1990 December 1991 9 Captain Jagjit Singh Bedi December 1991 June 1993 Later Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Naval Command. 10 Commodore Nirmal Kumar Verma July 1993September 1994 Later Chief of the Naval Staff. 11 Commodore N. Venugopal September 1994 December 1997 12 Commodore R. F. Contractor December 1997 April 1999 Later Director General of the Indian Coast Guard. 10 Captain S. P. S. Cheema April 1999June 2001 Later served as Flag Officer Commanding Western Fleet, Chief of the Integrated Defence Staff, Commander-in Chief Strategic Forces Command, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Southern Naval Command, and Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Naval Command 13 Captain K. S. Aiyappa June 2001 June 2004 14 Commodore N. N. RaoJune 2004 June 2007 15 Captain M. A. Hampiholi June 2007 January 2008 Later served as Flag officer Commanding Western Fleet.Commandant INA, Ezhimala 16 Vice Admiral M. P. Muralidharan January 2008 September 2009 First Commandant of the Indian Naval Academy at the Ezhimala campus. Later served as Director General Indian Coast Guard (DGICG). 17 Vice Admiral Anurag Thapliyal September 2009 January 2012 Later served as Director General Indian Coast Guard (DGICG) 18 Vice Admiral Pradeep Chauhan February 2012 November 2013 19 Vice Admiral Ajit Kumar P December 2013 October 2016 Later served as Vice Chief of the Naval Staff and Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Naval Command. 20 Vice Admiral SV Bhokare October 2016 February 2018 Later served as Inspector General Nuclear Safety. 21 Vice Admiral R. B. Pandit February 2018 June 2019 Later served as Commander-in-Chief,Strategic Forces Command. 22 Vice Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi June 2019 July 2020 Current Chief of the Naval Staff. 23 Vice Admiral M. A. Hampiholi July 2020 29 November 2021 Later served as Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Southern Naval Command 24 Vice Admiral Puneet Kumar Bahl 1 December 2021 31 December 2023 25 Vice Admiral Vineet McCarty 15 January 202429 August 2024Current Commander-in-Chief, Andaman and Nicobar Command.26 Vice Admiral C. R. Praveen Nair 29 August 202431 July 2025Current Controller of Personnel Services.27 Vice Admiral Manish Chadha 1 August 202531 July 202628 Vice Admiral Alok Ananda 1 August 2026Present

Deputy Commandants The list of Deputy Commandants and Chief Instructors of the INA:

S.No Name Appointment Date Left Office Notes 1 Rear Admiral Kapil Gupta 1 November 2008 18 April 2011 First Deputy Commandant of INA. 2 Rear Admiral L. V. Sarat Babu 7 June 2011 28 August 2012 Later Chairman and Managing Director, Hindustan Shipyard Limited. 3 Rear Admiral G. V. Ravindran 29 August 2012 30 June 2014 4 Rear Admiral M. D. Suresh 14 July 2014 29 January 2018 Later Chief of Staff, Southern Naval Command. 5 Rear Admiral Puneet Chadha 27 March 2018 3 March 2019 Later Additional Director General National Cadet Corps. 6 Rear Admiral Tarun Sobti 4 March 2019 11 January 2021 Later Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff. 7 Rear Admiral A. N. Pramod 11 January 2021 1 April 2022 Current Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff. 8 Rear Admiral Ajay D. Theophilus 1 April 2022 31 July 2023Current Flag Officer Commanding Goa Naval Area and Flag Officer Naval Aviation. 9 Rear Admiral Prakash Gopalan 1 December 2023 31 January 2026Current Chief of Staff, Southern Naval Command. 10 Rear Admiral Happy Mohan 1 December 2023 31 January 2026Current DepCom.

See also Commandant of the Indian Military Academy Commandant of the Air Force Academy Commandant of the National Defence Academy Commandant of the Officers Training Academy, Chennai

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