The Commodore Commanding Submarines (East) is an operational appointment in the Indian Navy. The COMCOS (E) is the commander of the all submarines and allied units of Eastern Naval Command. Based in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, the COMCOS is also the Commanding Officer of the submarine base INS Virbahu. Currently, there are two COMCOS in the Indian Navy, COMCOS (East) and COMCOS (West). The COMCOS (E) is a one star officer holding the rank of Commodore. The current COMCOS (E) is Commodore H. S. Kelkar.

History The submarine arm of the Indian Navy was formed with the commissioning of in December 1967. Three other submarines – , and were acquired from the Soviet Union and the 8th Submarine squadron was formed. The submarine base INS Virbahu was commissioned on 19 May 1971 as the shore support base for submarines. The Commanding Officer of Virbahu functioned as the Captain of the submarine squadron and the class Authority for all submarines.

In the early 1970s, four Vela-class submarines were acquired. The submarines, , , and were commissioned between 1973 and 1974. With this, the 9th submarine squadron was formed and was based on the west coast, in Mumbai. In the 1980s, the Sindhughosh-class submarines - , , and were commissioned. They constituted the 11th submarine squadron. In 1986, two Shishumar-class submarines and were inducted, forming the 10th submarine squadron. Four more Sindhughosh-class submarines were to be commissioned constituting the 12th submarine squadron.

Since multiple submarine squadrons (SS) had been formed - the 8th and 11th SS in Visakhapatnam and 9th, 10th and 12th SS in Mumbai, the need to group them on each coast was felt. In April 1988, the post of Commodore Submarines East (COMSUB (E)) was created. The COMSUB (E) also commanded the submarine base INS Virbahu, apart from the submarine squadrons. In December 1996, the appointment of COMSUB was re-designated Commodore Commanding Submarines (COMCOS).

Organisation Today, under the COMCOS (E) are INS Virbahu, the 11th submarine squadron and the 14th submarine squadron, the Submarine Maintenance Unit, the NRW and the SSS. The COMCOS (E) is also the commanding officer of INS Virbahu.

List of COMCOS S.No. Name Assumed office Left office NotesCO INS Virbahu & Commodore Submarines (East)1Commodore V. S. Vishnoi 1 April 198819 September 1989First COMSUB (E).2Captain Arun Kumar Singh 20 September 198910 March 1992Later served as Director General of the Indian Coast Guard, Commander-in-Chief, Andaman and Nicobar Command and Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Naval Command.3Captain V. Kumar11 March 199224 December 19934Commander D. V. Pandit25 December 199311 April 19945Captain P. Kumar 12 April 199422 June 19956Captain Arun Kumar 23 June 199530 December 1996CO INS Virbahu & Commodore Commanding Submarines (East)7Captain A. S. Bhatyal 16 June 19979 December 19998Captain G. S. Randhawa10 December 199916 April 20019Captain S. Govind17 April 200129 September 200210Commodore S. H. Subramanian30 September 200221 February 200511Commodore C. P. Srivastava22 February 200530 April 200612Commodore Sunil Jetly1 May 200618 December 2007Later served as Naval Officer-in-charge (NOIC) Vizag.13Commodore Aspi Cawasji 19 December 200726 January 200914Commodore Rajesh Sarin 27 January 20092 May 201015Commodore S. R. Kapoor3 May 201017 July 2012Also served as the Commodore Commanding Submarines (West).16Commodore Dilbagh Singh18 July 20125 May 201317Commodore P. Ashokan 6 May 20133 July 2014Also commanded the nuclear submarine INS Chakra.18Commodore Anshuman Dutt4 July 201429 February 201619Commodore V. R. Peshwae 1 March 201615 January 201920Commodore A. Y. Sardesai 16 January 201919 February 2020Later Flag Officer Submarines (FOSM). 21Commodore K. Venkatraman 20 February 202031 March 2023Current Flag Officer Submarines (FOSM). 22Commodore Chetan Chandegave1 April 202329 October 202323Commodore L. M. Fernandes29 October 202314 October 202424Commodore H. S. Kelkar14 October 2024PresentCurrent CO INS Virbahu & COMCOS (E).

See also Flag Officer Submarines Commodore Commanding Submarines (West)

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