Western naval command gets new chief of staff

Gokhale, a specialist in navigation and direction, is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy, Khadakwasla, Pune, along with the Defence Services Staff College in Wellington, the Naval War College in Goa, and the Australian Defence College in Canberra

Mumbai: The ministry of defence has appointed vice admiral Rahul Vilas Gokhale as chief of staff of western naval command, and took charge on October 1. His predecessor vice admiral Ajay Kocchar has been posted to Andaman and Nicobar.

Western naval command gets new chief of staff

Gokhale, a specialist in navigation and direction, is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy, Khadakwasla, Pune, along with the Defence Services Staff College in Wellington, the Naval War College in Goa, and the Australian Defence College in Canberra.

In the past, he has been appointed as the executive officer of INS Kora, an Indian Navy ship which carries guided missiles. Gokhale has been the commanding officer of several ships, and the fleet operations officer of the eastern fleet.

Gokhale has worked at the Directorate of Naval Plans, Directorate of Foreign Cooperation and Directorate of Personnel at Naval Headquarters. He has also served as the naval adviser at the Indian High Commission at Islamabad, Pakistan.

Before his promotion to a flag officer, Ghokhale was commander of the INS Circas, a shore-based depot ship of the Indian Navy’s eastern naval command in Vishakhapatnam.

Gokhale also held the post of the flag officer sea training, a naval training authority that trains crews of ships and submarines. This training includes enhancing crew proficiency in various aspects of seamanship, damage control, weapon firing, and navigation.

He also served as assistant chief of personnel (Human Resource Development) at the naval headquarters in New Delhi and commanded the Western Fleet of the Indian Navy before taking charge of the Western Naval Command.