On November 10, 2023, Rear Admiral Gurcharan Singh gave way to Rear Admiral Rajesh Dhankhar as the next commander of the Eastern Fleet, the Sword Arm of the Eastern Naval Command. At a spectacular ceremony staged at the Naval Dockyard in Visakhapatnam, the guard changed.
On July 1, 1990, RAdm Rajesh Dhankhar was commissioned into the Indian Navy. He specializes in navigation and direction. The Flag Officer completed his Higher Command Course in Japan and is a graduate of the esteemed Naval Academy and Defence Services Staff College.
The Flag Officer has held specialized assignments on board the warships Pondicherry, Godavari, Kora, and Mysore over the course of his distinguished 33-year career. The officer also completed teaching assignments at Singapore’s Officer’s Cadet School, the former Project 15 Training Team, and Navigation & Direction School. His leadership appointments are as Commanding Officer onboard INS Gharial, Mumbai, and Vikramaditya, and Executive Officer onboard INS Delhi. Among his noteworthy staff and operational appointments are those of Principal Director/Cmde(Pers) at the Directorate of Personnel and Joint Director and Director at the Directorate of Naval Plans. He has held the positions of Commandant, Naval War College, and Chief Staff Officer (Training) while holding the flag rank. In order to supervise the INS Vikrant acceptance trials, the officer also took on further responsibilities as Chairman of the Carrier Acceptance Trials Team.
The Indian nationals who were evacuated from Aden and Al-Hodeida, Yemen, during non-combatant evacuation operations (NEO) were awarded the Nao Sena Medal (Gallantry) to the Flag Officer in 2015.
Under the leadership of RAdm Gurcharan Singh, the Eastern Fleet has participated in multiple mission-based and operational deployments, as well as numerous bilateral and multilateral engagements with friendly foreign navies, during the past 11 months, all while maintaining a very high level of combat readiness and operational tempo.
