INDIA. Mumbai: Vice Admiral Dinesh K. Tripathi took over as Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief (FOC-in-C), Western Naval Command (WNC), from Vice Admiral Ajendra Bahadur Singh, who retired from service on Tuesday.
Tripathi took over at an impressive ceremonial parade held at INS Shikra, located in south Mumbai, where he was given a guard of honour. On taking over, he paid homage to all personnel who made the supreme sacrifice in service of the nation by placing a floral wreath at the Gaurav Stambh (a sea memorial at Naval Dockyard, Mumbai).
Before taking over as FOC-in-C, Vice Admiral Tripathi served as the Chief of Personnel at the Integrated Headquarters of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) (Navy) in New Delhi.
Vice Admiral Tripathi is an alumnus of the Sainik School, Rewa (Madhya Pradesh), and the National Defence Academy, Khadakwasla (Maharashtra). He graduated from the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington (Tamil Nadu), where he was awarded the “Thimmaiya Medal”. He also attended the Naval Higher Command Course and Naval Command College at the US Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Islands, in 2007-2008, where he won the prestigious “Robert E. Bateman International Prize”.
He was commissioned into the Indian Navy on July 1, 1985. A communication and electronic warfare specialist, Tripathi served on frontline warships of the Navy as a Signal Communication Officer and Electronic Warfare Officer, and later as the Executive Officer and Principal Warfare Officer of the Guided Missile Destroyer, “INS Mumbai”.
He commanded three Indian naval ships: “Vinash, “Kirch” and “Trishul”. He has also held various important operational and staff appointments, which include Fleet Operations Officer of the Western Fleet at Mumbai, Director of Naval Operations, Principal Director Network Centric Operations, and Principal Director of Naval Plans at New Delhi. On promotion to the rank of Rear Admiral, he served as Assistant Chief of Naval Staff (Policy and Plans) at IHQ MoD (Navy) and as the Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet.
On promotion to the rank of Vice Admiral in June 2019, he was appointed Commandant of the prestigious Indian Naval Academy at Ezhimala, Kerala. He was the Director General of Naval Operations from July 2020 to May 2021, a period that witnessed a high tempo of Naval Maritime Operations. He ensured that the Navy remained a combat-ready, cohesive, and credible force, ready to address a host of complex security challenges despite the overall severity of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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