Commandant of Indian Naval Academy


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, Training Wing and the Admin wing. The current Commandant is Vice Admiral Vice Admiral Manish Chadha who took over in August 2025.

History

The Naval Academy was set up in Cochin in 1969 as a temporary institution, to train officers for the Navy. The first Officer-in-charge 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. Rear Admiral M. P. Muralidharan took over as the first commandant of INA.

Deputy Commandants

The list of Deputy Commandants and Chief Instructors of the INA:
S.NoNameAppointment DateLeft OfficeNotes
1Rear Admiral Kapil Gupta, 1 November 200818 April 2011First Deputy Commandant of INA.
2Rear Admiral L. V. Sarat Babu, 7 June 201128 August 2012Later Chairman and Managing Director, Hindustan Shipyard Limited.
3Rear Admiral G. V. Ravindran29 August 201230 June 2014
4Rear Admiral M. D. Suresh, 14 July 201429 January 2018Later Chief of Staff, Southern Naval Command.
5Rear Admiral Puneet Chadha, 27 March 20183 March 2019Later Additional Director General National Cadet Corps.
6Rear Admiral Tarun Sobti, 4 March 201911 January 2021Current Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff.
7Rear Admiral A. N. Pramod11 January 20211 April 2022Current Director General Naval Operations.
8Rear Admiral Ajay D. Theophilus1 April 202231 July 2023Current Flag Officer Commanding Goa Naval Area and Flag Officer Naval Aviation.
9Rear Admiral Prakash Gopalan1 December 2023PresentCurrent DepCom.