Admiral Devendra Kumar Joshi took over as the 21st Chief of the Naval Staff of independent India and the 19th Indian to take command of the Indian Navy on August 31. Outgoing CNS Admiral Nirmal Verma ceremonially handed over the Chief’s telescope to the new CNS Admiral D.K. Joshi.

On assuming office, Admiral Joshi sent his maiden message to the Navy saying he was “in gratitude for having been given the honour and privileged opportunity to Command the Navy”. Admiral Joshi promptly indicated his priorities as the new Naval Chief and stated, “For the Navy to fulfill its mandate as a maritime power for national prosperity, 24 x 7 attention would need to be paid at all levels to ensure that there are no gaps in our security preparedness.” He further emphasised, “To achieve security-related objectives, the man-machine interface is crucial and the Navy would need to professionally re-audit, train and consolidate its preparedness to optimise the existing capabilities as well as harness the full potential of the transformational new capabilities being inducted.”

Admiral Joshi is a specialist in anti-submarine warfare. He has served in a variety of Command, Staff and Instructional appointments. Admiral Joshi’s Sea Commands include guided missile corvette INS Kuthar, guided missile destroyer INS Ranvir and the aircraft carrier INS Viraat. Subsequently he commanded the Eastern Fleet as the Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet.

After his elevation to Flag rank, he has served in the Integrated Headquarters, MoD (Navy) in all nodal Branches—in the Personnel Branch as the Assistant Chief of Personnel (Human Resource Development), in Warship Production and Acquisition as the Assistant Controller of the Aircraft Carrier Programme, and thereafter in the Operations Branch both as Assistant Chief of Naval Staff (Information Warfare and Operations) and as the Deputy Chief of Naval Staff.

Before taking over as the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Naval Command, he significantly contributed towards inter-service integration, first as the Deputy Chief of Integrated Defence Staff (Doctrine, Organisation & Training) and then as the Commander-in-Chief of the Andaman and Nicobar Command, the only tri-service integrated Command of the country. He later, served as the Chief of Integrated Defence Staff to the Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee.