R B Pandit takes charge as head of Southern command

Rear Admiral R B Pandit today took charge as the new Chief of Staff of the Southern Naval Command, the training Command of the country's Navy.

Prior to this, he was Assistant Chief of Naval Staff (Foreign Cooperation and Intelligence) at Naval Headquarters immediately after promotion to the Flag rank, a Navy release said.

The officer in his present capacity as the Chief of Staff of the command would be deputising for the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief in the discharge of the training and operational roles of the Southern Naval Command, it said.

He was commissioned into the Indian Navy in July 1984 and is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy, Khadakvasala, Defence Services Staff College (DSSC) Wellington, the College of Naval Warfare (CNW) Mumbai, the Royal College of Defence Studies ( RCDS), London UK.

The Rear Admiral is an Anti Submarine Warfare specialist whose important afloat tenures include specialist appointments onboard the Rajput class of ships, commands of missile corvette, a leander Class frigate and INS Jalashwa - the only landing platform dock of the Indian Navy.

He also holds the distinction of having commanded the Killer Squadron at Mumbai which had won laurels in the Indo–Pak war of 1971.

He had also been the Indian Naval adviser at the High Commission of India, Islamabad, the release said.