Vice Admiral Sanjay Vatsayan takes charge as 47th Vice Chief of Naval Staff

Vice Admiral Sanjay Vatsayan, a gunnery and missile systems specialist, on Friday assumed charge as the new Vice Chief of the Naval Staff.

Prior to assuming his new charge, Vice Admiral Vatsayan held various important operational, staff and training appointments, including at the Headquarters Integrated Defence Staff (HQ IDS), and Naval Headquarters (NHQ) in New Delhi.

"Vice Admiral Sanjay Vatsayan, AVSM, NM, assumed charge as the 47th Vice Chief of Naval Staff #VCNS on 01 Aug 2025," the Navy posted on X.

Commissioned into the Indian Navy on January 1, 1988, the Flag Officer is a gunnery and missile systems specialist, it said.

"He held various important operational, staff and training appointments including DCIDS (Policy, Plans and Force Development) and DCIDS Ops at @HQ_IDS_India, Chief of Staff @IN_HQENC, Deputy Commandant of the National Defence Academy, Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet and ACNS Policy and Plans at #NHQ," the Navy posted.

He succeeds Vice Admiral Krishna Swaminathan, who on Thursday assumed charge as the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief (FOCinC), Western Naval Command (WNC), taking over from Vice Admiral Sanjay J Singh at a ceremonial parade held at INS Shikra.

On assuming charge as the FOCinC, Vice Admiral Swaminathan paid homage to the bravehearts who made the supreme sacrifice in service to the nation at the Gaurav Stambh, naval dockyard, Mumbai, officials said.

Commissioned into the Indian Navy on July 1, 1987, the Flag Officer is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy, Joint Services Command and Staff College, Shrivenham, the UK, the College of Naval Warfare, Karanja, and the United States Naval War College, Newport.

He held several key operational, staff and training appointments in his naval career, including the command of missile vessels INS Vidyut and INS Vinash, missile corvette INS Kulish, guided missile destroyer INS Mysore, and aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya, the Navy said.

In a post on X, the HQ IDS said Vice Admiral Vineet McCarty assumed charge as the Deputy Chief of Integrated Defence Staff (policy planning and force development) on Friday, after relinquishing the coveted appointment of Controller Personnel Services, Naval HQ.

"His appointment ensures continuity in #TriServices coordination, strategic policy formulation and force development initiatives critical to India's evolving defence architecture," it said.