• Source: Rahul Vilas Gokhale

Rear Admiral Rahul Vilas Gokhale, NM is a serving Flag officer in the Indian Navy. He currently serves as the Flag Officer Commanding Western Fleet. He earlier commanded the naval base INS Circars and the guided missile destroyer INS Kolkata (D63).




Naval career


Gokhale attended the National Defence Academy and was commissioned into the Indian Navy on 1 January 1992. He later specialized in Navigation and Direction. He has served on board, as the navigating officer, the Sukanya-class patrol vessel INS Subhadra (P51), the Nilgiri-class frigate INS Udaygiri (F35), the Kora-class corvette INS Kirch (P62) and the Godavari-class frigate INS Gomati (F21).
Gokhale served as the executive officer of the Kora-class corvette INS Khukri (P49) and commanded the lead ship of her class of corvettes, INS Khukri (P49). He attended the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington. He was the navigating officer of her class of guided missile destroyers INS Delhi (D61).
Gokhale attended the Naval higher command course at the Naval War College, Goa. He served as the Director of Personnel Policy at naval headquarters. He also served as the Naval Advisor at the High Commission of India, Islamabad. He also attended the Australian Defence College, Canberra. He commanded the lead ship of her class of stealth guided-missile destroyers, INS Kolkata (D63). During his tenure as Commanding Officer, Kolkata sailed on a two-month deployment to the Western Indian Ocean and called on multiple African ports to promote maritime security in the Indian Ocean Region.

As a Commodore, Gokhale served as the Fleet Operations Officer (FOO) of the Eastern Fleet. On 29 May 2020, he took over as the 23rd Commanding Officer of the naval base INS Circars and as the station commander, Visakhapatnam. The oldest naval establishment on East Coast, INS Circars is the base depot ship providing administrative and logistics support to the Headquarters of the Eastern Naval Command and a large number of units based in and around Visakhapatnam. On 26 January 2021, he was awarded the Nao Sena Medal for devotion to duty.




= Flag rank

=
Gokhale was promoted to flag rank in May 2022 and was appointed Flag Officer Sea Training (FOST), at Kochi. As FOST, his charter included the conduct of the operational sea training of all ships of the Indian Navy and the Indian Coast Guard. After a year-long tenure, he relinquished charge and handed over to Rear Admiral Susheel Menon. He then moved to naval headquarters as the Assistant Chief of Personnel (HRD) (ACOP HRD). On 23 August, he took command of the Western Fleet as the Flag Officer Commanding Western Fleet from Rear Admiral C. R. Praveen Nair.




Awards and decorations


Gokhale was awarded the Nao Sena Medal (Devotion to duty) in 2021.




See also


Flag Officer Commanding Western Fleet
Western Fleet




References

Kata Kunci Pencarian:

• Rahul Vilas Gokhale
• Western Fleet (India)
• Flag Officer Commanding Western Fleet
• List of serving admirals of the Indian Navy
• INS Kolkata
• Flag Officer Sea Training (India)
• C. R. Praveen Nair
• Rajesh Dhankhar
• Susheel Menon
• Western Naval Command