Hey for the Indian navy the President of India serves as Supreme Commander

The Chief of the Naval Staff is the commander and the highest-ranking officer in the Indian Navy.

The current CNS is Admiral Sunil Lanba.

He is the 23rd Navy Chief, he took over from Admiral Robin K. Dhowan, who retired on 31 May 2016 after four decades of service from the navy.


Chiefs of the Naval Staff (1955–present)

S.No. Name

1 Sir Charles Thomas Mark Pizey

2 Sir Stephen Hope Carlill

3 Ram Dass Katari

4 Bhaskar Sadashiv Soman

5 Adhar Kumar Chatterji

6 Sardarilal Mathradas Nanda

7 Sourendra Nath Kohli

8 Jal Cursetji

9 Ronald Lynsdale Pereira

10 Oscar Stanley Dawson

11 Radhakrishna Hariram Tahiliani

12 Jayant Ganpat Nadkarni

13 Laxminarayan Ramdas

14 Vijai Singh Shekhawat

15 Vishnu Bhagwat

16 Sushil Kumar

17 Madhvendra Singh

18 Arun Prakash

19 Sureesh Mehta

20 Nirmal Kumar Verma

21 Devendra Kumar Joshi

22 Robin K Dhowan

23 Sunil Lanba