By Capt. (Dr.) RC Muni (Retd) · Defence faculty, The Cavalier
Ask an aspirant what the Western Fleet is and he will often say "the Navy's western command". That is the most common mistake in Navy GK. A command is a headquarters on land; a fleet is the force of ships, submarines and aircraft that goes to sea from that coast, under a Rear Admiral called the Flag Officer Commanding. India has two fleets, the Western Fleet at Mumbai and the Eastern Fleet at Visakhapatnam. Papers test their bases, the ranks, the "Sword Arm" nickname, TROPEX and the fleet reviews, the Navy's grandest ceremony.
This is the section page under the Indian Navy hub in our Defence GK library. It goes one level below Naval Commands: the two fleets, how a fleet works at sea, and every fleet review up to Visakhapatnam in February 2026.
What a Fleet Is, and What a Command Is
Keep one rule: commands administer, fleets fight.
| Term | What it is | Headed by |
|---|---|---|
| Command | A regional headquarters on land: dockyards, bases, supply, training, area security and the readiness of the fleet; reports to Naval HQ, New Delhi | Vice Admiral, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief (FOC-in-C) |
| Fleet | The seagoing force: destroyers, frigates, corvettes, submarines, tankers and the aircraft that fly with them; reports to the command on its coast | Rear Admiral, Flag Officer Commanding (FOC) |
| Squadron or flotilla | Ships of one type inside a fleet, or a local force of smaller craft | A senior officer of the group |
PIB's headlines show the chain. The FOC-in-C of a command reviews the readiness of the fleet on his coast (PIB's release of October 2022 on the Western Fleet is one example), and a new fleet commander takes over at a ceremonial parade in the dockyard. FOC-in-C is three-star, FOC is two-star: on our rank equivalence chart a Rear Admiral stands level with an Army Major General and an Air Vice Marshal.
The Army keeps its field force in corps and divisions under a command, as the Army hierarchy page shows, and the Air Force's commands pass orders to wings and stations. Do not equate a fleet with a corps by size: a fleet commander ranks with a divisional commander. The Navy publishes no orders of battle, and neither does this page.
"The Western Fleet is a command" is wrong. Western Naval Command (Mumbai, Vice Admiral) is the headquarters; the Western Fleet (Rear Admiral) sails under it. The same holds on the east coast.
India's Two Fleets
| Western Fleet | Eastern Fleet | |
|---|---|---|
| Base | Mumbai | Visakhapatnam |
| Under | Western Naval Command | Eastern Naval Command |
| Headed by | Rear Admiral, FOCWF | Rear Admiral, FOCEF |
| Formed | 1 March 1968, by renaming the Indian Fleet | 1971; reference histories give 1 November 1971 |
| Waters | Arabian Sea and western Indian Ocean | Bay of Bengal, the Malacca Strait and South East Asia |
| Nickname | The "Sword Arm" of the Navy | PIB also calls it the "Sword Arm" of Eastern Naval Command |
The Western Fleet. After 1947 the ships that came to India formed the Indian Fleet, led by a Flag Officer Commanding Indian Fleet; reference histories name Rear Admiral R.D. Katari, later the first Indian Chief of the Naval Staff, as the first Indian flag officer to command the fleet, in 1956 (his appointment was styled Flag Officer (Flotillas), Indian Fleet). On 1 March 1968, when Eastern Naval Command was created, the Indian Fleet was renamed the Western Fleet, as the Navy's own history records. PIB calls it "the Sword Arm of the Indian Navy" when a new commander takes over at the Naval Dockyard, Mumbai. See Western Fleet for its history, composition and the 1971 raids.
The Eastern Fleet. The two-fleet Navy dates from 1971, when the Eastern Fleet was raised at Visakhapatnam with war close. In mid-1971 the carrier INS Vikrant and two frigates had moved to the east coast, and Vikrant became the new fleet's flagship. PIB's report of the fleet's golden jubilee, held at Visakhapatnam on 6 and 7 April 2022, dates its formation to 1971 and notes that 14 former fleet commanders attended. See Eastern Fleet for the Bay of Bengal role and its 1971 war service.
PIB gives 1971 for the Eastern Fleet without a day, reference histories say 1 November 1971, and the golden jubilee fell in April 2022, so learn the year. Websites print other years for both fleets; UPSC follows official figures, so use 1968 for Western and 1971 for Eastern. "Sword Arm of the Indian Navy" means the Western Fleet.
Southern Naval Command has no fleet: it is the training command, and its seagoing arm is the 1st Training Squadron at Kochi. The Andaman and Nicobar Command is a tri-service command under the Chief of Defence Staff, and the Navy lists only two fleets.
Squadrons and Flotillas
- Squadrons. The best-known is the 22nd Missile Vessel Squadron, the "Killer Squadron" at Mumbai, formed in October 1991 and carrying the lineage of the missile boats of 1971. PIB calls it the tip of the Sword Arm, and the President awarded it the President's Standard on 8 December 2021.
- Local flotillas. Each operational command also keeps smaller patrol and fast-attack craft for harbour and coastal defence. The Navy's organisation pages list the local flotilla apart from the fleet's ships, so it is not part of the fleet.
PIB publishes deployments, not squadron lists. Western Fleet ships INS Chennai and INS Teg made a port call at Colombo on 10 March 2022, with a Maritime Partnership Exercise with the Sri Lanka Navy planned, and an Eastern Fleet group led by its Flag Officer Commanding called at Ho Chi Minh City in June 2026. Such a group is a task group drawn from the fleet.
How a Fleet Works at Sea
Task groups and the carrier battle group. A fleet seldom sails as one block. The commander forms temporary groups for a job, each a mix of ships, submarines and aircraft under one officer. The classic group is the carrier battle group: destroyers and frigates screen the carrier against air, surface and underwater threats, a submarine works ahead or below, and helicopters hunt submarines. PIB showed the idea in June 2023, when INS Vikramaditya and INS Vikrant operated together in the Arabian Sea with ships, submarines and more than 35 aircraft. Carriers are on Surface Ships, the submarine side on Submarines, and the air arm on Naval Aviation.
Replenishment at sea (RAS). A fleet stays at sea for weeks because tankers pass fuel, water, ammunition and stores across while both ships steam on. INS Tabar practised it with the Italian frigate ITS Antonio Marceglia in July 2021, as PIB records. For the future the Ministry of Defence signed a contract on 25 August 2023 with Hindustan Shipyard Limited, Visakhapatnam, for five Fleet Support Ships of about 44,000 tonnes, worth about Rs 19,000 crore, which PIB says will let the fleet "operate for prolonged periods without returning to harbour". The first, Surya, was launched on 6 October 2026. Our report on the Surya launch has more.
| Exercise | What it tests | Facts to learn |
|---|---|---|
| TROPEX (Theatre Level Operational Readiness Exercise) | The Navy's capstone war game across the Indian Ocean, with Army, Air Force and Coast Guard units added | Held every two years; the 2025 edition ran January to March 2025 with about 65 to 70 ships, 9 to 10 submarines and over 80 aircraft |
| Sea Vigil | Coastal defence along the whole coast, with the Coast Guard and coastal states | Pan-India; Sea Vigil-22 ran on 15 and 16 November 2022, and PIB calls it a build-up to TROPEX |
| MILAN | The Navy's multilateral exercise with foreign navies | Started in 1995 at Port Blair with four foreign navies; MILAN 2026 ran at Visakhapatnam with the fleet review |
The full list is on naval exercises, and the straits and island bases that decide where a fleet must be are on Indian Ocean chokepoints and bases. For a fleet at work, read our report on the Eastern Fleet in Vietnam.
Fleet Reviews: President's and International
In a fleet review the President, as Supreme Commander, reviews the assembled fleet at anchor. PIB's account of 2022 describes the ritual: after a guard of honour and a 21-gun salute the President embarks the Presidential Yacht and sails past the anchored ships, each of which salutes. A flypast by the Naval Air Arm and a steam-past by a mobile column of warships follow. By convention each President reviews the fleet once in a term, though not every one has. A President's Fleet Review (PFR) shows Indian ships; an International Fleet Review (IFR) adds foreign warships, and India has hosted three. The series follows, numbered as PIB does (it calls 2022 the twelfth).
| No. | Year | Venue | President | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1953 | Bombay | Rajendra Prasad | The first review, 10 October 1953 |
| 2 | 1966 | Off Bombay | S. Radhakrishnan | 10 February 1966; INS Vikrant took part |
| 3 | 1969 | Bombay | V.V. Giri | 28 December 1969 |
| 4 | 1976 | Bombay | Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed | 11 January 1976; Nilgiri-class frigates took part |
| 5 | 1984 | Bombay | Zail Singh | 12 February 1984 |
| 6 | 1989 | Bombay | R. Venkataraman | 15 February 1989 |
| 7 | 1997 | Bombay | Shankar Dayal Sharma | 9 March 1997 |
| 8 | 2001 | Mumbai | K.R. Narayanan | India's first IFR, with 20 foreign navies (PIB) |
| 9 | 2006 | Visakhapatnam | A.P.J. Abdul Kalam | First on the east coast, 12 February 2006 |
| 10 | 2011 | Mumbai | Pratibha Patil | 20 December 2011 |
| 11 | 2016 | Visakhapatnam | Pranab Mukherjee | Second IFR, 4 to 8 February 2016 |
| 12 | 2022 | Visakhapatnam | Ram Nath Kovind | 21 February 2022; yacht INS Sumitra; over 60 ships and submarines, 55 aircraft |
| IFR | 2026 | Visakhapatnam | Droupadi Murmu | Third IFR, 18 February 2026; yacht INS Sumedha |
The 2026 review. IFR 2026 was one of three linked events at Visakhapatnam from 15 to 25 February: the IFR, Exercise MILAN 2026 and the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS) Conclave of Chiefs, the first time India held them together. The theme was "United Through Oceans", under the MAHASAGAR vision. On 18 February 2026 President Droupadi Murmu reviewed the fleet from INS Sumedha, an indigenously built offshore patrol vessel, sailing past 52 anchored ships. PIB counts 85 ships: 60 of the Indian Navy, four of the Coast Guard, one each from the Shipping Corporation of India and the National Institute of Ocean Technology, and 19 foreign warships, with three Indian submarines and over 60 aircraft.
PIB calls 2022 the twelfth review. Some websites count 2026 as the thirteenth, and older compilations number 1984 as the sixth and 1989 as the seventh, so the numbering of the early reviews varies; UPSC follows official figures, so use PIB's 12th for 2022. PIB's final release for 2026 says participation from 74 countries, while the President's Secretariat release the same day says "more than 70". Learn the fixed facts instead: third IFR, Visakhapatnam, 18 February 2026, after Mumbai 2001 and Visakhapatnam 2016.
- 15 to 25 Feb 2026: IFR 2026, MILAN 2026 and the IONS Conclave of Chiefs at Visakhapatnam; the President reviewed the fleet on 18 February.
- 11 Jul 2026: INS Mahendragiri, the sixth Project 17A stealth frigate, was inducted into the Eastern Fleet at Visakhapatnam.
- 6 Oct 2026: the first Fleet Support Ship, Surya, was launched at Visakhapatnam.
1971 in Brief
The Navy's greatest test came within weeks of the Eastern Fleet's raising, and both fleets took part. On the night of 4 to 5 December 1971 missile boats INS Nirghat, INS Nipat and INS Veer fired Styx missiles at Karachi in Operation Trident, and on 8 to 9 December INS Vinash with two frigates followed in Operation Python, sinking the tanker Dacca and damaging the Keamari oil storage, as PIB records. These raids came from the Western Fleet's side of the Navy. In the Bay of Bengal the Eastern Fleet, with INS Vikrant's aircraft, struck East Pakistan's ports, including Chittagong and Khulna. The Western Fleet and Eastern Fleet pages carry the detail, and the wider story is on the 1971 war page.
Guided Tour: The Pages Under Fleet Operations
| Page | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Western Fleet | The "Sword Arm" at Mumbai: growth from the Indian Fleet, typical composition, the Karachi raids of 1971 |
| Eastern Fleet | Visakhapatnam, the Bay of Bengal and Malacca focus, Vikrant's 1971 war, the submarine arm |
| Surface Ships | Carrier, destroyer, frigate, corvette, support ships |
| Submarines | SSBN, SSN and SSK |
| Naval Aviation | Carrier, ship and shore-based aircraft |
| Naval Exercises | TROPEX, MILAN, Malabar and the rest, with dates and venues |
| Indian Ocean Chokepoints and Bases | The straits and island bases that shape where the fleets operate |
For joint working, see tri-services and the Indian Coast Guard, which sent ships to the 2026 review.
Exam pins
- A command is a shore headquarters under a Vice Admiral (FOC-in-C); a fleet is the force at sea under a Rear Admiral (FOC).
- Two fleets: Western (Mumbai) and Eastern (Visakhapatnam); Southern Naval Command has no fleet.
- Titles: FOCWF and FOCEF.
- Western Fleet: 1 March 1968, renamed from the Indian Fleet; the "Sword Arm".
- Eastern Fleet: 1971; golden jubilee marked on 6 and 7 April 2022.
- TROPEX is the Navy's capstone theatre exercise, held every two years; the latest ran January to March 2025.
- Five Fleet Support Ships (about 44,000 tonnes, HSL Visakhapatnam) will replenish ships at sea; the first, Surya, was launched on 6 October 2026.
- First fleet review: 1953; first on the east coast: 2006; 2022 was the 12th (Kovind, yacht INS Sumitra).
- International Fleet Reviews: 2001 Mumbai, 2016 Visakhapatnam, 2026 Visakhapatnam; the 2026 theme was "United Through Oceans".
Asked in past papers
Fleet facts reach the papers through exercises and ship deployments.
Which among the following IN ship(s) participated in the SIMBEX-19? 1. INS Kolkata 2. INS Shakti 3. INS Vikrant. Select the correct answer using the code given below:
(a) 1, 2 and 3 (b) 1 and 2 only (c) 2 and 3 only (d) 1 only
Answer: (b). The destroyer INS Kolkata and the fleet tanker INS Shakti went to SIMBEX in May 2019. INS Vikrant was still being built and was commissioned only in September 2022, so statement 3 is the trap.
Indian Naval Ship INS Tabar had recently participated in a two-day naval exercise with the Italian Navy. The exercise was conducted in
(a) Ionian Sea. (b) Adriatic Sea. (c) Tyrrhenian Sea. (d) Mediterranean Sea.
Answer: (c). PIB records that INS Tabar left Naples on 3 July 2021 and exercised with ITS Antonio Marceglia on 4 and 5 July in the Tyrrhenian Sea, including replenishment at sea. The Mediterranean is tempting because it contains the Tyrrhenian, but the question asks for the named sea.
Consider the following statements about 'Exercise Sea Vigil-22': 1. Its aim is to assess India's preparedness in the domain of Maritime security and coastal defence. 2. Naval forces of USA and Japan also took part in the exercise. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only (b) 2 only (c) Both 1 and 2 (d) Neither 1 nor 2
Answer: (a). Sea Vigil is a pan-India coastal defence exercise run by the Navy with the Coast Guard and other agencies, and PIB's release names no foreign navy. Statement 2 confuses it with a multinational exercise such as Malabar.
Papers ask which ships went where and what an exercise is for, not how a fleet is organised internally. Learn the exercise table above, follow new deployments in our daily defence notes, and practise on the NDA and CDS past-paper pages.
Practice MCQs (with answers)
- Which statement about a naval command and a fleet is correct?
- A fleet is a shore headquarters under a Vice Admiral
- A command is headed by a Rear Admiral with the title Flag Officer Commanding
- A fleet is the seagoing force on a coast and is headed by a Rear Admiral
- Southern Naval Command controls two fleets
- The Western Fleet, the "Sword Arm" of the Navy, was formed on 1 March 1968 by
- raising new ships at Visakhapatnam
- renaming the Indian Fleet
- splitting the Southern Naval Command
- merging the Eastern Fleet with the training squadron
- India has hosted International Fleet Reviews at which two places and years, besides 2026?
- Mumbai 2001 and Visakhapatnam 2016
- Visakhapatnam 2001 and Mumbai 2016
- Kochi 2006 and Mumbai 2011
- Port Blair 1995 and Visakhapatnam 2006
- TROPEX is
- a coastal-defence exercise of the Navy and the coastal states
- a bilateral Navy exercise with the United States
- an exercise held at Port Blair with four navies
- the Navy's theatre-level operational readiness exercise, held every two years
- The five 44,000-tonne ships being built at Hindustan Shipyard, Visakhapatnam, to refuel and restock warships at sea are called
- Fleet Support Ships
- Landing Platform Docks
- Next Generation Corvettes
- Offshore Patrol Vessels
- According to PIB, the President's Fleet Review at Visakhapatnam on 21 February 2022 was the
- tenth fleet review
- eleventh fleet review
- twelfth fleet review
- thirteenth fleet review
1-c, 2-b, 3-a, 4-d, 5-a, 6-c. Q1: (a) and (b) swap the two ranks, and Southern has no fleet. Q4: (a) describes Sea Vigil and (c) describes the first MILAN. Q6: the thirteenth is a common slip from counting the 2026 review, which PIB did not number.
Where to Go Next
Read Western Fleet and Eastern Fleet next, then the Indian Navy hub. Boards ask candidates to speak on the Navy and the sea, so fleet reviews and naval diplomacy make good lecturette topics: see our lecturette topics for SSB. Career details are on career in the Indian Navy. A Navy commission for graduates comes through the CDS course to the Indian Naval Academy, and our CDS batches cover the whole General Knowledge paper with weekly tests and SSB training.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a fleet and a command in the Indian Navy?
A command is a shore headquarters under a Vice Admiral, the FOC-in-C, which looks after bases, dockyards, supply and the readiness of the fleet. A fleet is the force of ships, submarines and aircraft that sails from that coast, under a Rear Admiral called the Flag Officer Commanding. The fleet reports to the command on its coast.
How many fleets does the Indian Navy have?
The Indian Navy has two fleets: the Western Fleet at Mumbai under Western Naval Command and the Eastern Fleet at Visakhapatnam under Eastern Naval Command. Southern Naval Command, the training command, has no fleet. The Andaman and Nicobar Command is tri-service and is not counted as a naval fleet.
Who commands the Western Fleet and the Eastern Fleet?
Each fleet is commanded by a Rear Admiral titled Flag Officer Commanding, shortened FOCWF for the Western Fleet and FOCEF for the Eastern. The officer holds a two-star rank, one below the Vice Admiral who heads the command. PIB's appointment releases give the current names when a change of command takes place.
When was the Eastern Fleet of the Indian Navy formed?
The Eastern Fleet was formed in 1971 at Visakhapatnam, when war with Pakistan was near, and PIB dates its formation to that year. Reference histories give 1 November 1971. Until then the Navy had a single fleet, which was renamed the Western Fleet in 1968 when the Eastern Naval Command was set up.
How many International Fleet Reviews has India hosted?
India has hosted three: at Mumbai in 2001, Visakhapatnam in 2016 and Visakhapatnam on 18 February 2026, which PIB calls the third. The 2026 review had the theme "United Through Oceans" and PIB counts 85 ships, including 19 foreign warships, with President Droupadi Murmu reviewing the fleet from INS Sumedha.
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Sources: pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2229820 · pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1799655 · pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1815257 · pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2109094
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