Krishna Swaminathan

Krishna was born to D. Swaminathan and Shanta Swaminathan, both teachers, in Bangalore. The Swaminathans resided in NR Colony in Basavanagudi. He attended the Bishop Cotton Boys' School until the age of 15. He then attended the Sainik School, Bijapur. He subsequently joined and graduated from the National Defence Academy, Pune.^[4]

Krishna was commissioned into the Indian Navy on 1 July 1987. He is a specialist in Communication and Electronic Warfare. He has completed the staff course at the Joint Services Command and Staff College, Shrivenham in the United Kingdom and the higher command course at the College of Naval Warfare in Mumbai. He has also attended the Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island in the United States.

Krishna has commanded five front-line ships of the Indian Navy. He has commanded the Veer-class corvettes - INS Vidyut (K48) and INS Vinash (K47), the Kora-class guided-missile corvette INS Kulish (P63) and the guided missile destroyer INS Mysore (D60). He was in command of Mysore during the President's fleet review in 2011. Under his command, the ship participated in INDRA - the joint naval exercise with Russia, in late 2012.^[5]

On 2 November 2015, Krishna took command of the flagship of the Indian Navy, the aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya (R33) as its second commanding officer.^[6][7] He commanded the carrier during the International Fleet Review 2016. During his command tenure, Vikramaditya was adjudged the Best Ship of the Western Fleet.^[8]

In his staff appointments, Krishna has served on the staff of the Western Fleet, has served as an instructor at the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington. As a Commodore, he served as the Naval Assistant (NA) to the Chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral Robin K. Dhowan.^[9]

On promotion to Flag rank, Krishna took over as the Chief Staff Officer (Training) (CSO (Trg)) at the Southern Naval Command, the training command of the Indian Navy, at Kochi. As CSO (Trg), he played a key role in the conduct of all training in the Navy. He was also instrumental in raising the Indian Navy Safety Team (INST) that oversees operational safety across all verticals of the Navy.^[10] On 18 March 2019, he assumed the office of Flag Officer Sea Training (FOST), also at Kochi. FOST functions under the operational and administrative jurisdiction of Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Southern Naval Command. As FOST, his charter included the conduct of the operational sea training of all ships of the Indian Navy and the Indian Coast Guard. It includes enhancing crew proficiency in all aspects, including safe navigation practices, damage control and firefighting drills, weapon firings as well as seamanship training.^[11]

Krishna took command of the Western Fleet on 14 February 2020 as the Flag Officer Commanding Western Fleet.^[12][13] During this tenure, the western fleet exercised with the Japanese Maritime Self Defence Force (JMSDF) in the North Arabian Sea in the 4th edition of India - Japan Maritime bilateral exercise JIMEX. The JMSDF had its Escort Flotilla Two under the command of Rear Admiral Konno Yasushige.^[14] For his command of the western fleet, on 26 January 2021, he was awarded the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal.^[15]

In February 2021, he relinquished command of the Western Fleet and was appointed Flag Officer Defence Advisory Group and took over from Rear Admiral Ravindra Jayant Nadkarni.^[16][17] He was the FODAG during the extremely severe Cyclone Tauktae, which impacted off-shore oil operations. After a short stint as FODAG, on 4 November 2021, he was promoted to the rank of Vice Admiral and appointed Chief of Staff of the Western Naval Command at Mumbai.^[18] In April 2023, he was appointed Controller of Personnel Services at naval headquarters.^[19] After a short stint as CPS, he was appointed Chief of Personnel on 6 October 2023. In both appointments, CPS and COP, he took over from Vice Admiral Suraj Berry.^[20] On 1 May 2024 he took over as the 39th Vice Chief of Naval Staff succeeding Vice Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi upon his elevation as the Chief of Naval Staff.^[2]

Krishna is married to Laila Swaminathan. The couple has two daughters.^[21]

Source:^[22]

• Flag Officer Commanding Western Fleet
• Western Fleet
• INS Vikramaditya