Krishna Swaminathan


Krishna Swaminathan, VSM is a serving Flag officer in the Indian Navy. He currently serves as the Flag Officer Commanding Western Fleet. Before taking this appointment up, he served as the Flag Officer Sea Training at Kochi. He previously served as the second Commanding Officer of the aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya.

Early Life & Education

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 11. He then attended the Sainik School, Bijapur. He then joined and graduated from the National Defence Academy, Pune.

Naval Career

Swaminathan 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.
Swaminathan has commanded five front-line ships of the Indian Navy. He has commanded the Veer-class corvettes - and, the Kora-class guided-missile corvette and the Guided missile destroyer.
On 2 November 2015, he took command of the flagship of the Indian Navy, the aircraft carrier as its second commanding officer.
Swaminathan has served on the staff of the Western Fleet, has served as an instructor at the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington. As a Commodore, Swaminathan served as the Naval Assistant to the Chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral Robin K. Dhowan.
On promotion to Flag Rank, Swaminathan took over as the Chief Staff Officer at the Southern Naval Command, the training command of the Indian Navy. On 18 March 2019, he assumed the office of Flag Officer Sea Training 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.
Swaminathan took command of the Western Fleet on 14 February 2020 as the Flag Officer Commanding Western Fleet.

See Also