Navy appointed first woman commanding officer in naval ship: Navy chief

New Delhi: The Indian Navy has appointed the first woman commanding officer in a naval ship in sync with its philosophy of 'all roles-all ranks' for female personnel, Navy Chief Admiral R Hari Kumar said on Friday.

Addressing a press conference ahead of Navy Day, Admiral Kumar said the Indian Navy's ships, submarines, and aircraft have sustained a high operational tempo in the strategic waters in the last one year.

On China's increasing forays into the Indian Ocean, he said Indian Navy monitors all activities in the region.

"Our ships, submarines, and aircraft have sustained a high operational tempo - undertaking missions and tasks encompassing military, diplomatic, constabulary and benign roles," he said.

"Our units were mission deployed across the Indian Ocean Region and beyond, to protect and promote our national interests," he said.

The Navy has "remained a 'Combat-ready, Credible, Cohesive, and Future Proof' force enabled by what we call our 'ships first' outlook where every single action that we take is aimed to enable our women and men in operational units to perform their duties very well." On the operational front, the Navy's sheer footprint of deployments has been satisfying as its ships have been persistently present across the Indo Pacific.

Admiral Kumar said the Indian Navy has appointed the first woman commanding officer in a naval ship.

"The overall strength of women Agniveers has now crossed the 1,000 mark. These statistics stands testament to our philosophy of 'all roles, all ranks' approach to deployment of women in the service." He also said the Indian Navy is fully committed to jointness and cohesiveness.