Sureesh Mehta
Former Chief of the Indian Navy
Admiral Sureesh Mehta, PVSM, AVSM (born August 18, 1947) served as 19th Chief of the Indian Navy from 31 October 2006 until 31 August 2009. He was succeeded by Nirmal Kumar Verma. He is the first service chief from India's armed forces to be born post Indian Independence. He is married to Maria Teresa Mehta, and they have two children.
01Early life
Admiral Mehta was born on 18 August 1947 at Gurdaspur, Punjab in a Hindu Punjabi Khatri Family. He studied in the National Defence Academy before joining the Indian Navy. Later, he also graduated from the Defence Services Staff College and the National Defence College.
02Military career
After graduating, Admiral Mehta joined the Fleet Air Arm of the Indian Navy, where he flew the Hawker Sea Hawk off the aircraft carrier, INS Vikrant. He was the Flag Officer Commanding Western Fleet during the Kargil War. Later, he served as the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief (FOC-in-C) of the Eastern Naval Command (ENC) from 30 September 2005 till his appointment as the Naval Chief. He was appointed the Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee (COSC) on 28 September 2007.
03Awards and distinctions
In 1995, Admiral Mehta was awarded the Ati Vishist Seva Medal. In 2005, he received the Param Vishist Seva Medal.
04High Commissioner to New Zealand
After retirement, the Indian government appointed him as India's High Commissioner to New Zealand.
05Awards and decorations
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Sureesh Mehta”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Sureesh Mehta CNS.jpg by Ministry of Defence, Government of India, GODL-India
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