Gurcharan Singh (admiral)

Vice Admiral Gurcharan Singh, AVSM, NM is a serving Flag officer in the Indian Navy. He assumed the appointment of Commandant, National Defence Academy on 25 May 2024 from Vice Admiral Ajay Kochhar. He earlier served as the Controller Personnel Services and as the Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet.

Early life and education
Singh was born in a naval family. His father was a gunnery officer and was posted at INS Venduruthy and subsequently at the gunnery school INS Dronacharya. Singh spent his childhood in Kochi and attended the Kendriya Vidyalaya Naval Base Kochi. After his schooling, he joined the National Defence Academy, Pune.

Singh has attended the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington, the Naval War College, Goa and the National Defence College. he has also attended the Maritime Intelligence Course at National Intelligence University (NIU), Washington, D.C. and the United Nations Staff Officers Course (UNSOC) at Stockholm, Sweden.

Naval career
Singh was commissioned into the Indian Navy on 1 July 1990. He is a specialist in Gunnery and missile Warfare. During his ab-initio training, he placed first in the overall order of merit and was awarded the Admiral RD Katari Trophy. He has served in specialist tenures on board the Rajput-class destroyer INS Ranjit and the Veer-class corvette INS Prahar. He was the commissioning gunnery officer of the lead ship of her class of guided missile frigates INS Brahmaputra. He was also the commissioning executive officer of the lead ship of her class of stealth guided missile frigates INS Shivalik.

Singh has commanded the Veer-class missile vessel INS Vidyut, and the lead ship of her class of missile corvettes INS Khukri. During his command of the Khukri, in December 2011, the ship was awarded the Unit Citation for successful conduct of anti-piracy operations. He subsequently commissioned the Kolkata-class stealth guided-missile destroyer INS Kochi as the commanding officer. He thus has the distinction of being part of the commissioning crew of three ships - Brahmaputra, Shivalik and Kochi.

Singh, in his staff appointments, has served as the training coordinator at the gunnery base INS Dronacharya. He also served as the Director of Naval Intelligence at Naval headquarters. As a Commodore, he served as the Chief Staff Officer and Commodore Work Up at Indian Naval Workup Team Kochi (INWT), under the Flag Officer Sea Training (FOST). For his tenure at INWT, on 26 January 2020, he was awarded the Nao Sena Medal for devotion to duty. He subsequently served as the Deputy Commandant of his alma mater, Naval War College, Goa.

Flag rank
On promotion to Flag rank, Singh took over as the Chief Staff Officer (Operations) (CSO Ops) at the Western Naval Command. As CSO (Ops), he planned and executed the search and rescue operations during Cyclone Tauktae. He also planned the Operation Samudra Setu II, where warships were deployed for shipment of liquid medical oxygen and medical equipment from various countries.

He also served as the Assistant Chief of Personnel (Human Resource Development) (ACOP HRD) at naval headquarters. ACOP is an assistant principal staff officer appointment. On 29 November 2022, he assumed the office of the Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet (FOCEF), taking over from Rear Admiral Sanjay Bhalla. After a year-long tenure, he relinquished charge to Rear Admiral Rajesh Dhankhar. For his tenure as FOCEF, he was awarded the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal on 26 January 2024. In the same month, he was promoted to the rank of Vice Admiral and appointed Controller Personnel Services at NHQ. After a short stint as CPS, he was appointed Commandant of the National Defence Academy. He took over from Vice Admiral Ajay Kochhar on 25 May 2024.

Personal life
Singh is married to Kamaljit Chatha. The couple has two daughters, Anushka and Tammanna.

Awards and decorations
Singh was awarded the FOC-in-C commendation in 2002, the Nao Sena Medal in 2020 and the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal in 2024.