Vice Chief of the Naval Staff (India)

The Vice Chief of the Naval Staff (VCNS) is a statutory position in the Indian Armed Forces, that is usually held by a three star vice admiral. The Vice Chief is the deputy of the Chief of the Naval Staff and is usually the second highest ranking officer of the Indian Navy. The current VCNS is Vice Admiral Krishna Swaminathan who took over from Vice Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi on 1 May 2024.

History
At the time of independence of India on 15 August 1947, the Chief of Staff to the Commander-in-Chief, Royal Indian Navy was the de facto Second-in-command. The appointment was held by an officer of the rank of Commodore. In 1949, the Chief of Staff was also made Deputy Commander-in-Chief RIN. In 1955, the post was re-designated Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff. In 1959, the post was upgraded to Two-star rank.

On 11 May 1967, the office was re-designated to Vice Chief of the Naval Staff, in line with the Indian Army and Indian Air Force. It was first held by Sourendra Nath Kohli. The appointment was then in the two-star rank of rear admiral. On 12 December 1967, Nilakanta Krishnan succeeded Kohli as VCNS, with the office being raised to the three-star rank of Vice-Admiral in March 1969.

Organisation
The VCNS heads the Staff Branch-I at the Naval Headquarters. The following Directors General/Controllers/Assistant Principal Staff Officers report into the VCNS.
 * Chief Hydrographer
 * Inspector General Nuclear Safety (IGNS)
 * Controller Warship Production & Acquisition (CWP&A)
 * Director General Project Seabird
 * Assistant Chief of the Naval Staff (Policy & Plans)
 * Assistant Chief of the Naval Staff (Staff Requirements)
 * Principal Director Naval Plans (PDNP)
 * Integrated Financial Advisor (Navy)
 * Director General of Naval Armament (DGONA)
 * Director General Naval Armament Inspectorate (DGNAI)
 * Scientific Adviser to the Chief of the Naval Staff (SA to CNS)

Order of precedence
The VCNS ranks at No. 23 on the Indian order of precedence, along with the Vice Chiefs of Staff of the Indian Army and Indian Air Force and the Army Commanders (GOC-in-C), Naval Commanders (FOC-in-C) and Air Commanders (AOC-in-C). The VCNS is at the Apex Pay grade (Grade 17), with a monthly pay of ₹225,000 (US$3,200).

Appointees
The following table chronicles the appointees to the office of the Vice Chief of the Naval Staff.