Avoiding mishaps top priority for new Navy Chief

Taking over from a predecessor who had quit midway owing to a series of mishaps, Navy Chief Admiral Robin Dhowan today said the force will ensure that such accidents do not happen in future and personnel follow laid down rules without resorting to shortcuts which lead to such incidents.

Soon after taking over as the 22nd Navy Chief, Dhowan told reporters,"We have effective safety audits and strict procedures in place to ensure that accidents don't happen."

"The aspect about the accidents is the issue that being a professional Navy, we have to ensure that these incidents do not happen in future," he said.

"And the way to do that is to follow Standard Operating Procedures that are laid down and we don't take any shortcuts that lead to these accidents," he said when asked how the force would bring accidents under control.

Dhowan's predecessor Admiral DK Joshi had resigned taking moral responsibility of a series of mishaps.

In the last ten months, the Navy has suffered 14 mishaps including two involving submarines.

The first major mishap took place in August last year, which resulted in the sinking of the INS Sindhurakshak and killing of all 18 personnel on board.

The second submarine mishap took place on February 26 in which two officers died on INS Sindhuratna which led to the resignation of Joshi as Chief of Naval Staff.

Dhowan, who has superseded Western Naval Commander Vice Admiral Shekhar Sinha, said the force including sailors and commands will have to work together to take the force forward.

"Till the time we don't work together as a team and carry out our daily tasks and face challenges, we would not be able to become a top-class Navy," he said.

That is why, our priority would be that we will work as a team, whether it is a sailor or the commands, take forward the navy and face the challenges in the maritime domain, Dhowan said.

The Navy chief was asked how he would he face the challenges ahead of the navy when there were issues related to seniority and whether he expected support from the Eastern and Western commands, whose heads were in race with him for the top job.