Eastern Naval Command in Visakhapatnam
Visakhapatnam, one of the largest cities in Andhra Pradesh and administrative headquarters of Visakhapatnam District and one of most renowned for its Governance in respect to its development and commercialization.
Indian Navy has played a major role in making Visakhapatnam an important city in the industrial map of the country. It has brought laurels to Visakhapatnam due to many of its ventures in the City. Indian Navy stands out to be one of the most important reasons for
Visakhapatnam to be so diverse in terms of its culture, people and heritage
with many people across the country settling in the city due to employment
making it a thorough cosmopolitan city to reckon with. Visakhapatnam or Vizag as many
refer hosts the headquarters of the Eastern Naval Command (ENC) of Indian Navy. History of Eastern Naval Command (ENC)
Being one of the oldest naval commands in India, the history goes back as far as 1930's.
An assembly point for Convoys known as HMIS Circars was commissioned on the 12th of December 1939 during the British Colonial rule. A year after the Japanese bombardment in 1942 because of the realization of the importance of Circars strategically, an
Ordnance Transit Depot and a repair yard was established in Visakhapatnam.
Post-Independence, the govt. of India and Naval planning commission in 1st
of March 1968 keeping in mind the immense grown potential, the natural harbour
and most importantly the strategic location, established the headquarters of
the ENC at Visakhapatnam. Thereafter, ENC has grown to become the naval command
with the largest area of responsibility with many additions.
With continuous additions of Aircrafts, surface ships & Submarines at Visakhapatnam, ENC has out grown exponentially. Being grown to be an important arm of Indian Navy, with Indian Navy’s combined fleet of East, robust submarine arm, an omni-present air support, naval dockyard and various number of units covering the East Coast, ENC operates in structured sync to further India’s maritime policies.
Function of Eastern Naval Command
Headquarters of ENC at Visakhapatnam plays the role
in strengthening country’s reach and influence.
ENC works closely with Tri-Service Andaman & Nicobar with their
headquarters at Port Blair overseeing the maritime interests of entire Bay of
Bengal and parts of Indian Ocean with respective jurisdiction. ENC is an
important dockyard for two nuclear powered submarines. INS Varsha, a 20 Sq. Km
based is being developed about 50 Km south of Visakhapatnam only for Naval use.
The ENC fleets are strategically distributed to bases at Kolkata, Chennai,
Kakinada, Paradip, Tuticorin and the Andaman & Nicobar Islands. The latest
addition of naval bases called INS Baaz at the Andaman & Nicobar at its
southernmost tip securing the strategically important Straits of Malacca and
naval air station at Kolkata to base an aerial vehicle squadron which is
unmanned.
Supported by Army’s Eastern Command at Kolkata to the North, Air Force’s Southern Air Command at Thiruvananthapuram
to the south and to the east by Andaman & Nicobar Islands, the entire
operation works together to be an effective support group and comply with all
of its operational commitments.