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Admiral

B S Soman
Born(1913-03-13)13 March 1913
Gwalior, Gwalior State, British Raj
Died8 February 1995(1995-02-08) (aged 81)
Pune, Maharashtra, India
Allegiance British India
 India
Service/branch Royal Indian Navy
 Indian Navy
Years of service1932–1966
Rank Admiral
Commands heldIndian Fleet
Bombay Command
Commodore-in-Charge Cochin
Battles/warsWorld War II
Liberation of Goa
Indo-Pakistani War of 1965
Soman (right) with OB Sjaaf of the Indonesian Navy, 1960

Admiral Bhaskar Sadashiv Soman (30 March 1913 – 8 February 1995) was an Indian Navy Admiral. He was in command of the Indian Navy from 1962 to 1966 as the 5th Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS).[1]

Early life

Soman was born in Gwalior, the capital of the eponymous princely state. He received his early education at the Indian National Congress' Tilak Vidyalaya and at a school in Sangli State.

Career

He subsequently entered the Royal Indian Marine (RIM), and following initial training on the training ship T/S Dufferin, was selected for officer training in the United Kingdom in 1932.[2] He was appointed a sub-lieutenant in the RIM on 1 September 1934,[3] and was promoted to lieutenant on 1 September 1937.[4] During World War II, Soman was promoted to acting lieutenant-commander on 29 April 1944,[5] and to the permanent rank of lieutenant-commander on 1 September 1945.[6] During the war, he served in various shore establishments and in the service's Landing Craft Wing.[7]

Soman was promoted to the acting rank of Commander in 1946 and was appointed Drafting Commander of the RIN, becoming the first Indian appointee to the post.[7] He was promoted to acting captain on 21 July 1947.[7] He was subsequently appointed Chief of Personnel, followed by appointment as Chief of Administration (COA) at Naval HQ.[2] On 5 October 1949, he relinquished office, handing over to Captain S. G. Karmarkar and took over as Senior Officer, RIN Frigate Flotilla, commanding HMIS Jumna.[8] He received promotion to the substantive rank of Captain on 31 December 1950.[9] In 1952, he was appointed the first Indian Naval Officer-in-Charge (NOIC), Vishakapatnam, which oversaw the Boys' Training Establishment.[1] In January 1954, he was appointed Commodore-in-Charge, Cochin (COMCHIN),[10] with appointment as Commodore-in-Charge, Bombay, towards the end of 1956.

Flag Rank

With the upgrading of the post, he was promoted to Rear Admiral on 12 June 1958 and reappointed Flag Officer Commanding Bombay (FOB).[11] In April 1960, he took over as Flag Officer Commanding Indian Fleet (FOCIF), and was in charge of India's naval operations during the 1961 Liberation of Goa.[2][1]

He was appointed CNS on 5 June 1962 taking over from Vice Admiral Ram Dass Katari, with the acting rank of Vice Admiral, and was confirmed in the substantive rank on 22 November.[12]

Post-retirement

Soman retired from the Indian Navy on 22 November 1966, relinquishing the post of CNS as a Vice Admiral, then the highest attainable rank in the Navy.[13] In 1968, the post of CNS was upgraded to the rank of full admiral, and on 21 October 1980, Soman and Ram Dass Katari, his predecessor as CNS, were promoted to the honorary rank of full Admiral on the retired list by President Neelam Sanjiva Reddy.[14][15] Soman suffered a mild stroke in December 1994. In February 1995, he suffered a more serious stroke which led to his death at the age of 81.[16]

References

  1. ^ a b c Bharat Rakshak: Chiefs of the Indian Navy
  2. ^ a b c Nanporia, N. J., ed. (1967). "Who's Who in India (Soman, Bhaskar Sadashiv)". The Times of India Directory & Yearbook, including Who's Who. The Times of India Press, Bombay. p. 1034.
  3. ^ "No. 34150". The London Gazette. 12 April 1935. p. 2515.
  4. ^ "No. 34444". The London Gazette. 15 October 1937. p. 6377.
  5. ^ "The Royal Indian Navy". The Navy List: January 1945. HM Government, UK. 1945. p. 2092.
  6. ^ "No. 37436". The London Gazette. 18 January 1946. p. 527.
  7. ^ a b c "Higher Ranks for Indian Officers of the R.I.N." (PDF). Press Information Bureau of India - Archive. 21 July 1947. Retrieved 26 January 2020.
  8. ^ "Frigate Flotilla for the RIN" (PDF). Press Information Bureau of India - Archive. 5 October 1949. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
  9. ^ "Part I-Section 4: Ministry of Defence (Navy Branch)" (PDF). The Gazette of India. 20 January 1951. p. 14.
  10. ^ "IN Appointments" (PDF). Press Information Bureau of India - Archive. 28 November 1953. Retrieved 13 September 2020.
  11. ^ "Part I-Section 4: Ministry of Defence (Navy Branch)" (PDF). The Gazette of India. 16 August 1958. p. 188.
  12. ^ "Part I-Section 4: Ministry of Defence (Navy Branch)" (PDF). The Gazette of India. 26 January 1963. p. 34.
  13. ^ "Part I-Section 4: Ministry of Defence (Navy Branch)" (PDF). The Gazette of India. 14 October 1967. p. 782.
  14. ^ "Part I-Section 4: Ministry of Defence (Navy Branch)" (PDF). The Gazette of India. 29 November 1980. p. 1360.
  15. ^ "Former Naval Chiefs Honoured" (PDF). Press Information Bureau of India - Archive. 3 November 1980. Retrieved 29 January 2020.
  16. ^ "भास्कर सदाशिव सोमण (Bhaskar Sadashiv Soman)". Marathi Vishwakosh. 16 March 2019. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
Military offices Preceded byRam Dass Katari Chief of the Naval Staff 1962–1966 Succeeded byAdhar Kumar Chatterji Preceded byAjitendu Chakraverti Flag Officer Commanding Indian Fleet 1960–1962 New titleOffice created Flag Officer Bombay 1958–1960 Succeeded byS. G. Karmarkar Preceded byAdhar Kumar Chatterji Commodore-in-Charge Bombay 1956–1958 Office abolished Preceded byA D H Jay Commodore-in-Charge Cochin 1954–1956 Succeeded byS. G. Karmarkar Preceded byGeoffrey Gowlland Naval Officer-in-Charge, Visakhapatnam 1951–1953 Succeeded byReginald Sawhney New titleOffice created Chief of Materiel 1949–1949 Succeeded byS. G. Karmarkar Preceded byH R Inigo-Jones Chief of Personnel 1947–1949 Succeeded byRam Dass Katari
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