Flag Officer Commanding Tamil Nadu & Puducherry Naval Area (FOTNA)
Flag of the FOTNA (Rear Admiral's flag)
Incumbent Rear AdmiralSatish Shenai,NM since 12 January 2025
Indian Navy
Abbreviation	FOTNA
Reports to	Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Naval Command
Seat	Chennai
First holder	Rear Admiral Alok Bhatnagar (as FOTNA)

Flag Officer Commanding Tamil Nadu & Puducherry Naval Area (FOTNA) is a senior appointment in theIndian Navy. One of the five Area Commanders of the Indian Navy, the FOTNA is atwo star admiral holding the rank ofRear Admiral. The FOTNA is responsible for the operations and administration of all units and establishments in the state ofTamil Nadu and theunion territory ofPuducherry. The Current FOTNA isRear AdmiralSatish Shenai,NM, who assumed office on 12 January 2025.

A Naval office was set up in Chennai in the early 1940s. The first Naval Officer-in-Charge (NOIC) was Captain R. A. Malhuish. In 1946, the NOIC was re-designated Resident Naval Officer (RNO). With INS Adyar being recommissioned in 1954, the strength of the naval base grew and in 1968, the RNO was designated NOIC (Madras), and was responsible to theFlag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Naval Command. The NOIC (Madras) also discharged the duties of Commanding Officer INS Adyar.^[1]

With increasing responsibilities, a new appointment of NOIC (Tuticorin) was created in December 1994. The Commanding OfficerINS Kattabomman dual-hatted as the NOIC(T) with the responsibility of local naval defence along the coast from theGulf of Mannar up to Kerala. The units and installations along the coast in theBay of Bengal up to thePamban Pass was under the NOIC (Madras). The two appointments were merged again after a few years and the new appointment of NOIC (Tamil Nadu & Pondicherry) was created.^[2]

In November 2015, the billet was upgraded totwo-star rank and rechristenedFlag Officer Commanding Tamil Nadu & Puducherry Naval Area (FOTNA).Commodore Alok Bhatnagar, the NOIC (TN&P) was promoted to the rank ofRear Admiral and took over as the first FOTNA.^[3][4][5][6]

The FOTNA is assisted by the NOIC (TN&P), aone-star appointment. The NOIC (TN&P) also serves as the Chief Staff Officer at Headquarters Tamil Nadu & Puducherry Naval Area (HQTN&P). The FOTNA is responsible to theFlag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Naval Command for the operations and administration of all units and establishments inTamil Nadu andPuducherry. This includes all ships and submarines based at the Karwar Naval Base as well. The establishments under the FOTNA include:^[7]

• The Naval Base INS Adyar
• Thenaval air stationINS Parundu
• Thenaval air stationINS Rajali
• The naval helicopter training schoolINAS 561
• The VLF-transmission facilityINS Kattabomman
• Naval Coast Battery, Chennai
• Forward Operating Base, Tuticorin
• Sagar Prahari Bal, Chennai

• Doraibabu, M; Godbole, Amrut (2023),A Decade of Transformation: The Indian Navy 2011-2021, Harper Collins Publishers India,ISBN 9789394407909
• Hiranandani, Vice Admiral GM (2013),Transition to Guardianship: The Indian Navy 1991–2000, Lancer Publishers LLC,ISBN 978-1-935501-66-4

• Indian Navy
• Indian military appointments
• Indian Navy appointments

• CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list