BIODATA
REAR ADMIRAL SY SHRIKHANDE, AVSM, IN (Retd)
RADM SudarshanShrikhande (DOB 28 Jun 1959) studied in DeNobili School, Dhanbad; a graduate of NDA; commissioned on 01 Jul 1980. His early sea tenures were in IN Ships Taragiri, LCU-L32, Rajput. From 1985 to 1988 he completed an ASW Weapon and Sonar Engineering PG Course at the Soviet Naval War College, Leningrad (St. Petersburg), graduating with distinction for his MSc in Weapon and Sonar Engineering. His engineering thesis was on improving the wire guidance effectiveness and target versatility of a particular torpedo.He served as ASWO/Ops officer of INS Ranvir for nearly four years wherein some new steps were initiated in combat effectiveness of some ASW systems and in ASW tactics. Further service at sea was in command of INS Nishank, XO of INS Delhi and CO, INS Kora. His shore appointments included instructor ASW School, Commander War Room, New Delhi, Director Indian Naval Tactical Evaluation Group and Directing Staff/ College of Naval Warfare. He was the Defence Adviser in HCI/ Canberra (Australia) concurrently accredited to Fiji, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Tonga from 2005-2008. He commanded INS Rajput in the Eastern Fleet from Apr 2008 – May 2009. On selection to Flag Rank in Jan 2009, he was ACNS (Foreign Co-operation & Intelligence) at NHQ until Aug 2010. He was a selected member of the IN’s Strategy Council from 2008- 2011. His later flag appointmentswere Chief of Staff, SNC from Aug 10- Aug 12 and as ACIDS (Fin &Plg)/ HQIDS until Apr 14. From Apr 14 to Oct 15, he was Chief Staff Officer (Sea Vector) at HQSFC and also officiated as Deputy C-in-C/ SFC for some time. In Nov 2015, he reported as Flag Officer Doctrines & Concepts for the IN, based at Mumbai. He opted for early retirement from the Navy after 36 years on 10 July 2016and now lives in Goa.
2.He graduated from the Defence Services Staff College in 1995 and was awarded the Scudder Medal by Madras University for his MSc (Strat Studies) and Peter Mitchell (Third) Prize from the Royal Australian Navy. He graduated from Naval Higher Command Courses at the College of Naval Warfare, Mumbai. He is also a 2003 graduate of the US Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island, where he was the first foreign officer to graduate with highest distinction, was class president and was awarded the “Robert Bateman” and “Jerome E Levy” first prizes and the “James Forrestal” Seminar prize. He has been awarded MPHIL from Mumbai University in 2014. He has been accepted into the Mumbai University - NWC PhD programme. His thesis is on sea-based nuclear deterrence for India. He was awarded the AVSM in 2015.
3.Besides having written several papers on professional subjects while in service, he writes regularly for military magazines, a few websites and has been teaching a capsule of uptoeight lectures on the works and ideas of the Masters of Strategy, RMAand ethics at the NWC, Goa for the NHCC, at the DSSC,the College of Air Warfare, Army War College, Naval Academy and elsewhere.