K. R. Nair

Nair was commissioned in the Royal Indian Naval Volunteer Reserve (RINVR) in 1942,[2] and was promoted temporary acting lieutenant on 8 April 1943.[3] In 1944, he attended a specialist anti-submarine course in the United Kingdom.[2] On 21 January 1945, he was posted to HMIS Machlimar at Bombay, whose executive officer was Lieutenant-Commander Ram Dass Katari.[4]

Nair was promoted captain on 31 December 1955.[5] He held several important commands, including CO of INS Rana, captain of the 22nd Destroyer Squadron, INS Valsura at Jamnagar and INS Venduruthy at Cochin.[2] He was appointed Chief of Personnel (COP) at Naval Headquarters on 20 November 1959, in the rank of commodore,[6] and served until 1963, when he was appointed chief of staff to the Flag Officer Commanding Indian Fleet (FOCIF),[2] serving under Rear Admirals Adhar Kumar Chatterji and Benjamin Abraham Samson. In June 1965, he was appointed to a second tenure as Chief of Personnel and was promoted rear admiral in August when the post was raised to flag rank.[2]

In July 1967, Nair was appointed the first Flag Officer East Coast, based at Vishakhapatnam.[7] Eight months later, on 1 March 1968, he became the first Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Naval Command (FOC-in-C, ENC) when the post was upgraded. After serving for three years, he retired from the Navy in March 1971.[8] He died in 2007.[1]