New Delhi, (Samajweekly) Commodore Mahadevu Goverdhan Raju, NM took over as Naval Officer-in-Charge (Andhra Pradesh) from Commodore Sanjiv Issar on Friday. A ceremonial parade was held in the Naval Base at Visakhapatnam.
Cmde Raju is an alumnus of Sainik School, Korukonda and National Defence Academy, Khadakvasla. He was commissioned into the Indian Navy on July 1, 1989 and is a specialist in Navigation and Direction.
He held a spectrum of highly challenging operational, staff and training appointments; the commissioning crew of INS Sagardhwani, specialist and executive officer appointments on frontline warships, Joint Director Staff Requirements at Naval Headquarters, Director (Training & Policy) at HQ Integrated Defence Staff, Principal Director (Training) at the premier training establishment, Indian Naval Academy (Ezhimala) and Director, Maritime Warfare Centre (Vizag).A
He has also carried out the duties of Fleet Operations Officer of Eastern Fleet during Dec 2014-May 2016, and he concurrently carried out the duties as the Chief Coordinator for Static Review, Operational Demonstration, Passage Exercise etc. during the prestigious International Fleet Review-2016 and contributed to its grand success.
He is also a graduate of Defence Services Staff College, Wellington, Army War College, Mhow and National Defence College, Mirpur (Bangladesh).
He has the distinction of commanding four IN Ships; Torpedo Recovery Vessel-71, Ocean Going Minesweeper Ratnagiri, Dhanush OPV Suvarna and Destroyer Ranvijay, as well as two shore units; the premier training establishment INS Chilka with concurrent charge as Naval Officer-in-Charge (Odisha), and the Forward Operating Base INS Sardar Patel with concurrent charge as Naval Officer-in-Charge (Gujarat).
He is also recipient of Nao Sena Medal (Devotion to Duty) in 2014.