Transition to Triumph: History of the Indian Navy 1965-1975

Vice Admiral GM Hiranandani joined the Navy in 1949. After initial training with the Britain Navy from 1949 to 1953, he specialised in gunnery and missiles in 1957 and at the British Naval Staff and Tactical Colleges in 1965. He first commanded the Naval Battery at Cochin, which is the present Gunnery School. During his illustrious carrier of 40 years, he served in a battleship, an aircraft carrier, in cruisers, destroyers, frigates and a minesweeper. He commanded the Cadet Training Ship in 1970 and commissioned the first Russian missile destroyer, INS Rajput in 1980. From 1969 onwards, he was associated with the Navys Russian acquisitions, as DWP&T. He was Director Combat Policy and Tactics (1974-77). As a flag officer, he was Chief of Staff Western Naval Command (1981-82), Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff (1983-84), Commander-in-Chief Southern Naval Command (1985-87) and Vice Chief of the Naval Staff (1988-89). During the 1971 War, he was the Fleet Operation Officer Western Fleet. The initial idea of fragile missile boats to be towed by Fleet ships and released like falcons evolved from his practical experiments at sea and culminated in the successful attack on 8 December. Admiral Hiranandani was awarded the NM (Gallantry) in the 1971 Indo-Pakistan War, the AVSM in 1979 for his services as Director Combat Policy and Tactics and the PVSM in 1986 for revitalising the Navys training institutions. After retiring in 1989, he was appointed to the Union of Indias Public Service Commission. On retiring from the UPSC, as its officiating Chairman in 1995, Naval Headquarters asked him to write the official history of the Indian Navy. He authored a trilogy: Transition to Triumph covering the period 1965 to 1975, Transition to Eminence covering the period 1976 to 1990 and Transition to Guardianship covering the last decade of the 21st Century.