Nilakanta Krishnan

Vice Admiral Nilakanta Krishnan
Born	1919
Died	January 1982
Allegiance	India
Service/branch	Indian Navy
Years of service	1938-1976
Rank	Vice Admiral
Commands held	Eastern Naval Command
Awards	Padma Bhushan

Lt Gen A A K Niazi signing the Pakistani Instrument of Surrender under the gaze of Lt Gen J S Aurora. Standing immediately behind (L-R) Vice Admiral Krishnan, Air Marshal Dewan, Lt. Gen Sagat Singh and Maj Gen JFR Jacob.

Vice Admiral Nilakanta Krishnan Padma Bhushan,^[1] DSC, PVSM (1919 – January 1982), was the Flag Officer Commanding in Chief of the Eastern Naval Command of the Indian Navy during the 1971 Indo-Pakistani War. He is credited with using a very innovative strategy, while commanding the aircraft carrier INS Vikrant, in the Bay of Bengal. He is believed to have tricked the Pakistani submarine PNS Ghazi, which was on a search and destroy mission, into entering Visakhapatnam; where it was eliminated. Krishnan was the youngest son of Rao Bahadur Mahadeva Nilakanta Ayyar (an Executive Engineer ^[2] ).^[3] While his eldest brother Nilakanta Mahadeva Ayyar pursued his career in the Indian Civil Service cadre, Krishnan joined the Royal Indian Navy. Under his leadership, the aircraft carrier's Sea Hawks struck shipping in the Chittagong and Cox's Bazar harbors, sinking or incapacitating most ships in harbor. His command during the war, led the crew of Vikrant to earn two Mahavir Chakras and 12 Vir Chakras.

Nilakanta Krishnan was appointed Sub-Lieutenant of the Royal Indian Navy on 1 September 1940.;^[4] this was a time, when India was still a part of the British Empire. In 1942 he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for "courage, enterprise and devotion to duty in operations in the Persian Gulf".^[5] He had been serving on HMIS Investigator at that time,^[6] Admiral Krishnan retired from the Indian Navy in 1976.

Krishnan wrote an autobiography, A Sailor' Story, which was edited by Arjun Krishnan.^[7] He had also written No way But Surrender - An Account of the Indo-Pakistani War in the Bay of Bengal.^[8]

References

1. "Padma Awards" (PDF). Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. 2015. Retrieved July 21, 2015.
2. Doyle, Patrick (1905). Indian engineering, Volume 37. Calcutta. pp. xii.
3. Krishnan, N. A Sailor's story. Bangalore: Punya Pub. ISBN 9788189534141.
4. The London Gazette: no. 34960. p. 5841. 4 October 1940.
5. The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 35481. p. 1105. 6 March 1942.
6. Cannon, Peter (2011). "HMAS Yarra and Operation Marmalade". Australian Maritime Issues 2010: SPC-A Annual (PDF). Papers in Australian Maritime Affairs, No. 35. Sea Power Centre, Australian Department of Defence. p. 96. Retrieved 2012-04-19.
7. Krishnan, Nilakanta (2011). Krishnan, Arjun, ed. A Sailor's Story. Punya Publishing. ISBN 978-8189534134.
8. Krishnan, Nilakanta (1980). No way But Surrender - An Account of the Indo-Pakistani War in the Bay of Bengal. Vikas,. ISBN 0706910184.