Cite
MLA
“Origins of the Indian Navy.” Hindu History, 2026, https://www.hinduhistory.in/samudra/indian-navy-origins/. Accessed .
APA
Hindu History. (2026). Origins of the Indian Navy. Retrieved , from https://www.hinduhistory.in/samudra/indian-navy-origins/
What defines it
- 01
East India Company’s Marine, Surat, 1612
- 02
Bombay Marine; renamed Indian Navy 1830
- 03
Royal Indian Marine 1892; Royal Indian Navy 1934
- 04
RIN mutiny, Bombay, February 1946
- 05
Indian Navy from 26 January 1950
01From Surat to Bombay
The first armed ships of the English East India Company arrived off Surat in September 1612 to protect its trade, and in November that year fought the Portuguese at Swally. The force, called the Honourable East India Company’s Marine, moved its base to Bombay later in the century and became the Bombay Marine. It fought the Angres of Kolaba, and in 1756 it took part in the attack on Vijaydurg.
02Many names
In 1830 the Bombay Marine was renamed the Indian Navy. After 1858 it passed to the Crown, became the Bombay and Bengal Marine and, in 1892, the Royal Indian Marine. In 1934 it was made a combatant navy again as the Royal Indian Navy. Indian sailors served in it through the Second World War, and in February 1946 the ratings of the RIN rose in a mutiny at Bombay that spread to Karachi, Calcutta and other ports.
03The Indian Navy
At Partition the fleet was divided with Pakistan. When India became a republic on 26 January 1950, the prefix Royal was dropped and the service became the Indian Navy. Vice Admiral R. D. Katari became its first Indian chief in 1958. Navy Day, 4 December, marks the missile-boat strike on Karachi in the 1971 war, and in 2022 the Navy took a new ensign drawing on the seal of Chhatrapati Shivaji.
