Vice Admiral Nilakantan Krishnan had a distinguished career in the Royal Indian Navy and later the Indian Navy, seeing action in World War II and the conflicts with Pakistan. Some highlights of his career included capturing an Iranian gunboat without casualties early in his career, commissioning INS Delhi after India's independence, overseeing the liberation of Goa from Portugal, and playing a key role in sinking the Pakistani submarine PNS Ghazi during the Indo-Pakistan War of 1971. He demonstrated exemplary leadership, courage under fire, innovation, and care for his subordinates throughout his naval service.

1. A Case Study in Leadership
Vice Admiral
Nilakantan
Krishnan, Padma
Bhushan, PVSM,
DSC

2. SYNDICATE C
•Mid Nitin Sharma
•Mid Jay Prakash Jha
•Mid Paul S Moses
•Mid Krishna Kumar Singh
•Cdt Nitheesh K S

3. EARLY LIFE
• Admiral Krishnan (also known as Krish) has the
distinction of having seen live action on all the
seven seas.
• First with the Royal Navy as part of the Home Fleet
(later known as the Royal Indian Navy) and
subsequently, post independence in the Indian Navy.
• He is one of the most decorated officer of the
INDIAN NAVY

4. EARLY LIFE
• Born on 08 June 1919.
• Had no plans of joining Navy.
• Says that his life just steered towards this direction.
• Joined training ship ‘Duffrin’ in 1935.
• Thereafter joined Royal Indian Navy in 1939.

5. The Journey in NAVY
• Duffrin
• Erabus
• HMS Vindictive (Mobile Training Ship)
• HMS Foxhound (Destroyer)
• HMS Suffolk
• HMS Repulse (Cruiser)
• HMS Investigator (Survey)
• Yaasra (Tug)

6. The Journey in NAVY
• Baroda (Trawler)
• HMS Emerald
• HMS Ceylon
• INS Delhi (CO)
• INS Vikrant (CO)
• Chief Of Planning & Intelligence
• NEC Lonavala
• C-in-C West
• C-in-C East
• First CMD of CSL

7. ACHIEVEMENTS, AWARDS &
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
• Capturing Iranian Gunboat, awarded DSC.
• Commissioning crew of INS Delhi (HMS Achilles).
• Liberation of Goa & Daman & Diu from
Portuguese.
• Chief of Planning & Intelligence where he
contributed in formulation of Indian Navy’s ten year
plan after Independence.
• Sinking Of PNS Ghazi and subsequent surrender of
Pakistani forces.

8. INCIDENT ONBOARD TUG
YAASRA
• In 1939, an incident onboard tug yaasra showed the
genuine liking , affection and friendship which he
had.
• He refused to use the wardroom.
• He slept on the deck of tug Yaasra for 3-4 days
along with the sailors.
• Encounter with a Persian Navy gun-boat, he
boarded and captured the gun boat without any
casualties!

9. CAMARADERIE
• He always believed in his men.
• When he was gunnery officer onboard HMS
Investigator.
• He used to train sailors himself at an uninhabited
island, Kuwait.
• They used to play land warfare

10. • An incident from England
• German bombers decided to attack ports and
harbors at night.
• He always preferred or rather welcomed his turn of
duty of roof watching.
• His thinking was like” no matter, if your number is
up and if you have to go, then, like to the lavatory,
you’ve got to go!”
FEARLESSNESS

11. LEADING FROM FRONT
• An incident from Persian gulf.
• He made two groups of four men each.
• First group led by him.
• His group would board the barge from the forward
and the second group after giving cover fire would
board from aft.

12. COURAGE
• Most important quality of any leader
• Joined mercantile marine training ship Dufferin in 1935
• Compulsory boxing tournament at the end of first term
• His opponent was the best boxer in the ship
• 2 options
• Fought him well
• Came out as winner
• Swore to himself : he will never be afraid of another
man as long as he is alive

13. HARD WORKING AND ABILITY
TO ADAPT TO THE SITUATION
• Got the idea of joining RIN
• Worked hard for the exam
• Correspondence course through his letters to his
father
• No engineering entry
• Didn’t give up
• Wrote the exam
• Secured the first rank

14. RESPECT FOR SENIORS
• HMS Foxhound
• Captain : Lt Cdr Philip Haddow
• “ A ship can be happy and efficient by the personal
charm ,leadership, competence and human
considerations of the captain”
• He learned that sailors need affection and will
respond to it like children

15. SECURITY MINDEDNESS
• September 1940 : German started night bombing
• Crucial time of the war
• Attended a Party in London
• A person in civil clothing started asking him questions
• He suspected him as a spy
• Burning with indignation he refused to answer
• Then he was introduced to the person that it was Air
marshal Sir Hugh Dowding Commander In Chief
fighter command Royal Air force

16. LOVE FOR THE
ORGANIZATION
• His dedication for the Navy was surpassed only by
his love for the country
• From the letters he had written to his father his
love for the organization is clearly evident
• He often said “ If you cut open my chest you will
see four letters written in bold : N-A-V-Y ”

17. PERSIAN BATTLE
INCIDENT- 1941

18. EVENTS
• Sailed into HMS investigator on 20 January 1941
commanded by commander Paine as gunnery
officer
• Indian sailors subjected to blatant act of
discrimination
• Realising the same, he would spend most of his
time with sailors encouraging them to be bound
towards the ultimate goal
• Never made them feel different by virtue of his
actions

19. EVENTS
• Took command of a tug along with Indian soldiers
which was to act as tender to Australian frigate
HMAS Yaasra
• Tug was tied to stern of Yaasra and were made to
live under extremely cramped and unhygienic
conditions
• His request to let his sailors sleep onboard the
frigate was turned down
• He therefore declined the offer to his availing of the
wardroom and messing facilities of HMAS Yaasra

20. EVENTS
• Several events had been planned to move into persia
in unison , in a surprise attack on that country
• The tug had to lead the way and give information
about the whereabouts of four iranian gunboats
• The combined fleet consisted of frigates falmouth
(royal navy), Yaasra (Royal Australian navy) and
investigator (RIN)
• The objective was to destroy four gunboats
• Tug had to proceed in advance but had no armament
• The officer opted to go with the tug enthusiastically

21. EVENTS
• The tug arrived near the gunboats at as early as 2
am
• The fleet arrived at 4 am without investigator (rin)
as it had some problems
• In its absence, the tug was bestowed with some
extra duties
• As thE bombardment started, the first of gunboats
was destroyed
• Somehow, the tug went close to the enemy ship in
darkness.
• Before they could realise, the tug was alarmingly
close to enemy ship.

22. EVENTS
• In the wake of the circumstances, he decided to
board the ship along with his men and he was the
first to jump in
• He made a execution plan but during the course of
the operation, he lost one of his sailors
• He continued with the operation and did not stop
• He commanded and directed his men for every step
they took
• There were more than 20 enemies on ship but his
group consisted of only 5 men

23. EVENTS
• He closed the hatches to restrict the movement of
people inside the ship
• He neutralised almost 4 of them
• He had a narrow escape when a bullet almost
touched his head
• He captured the captain and made the remaining
people surrender themselves
• Highest level of courage and wisdom was shown by
the officer in the entire operation

24. BAY OF BENGAL OPERATIONS
AND THE SINKING OF GHAZI

25. VISION
• He Knew that war was eminent, acted promptly.
• Laid out plans of blockade of East Pakistan.
• Laid out tough training programs for the Eastern
fleet.
• Also took an initiative to conduct exercises with
Army .
• But he knew his options and kept each of them
available and ready if need be.
• Ensured readiness in all aspects.

26. SELF BELIEF
• He respectfully disapproved the plans of NHQ of
moving Vikrant to Bombay and boldly described the
consequences.
• Showing the quality of TACT.
• Nobody could have blamed him for any untoward
happening.
• He would officially be following the decisions taken
by his seniors in the chain.
• Challenged the way things are and stood out.

27. CLARITY IN SPEECH
• This apt explanation gave his message an upper
hand
• Though the signal again was against his request.
• But as understandable the cruciality of the situation
was, his request was finally approved.

28. LEADING FROM THE FRONT
• Personally went onboard ships and oversaw the
exercise.
• Could have appointed some flag officer for doing
the overseeing and could have stayed at home.

29. HEALTHY RELATIONSHIP
WITH THE SUBORDINATES
• Capt Swaraj Prakash and his crew had a very good
understanding of his views and shared his joy .
• Even in his early career , he used to take care of all
subordinates.
• He maintained good trust in the subordinates as a
leader .

30. INNOVATIVE
• Planned and perfectly deceived Pakistan to believe
that INS Vikrant was in Vizag .
• Expecting for the worst and was well planned even
the worst case scenario.
• Once Ghazi had been sunk
• He used a very motivating sentence and the
sentence was relayed to all ships.
• Focused on People and Emotions .

31. REFERENCES
• A Sailors Story – VADM N Krishnan, Padma
Bhushan, DSC, PVSM.