Rear Admiral L.V. Sarat Babu (retd) has assumed charge as Chairman and Managing Director of Hindustan Shipyard Limited (HSL) here on Wednesday.

An alumnus of Sainik School, Korukonda, Rear Admiral Sarat Babu (retd) graduated from the National Defence Academy. He was commissioned in the Indian Navy on July 1, 1981.

A specialist in anti-submarine warfare and an M. Phil in Defence and Management from the Indore University, he was an alumnus of the Defence Service Staff College, Wellington, and the Army War College, MHOW.

While in the rank of Captain, he had some challenging assignments, which include command tenures on three frontline guided missile destroyers, INS Rana, INS Ranvir, and INS Delhi. During the course of his command tenures, INS Rana was awarded unit citation by the Chief of Naval Staff and he was decorated with ‘Nau Sena Medal’. He was extensively involved in the activities associated with the construction of Shishumar class submarines both on the OEM premises in HDW, Kiel, and with M/s MDL Mumbai. The officer also held various important staff and training appointments ashore.

Notable amongst them were his tenures as Chief Staff Officer at Submarine Headquarters, Chief Staff Officer (Operations) of Eastern Naval Command, Adviser to Government of India on Offshore Defence and Security, Deputy Commandant of Indian Naval Academy, and Assistant Chief of Naval Staff (Submarines) at the Integrated Headquarters/Ministry of Defence (Navy).