Admiral Jal Cursetji, PVSM was a former Flag Officer in the Indian Navy.
30 Facts About Jal Cursetji
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Jal Cursetji served as the ninth Chief of the Naval Staff from 1 March 1976 until 28 February 1979.
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Jal Cursetji was the first hydrographer to serve as the CNS.
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Jal Cursetji served as the Surveyor-in-Charge, Marine Survey of India and commanded the survey ship INS Investigator.
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Jal Cursetji was the first Indian to serve as the Chief Hydrographer of the Navy, from 1955 to 1957.
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Jal Cursetji served as the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Naval Command from 1973 to 1976, before taking over as the Chief of Naval Staff.
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Jal Cursetji was awarded the Param Vishisht Seva Medal in 1971 and was the first recipient from the Indian Navy of the Legion of Merit.
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Jal Cursetji was born in 1919 in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh in a Parsi family.
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Jal Cursetji attended the St Aloysius Senior Secondary School in Jabalpur.
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Jal Cursetji was one of the two cadets who were successful and joined the Royal Navy - the other being Nilakanta Krishnan.
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In 1939, Jal Cursetji was serving on the Foxhound during the outbreak of World War II.
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Jal Cursetji served onboard the Suffolk when she participated in the Norwegian Campaign.
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Jal Cursetji was commissioned as an acting sub-lieutenant in the RIN on 1 April 1940, with confirmation as a sub-lieutenant on 1 September 1940.
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Jal Cursetji was the senior most Indian officer in the Hydrographic Survey branch, and took part in the coastal surveys of Burma, Malaya and Indonesia.
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In 1950, Jal Cursetji took over as the Surveyor-in-Charge of the Marine Survey of India.
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Jal Cursetji headed the MSI for about three years, till 1953.
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Jal Cursetji was the second incumbent and the first Indian to hold the appointment.
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In 1961, Jal Cursetji was appointed the first Naval attache at the Embassy of India, Washington, DC The Ambassador of India to the United States during his tenure was Braj Kumar Nehru.
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Jal Cursetji simultaneously held the office of Naval adviser to the High Commissioner of India to Canada in Ottawa.
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Jal Cursetji spent about four years in this appointment, till 1965.
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Jal Cursetji took over from Captain V A Kamath on 4 November 1966.
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Jal Cursetji was promoted to the acting rank of rear admiral and took over as the Chief of Personnel at Naval Headquarters.
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In early 1970, Jal Cursetji was appointed the third Vice Chief of the Naval Staff.
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Jal Cursetji was promoted to the acting rank of vice admiral and took over from his batchmate Vice Admiral Nilakanta Krishnan on 20 February 1970.
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Jal Cursetji served as the VCNS during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971.
26.
On 27 February 1973, with Admiral Sourendra Nath Kohli taking over as the Chief of the Naval Staff, Jal Cursetji took command of the Western Naval Command.
27.
In January 1976, the Government of India announced that Jal Cursetji would be the next Chief of the Naval Staff.
28.
Jal Cursetji took over from Admiral Sourendra Nath Kohli on 1 March 1976.
29.
On 8 October 1976, Jal Cursetji commissioned INAS 312 at Goa.
30.
The Admiral Jal Cursetji rolling trophy, awarded to the best survey ship is named for him.