Vice Admiral Vasudeva Anant Kamath, PVSM (1921–2017) was a former Flag officer in the Indian Navy.

He also served as the 4th Vice Chief of the Naval Staff (VCNS) from 1973 to 1977, the longest tenure in the Indian Navy's history.

During the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, he led the Southern Naval Area, for which he was awarded the Param Vishisht Seva Medal.

[1] Kamath joined the Indian Mercantile Marine Training Ship (IMMTS) Dufferin as a cadet in 1936.

The other two cadets later joined the Pakistan Navy and rose to become its Commander-in-Chief – Afzal Rahman Khan and Syed Mohammad Ahsan.

[2] With the outbreak of World War II, Kamath was promoted to the rank of Midshipman and posted to the Revenge-class battleship HMS Royal Sovereign (05), part of the 2nd Battle Squadron of the Home Fleet.

[3] She was assigned to the North Atlantic Escort Force, which was based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and was tasked with protecting convoys to Britain.

After the course, he was posted as anti-submarine warfare officer to the sloop HMIS Clive which was a part of the Eastern Fleet.

This was done since the Leander-class cruiser HMS Achilles (70) was being acquired by the Indian Navy as INS Delhi (C74) and Kamath was to be the commissioning gunnery officer.

[7] The Delhi was commissioned on 5 July 1948 by the High Commissioner of India to the United Kingdom V. K. Krishna Menon.

[8] She went on a cruise round the coasts of India, calling at Karwar, Cochin, Trincomalee, Madras, Vizag, Calcutta, Port Blair, Colombo and Calicut before returning to Bombay.

The cruise to the Indian Ocean republics and East Africa generated a tremendous amount of goodwill.

After a year-long stint, he was appointed Chief Instructor at the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington on 25 February 1957, with the acting rank of captain.

[23] The Chief of the Naval Staff Vice Admiral Bhaskar Sadashiv Soman flew his flag on the flagship Vikrant.

[25] In January 1969, he took over as the second Flag Officer Commanding Western Fleet (FOCWF) from Rear Admiral Sourendra Nath Kohli.

[35] After a two-year stint, he retired after handing over the command of the Coast Guard to Vice Admiral Swaraj Parkash in 1980.