From a 1939 convoy assembly point at Visakhapatnam to a full command in 1968, and the Bay of Bengal war of 1971.
Visakhapatnam from 1939 to 1968
The first naval establishment on the eastern seaboard was set up at Visakhapatnam on 12 December 1939 as a convoy assembly point. It was named HMIS Circars on 12 April 1942, and after independence became INS Circars.
The East Coast Command took its present title with effect from 1 March 1968, and the Flag Officer, East Coast, became Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Naval Command. Rear Admiral K.R. Nair was the first to hold the post.
INS Kalvari, the Navy's first submarine, reached Visakhapatnam in July 1968, and the submarine arm was established there.
The Eastern Fleet and the war of 1971
Vice Admiral N. Krishnan took over the command on 1 March 1971. The Eastern Fleet was formed that year, shortly before the war with Pakistan.
Aircraft from INS Vikrant and ships of the fleet opened attacks on East Pakistan on 4 December 1971, damaging the airfield at Cox's Bazar. The fleet's other tasks included amphibious landings, blockading ports and minesweeping after the war.
The submarine PNS Ghazi was lost off Visakhapatnam at the start of the war. Accounts disagree on the cause. Indian accounts credit INS Rajput with sinking her, Pakistan has attributed the loss to one of her own mines, and Admiral Arun Prakash is reported to have said in 2011 that Rajput was not responsible.
Cyclone relief and the R.K. Beach memorial
The command has also been called out for civil emergencies. It fought fires after a vapour explosion at the HPCL refinery in Visakhapatnam on 14 September 1997, and took part in relief after Cyclone Hudhud in October 2014.
The Marine Commando unit at Bheemunipatnam was commissioned as INS Karna on 12 July 2016 in the presence of Vice Admiral H.C.S. Bisht, then the command's Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief.
The Victory at Sea memorial on the Beach Road at Visakhapatnam commemorates the war of 1971.
Cover image: Pratishkhedekar, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Resized for this page. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Victory_at_Sea_monument_02.jpg