An alumnus of the Naval Engineering Course (NEC), Naval Engineering College, INS Shivaji, Lonavala and College of Defence Management (CDM), Secunderabad, Commodore Debesh Lahiri was commissioned into the Indian Navy on 25 Nov 1988. He is a Marine Engineer by profession and has completed his Master’s (MTech) from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Chennai and a Master’s in Management Sciences (MMS) from Osmania University. He has successfully completed a World Bank programme on Alternate Dispute Resolution-Mediation, Conciliation and Arbitration, and has been a member-arbitrator nominated by the Indian Navy in a three-man Arbitral Tribunal in a dispute resolution with Ms Hindustan Construction Company. He was the Commissioning Engineer Officer (Desig) of INS Beas constructed at Ms Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Limited, Kolkata before being selected as the Deputy Naval Attaché at the Embassy of India, Moscow. He has been closely associated with the classified programme of the Indian Navy being a member of the equipment and systems design and procurement team, as also a member of the Commissioning Review Committee of a classified facility. He has been at the helm of two Naval ship Repair Yards at Port Blair, Andaman and Nicobar Command and Karwar, Western Naval Command respectively looking after the operational availability, maintenance and repair of Indian Naval Ships and Submarines including the Aircraft Carrier INS Vikramaditya.
He has wide experience at sea, having been Engineer Officer on three different types of propulsion, viz. Internal Combustion Engines (Ghorpad), Gas Turbines (Veer) and Steam (Udaygiri, Ganga, Gomati and Beas) and has also been the Fleet Engineer Officer, Western Fleet wherein he was the chief engineering advisor to the Flag Officer Commanding Western Fleet. He has been Additional General Manager (Quality Assurance and Production) at Naval Dockyard, Mumbai, and is well-versed in Human Resource Management, having been Director of Personnel at Naval Headquarters. As Commodore Dockyards, he was responsible for the creation of marine,and technical maintenance and repair infrastructure in the Navy. He has also done a stint as the Deputy Director General Quality Assurance (Warship Production) before taking up his current assignment as the Executive Director of the National Maritime Foundation.
He is a fellow of the Institute of Marine Engineers (FIMarE) and his papers have been published by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), International Naval Engineers Conference (INEC), Indian National IC Engines Conference and the Journal of Marine Engineering. He has also authored service papers on matters of importance to the Indian Navy and has written a dissertation on Comprehensive National Power. His articles and poems on Shipbuilding in Ancient India, Energy, Emissions, Environment, Quality Techniques, Leadership and Personnel Management have been published in Naval Despatch, Personnel Update, among several other magazines and periodicals.
He is a keen sportsman having led the Indian Navy hockey team and captained the football teams of all three commands of the Indian Navy. He loves the outdoors and has completed the basic mountaineering course from the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering, Uttarkashi. He is a cyclist with several long-distance bicycle hikes to his credit, loves trekking and is a weekend-golfer with a handicap of 18. He is an avid reader and sometimes poet.
