Indian Navy chief visits Devonport as maritime ties deepen

Chief of the Naval Staff India, Admiral Krishna Swaminathan, has conducted an official visit to New Zealand this week, meeting with Chief of Navy Rear Admiral Garin Golding at Devonport Naval Base in Auckland.

The visit on Monday included a Guard of Honour, a welcome onto the Navy's marae Te Taua Moana, and discussions at the Maritime Warfare Training Centre.

At the entrance to Devonport, Admiral Swaminathan visited the turret of HMNZS Achilles, the Second World War light cruiser that was renamed INS Delhi when sold to India in 1948. India donated the turret back to New Zealand in 1980.

The visit follows a series of developments in India-New Zealand defence relations. In 2025, Prime Ministers Christopher Luxon and Narendra Modi signed the India-New Zealand Memorandum of Understanding for Defence Cooperation. The Indian Navy also held the deputy commander position for New Zealand-led Combined Task Force 150 drug interdiction operations in the Indian Ocean.

Earlier this year, the first resident Defence Advisor to India commenced his posting in Delhi, and in July Prime Minister Modi visited New Zealand to sign three maritime-focused agreements: a Maritime Cooperation Agreement, a hydrography cooperation memorandum, and a logistics support arrangement between the Indian Navy and NZDF.

Rear Admiral Golding said the growing defence relationship with India is based on history, common values and shared interests.

"Today it is the Navy-to-Navy relationship that is most developed, with ship visits to New Zealand, a successful partnership in Combined Task Force 150, HMNZS Te Kaha's visit to Mumbai last year, and the arrival of our first resident Defence Adviser, Commodore Andy Dowling, in Delhi," he said.

"We value highly our relationship with India. We both have an interest in a free, open and secure Indo-Pacific region, and look forward to working together more often in the coming years."