Early career He graduated from the
Britannia Royal Naval College in early 1946 with prizes in seamanship and navigation. He then trained on board the which was converted into a training ship after
World War II. He subsequently was transferred to the . After his training, Awati returned to India, choosing to specialise as a Signals and Communications officer. As a young
lieutenant, he received the colours of the Indian Navy on 27 May 1950 from the then President of India,
Rajendra Prasad, at a ceremony where the RIN was renamed the Indian Navy. He subsequently served onboard the
R-class destroyer . In 1957, the was being refitted and modernised in
Birkenhead,
Liverpool to be commissioned as .
Mysore was commissioned on 29 August 1957 by the
High Commissioner of India to the United Kingdom Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit and the
commissioning commanding officer was Captain
S. M. Nanda. Awati was appointed the ship's signal and communications officer (SCO). He was promoted to
lieutenant commander on 16 May 1958. In May 1959, he was selected to attend the
Defence Services Staff College,
Wellington. Promoted to commander on 31 December 1962, he went on to command the cadet training ship
INS Tir, the destroyer
INS Ranjit, and the ASW frigate INS
Kamorta.
Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 The Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 was sparked by the
Bangladesh Liberation war, a conflict between the traditionally dominant
West Pakistanis and the majority
East Pakistanis. In 1970, East Pakistanis demanded autonomy for the state, but the
Pakistani government failed to satisfy these demands and, in early 1971, a demand for secession took root in East Pakistan. In March, the
Pakistan Armed Forces launched a fierce campaign to curb the secessionists, the latter including soldiers and police from East Pakistan. Thousands of East Pakistanis died, and nearly ten million refugees fled to
West Bengal, an adjacent Indian state. In April, India decided to assist in the formation of the new nation of
Bangladesh. Awati was in command of the 31 Patrol Vessel Squadron and its lead ship - the . The squadron was part of the
Eastern Fleet and based in the
Bay of Bengal. He was decorated with the
Vir Chakra for his command of the
Kamorta. The citation for the Vir Chakra reads as follows:
Post-War career After the war, he was appointed the Naval Officer-in-Charge, Goa, in 1972, where he was the founding President of the Goa Yachting Association. His tenure at Goa was abruptly interrupted when he was ordered to proceed to Mumbai to take over as the
commanding officer of the , which had a mutiny on board in 1973. In 1975, he attended the
Royal College of Defence Studies in the United Kingdom.
Flag rank After his return to India, he was promoted to the rank of
Rear Admiral. Subsequently, he was appointed
Commandant of the National Defence Academy. His next posting was as the
Flag Officer Commanding Western Fleet (FOCWF). During that tenure, he set up the Maritime History Society of India, in 1978. ==Post-Retirement==