After attending the
Rashtriya Indian Military College (RIMC), he gained
commissioned as a
Midshipman in the
Royal Indian Navy in 1941 in the Executive Branch. He participated in the
World War II as an officer in the Royal Indian Navy on the behalf of the
United Kingdom on the
European front, and was sent to attend the
Britannia Royal Naval College after the
end of
World War II in 1945. He was said to be an excellent
hockey player in the navy where he
captained the navy's hockey team against the Indian Navy's hockey team; the
RPN's hockey team won by a margin of five goals to one secured against
RIN's team. In 1952, he was promoted as
Commander and commanded the
destroyer, the
PNS Tughril along with
PNS Tippu Sultan commanded by
Captain M.A. Alvi. His career in the Navy progressed in the 1960s when he was promoted as
Rear-Admiral in 1965 after participating in the
second war with India. During this time, he also served as military adviser to the
Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO). In 1971, he led the Pakistan Navy against the
Indian Navy but the
war ended with the devastating effects on Pakistan Navy which lost the number of warships off the coast of Karachi with no cover from the
Pakistan Air Force (PAF). The
Navy NHQ was located in
Karachi which came under intense attacks by the
Indian Navy and the
Indian Air Force which crippled the Navy. Many of his requests to retaliate against the Indian Navy were rebuffed by the
Air Marshal Abdul Rahim Khan who reportedly quoted: "Well, old boy, this happens in war. I am sorry your ships have been sunk. We shall try to do something in the future." After the
war, he was subsequently dismissed from his
military service and relieved from the command of the Navy on 22 December 1971 along with the chiefs of army and the air force. He, along with
Lieutenant-General Gul Hassan and
Air Marshal Abdul Rahim Khan were forcefully retired from their commission on 3 March 1972 in a stand up military trial led by the combined
JAG Branch. After his dismissal from the military service, Hassan permanently settled in
DHA Society in
Karachi and was the first president of the Defence Society Residents Association (DSRA)–a
neighborhood watch– from 1981 to 1990. Throughout his retirement, he avoided the
news media to offer any comments on the
fall of Dhaka and died of an old age from a prolonged illness and died on 24 June 2012. The news of his death went unnoticed in the media and was buried in
Karachi War Cemetery. ==In popular culture==