Early career Ghandhi was promoted to midshipman on 1 September 1943. He served aboard the
County-class cruiser . The
Suffolk was deployed in the Atlantic hunting German raiders. He then served on board the
W-class destroyer when it was deployed against the Japanese refineries in Indonesia. On 1 May 1945, he was promoted to
Acting sub-lieutenant. He was in
Tokyo Bay during the
Surrender of Japan. After the war, he returned to India and was appointed
Flag lieutenant to the
Commander-in-Chief, Royal Indian Navy Vice Admiral Sir
Geoffrey Audley Miles. In February 1947,
Lord Louis Mountbatten was appointed
Governor-General of India. Ghandhi was appointed
aide-de-camp (ADC) to the Governor-General. He was promoted to acting lieutenant-commander on 30 June 1952, and in mid-1954 was selected to attend the
Defence Services Staff College,
Wellington. In 1957, he was appointed
commanding officer of the
Black Swan-class sloop INS Kaveri. He was promoted to commander on 31 December 1958.
Liberation of Goa In 1961, he took command of the . He was in command of the
Betwa and played a decisive role in "Operation Vijay", the
1961 Indian annexation of Goa which ended 451 years of Portuguese rule.
Betwa was the senior ship during the
naval battle at Mormugão Harbour. His Portuguese adversary, Captain António da Cunha Aragão, was in command of the destroyer , which was anchored off Mormugão Harbour. In the ensuing battle, the
Afonso de Albuquerque took a direct hit to its control tower, injuring its weapons officer, killing its radio officer and severely injuring its captain. Subsequently, the order was given to abandon ship, and the rest of the crew, along with their injured captain, disembarked directly onto the beach after setting fire to their ship. Following this, the captain was moved by car to the hospital at
Panaji. The destroyer's crew surrendered formally along with the remaining Portuguese forces on 19 December 1961. In 1965, he was appointed Captain (F) of the 14th frigate squadron and
commanding officer of the lead ship - the . While in command of the squadron, he was promoted to the substantive rank of captain on 31 December 1966. In August 1967, he was selected to attend the
National Defence College. The year-long course commenced in January 1968. After completing the course, Ghandhi moved to Naval HQ, having been appointed Director of Naval Operations. After a short stint, he took command of the , in 1969. In mid 1971, The
aircraft carrier , along with the frigates and were moved from the Western Fleet to the
Eastern Naval Command and formed the core of the newly-formed
Eastern Fleet. INS
Mysore thus became the flagship of the Western Fleet. Ghandhi was awarded the
Vir Chakra for conspicuous gallantry for his role as flag captain of the western fleet. {{Blockquote| Date of Award: 26 January 1971 Captain Rustom Khushro Shapoorjee Ghandhi was the flag Captain of the Western Fleet during the operations against Pakistan in December 1971. Despite continuous threat of enemy air and submarine attacks, Captain Gandhi, through his inspiring leadership, kept the Units of the Western Fleet that were under his command threatening the approaches to Karachi continuously. It was as a result of this action and by the attacks carried out by these units off Karachi that the entry of ships into the port of Karachi was denied to the enemy. He thus contributed in no small measure to the success of the operations. Throughout, Captain Rustom Khushro Shapoorjee Ghandhi displayed gallantry, leadership and devotion to duty of a high order.
Post-war career After the war, Ghandhi was appointed
Naval Advisor (NA) to the
High Commissioner of India to the United Kingdom at
India House, London. The High Commissioners were
Apa Pant and
Braj Kumar Nehru during his tenure.
Flag rank After a two year stint as NA in London, he was promoted to the acting rank of
Rear Admiral and appointed
Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet in January 1975. In October of the same year, he moved to Mumbai and took command of the
Western Fleet. He is among the very few flag officers to have commanded both fleets of the Indian Navy. After a year as COP, in April 1977, he was appointed Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief
Western Naval Command. ==Post-retirement==