The Second World War highlighted the tactical importance of accurately forecasting the meteorological conditions on, above and below the surface of the sea:

-Anomolous propagation conditions affected radars and wireless communications.

- Hydrological conditions affected sonars.

- Humidity, temperature and pressure conditions affected the accuracy of naval gunfire and

- Wind conditions affected naval flying operations.

Meteorological training in the Navy began in 1949 when an Education officer was deputed to the British Navy for a course in naval meteorology. He in turn imparted meteorological training to four officers of the Education Branch and four sailors in 1952. They were taught to keep a continuous weather-watch and record and disseminate meteorological observations to air traffic controllers, aircrew and ships, to code and decode weather messages and to issue weather warnings.

With the advent of the Naval Air Arm, a regular meteorological service started in 1952. Naval air arm sailors were trained as "meteorological observers". They were required to take surface and upper air met observations, do their coding and decoding, receive and transmit observations on teleprinter, and chart and plot the data on met charts. This enabled the "weather forecaster" to analyse the charts and issue forecasts. A teleprinter circuit with the India Met Department enabled met observations to be obtained from all over India and adjoining countries.

Since Education officers usually possessed sound knowledge of mathematics and physics, they were trained as "weather forecasters" by the India Met Department at Poona.

Meteorological offices were established in the Naval Air Station INS GARUDA and onboard the flagship INS DELHI to provide weather and meteorological information to the fleet. In due course, meteorological offices were established in the second cruiser INS MYSORE (1957), the aircraft carrier INS VIKRANT (1961) the second Naval Air Station INS HANSA (1962) and in Port Blair (1969).

At Naval Headquarters, the post of Staff Officer Meteorology was created in 1957 to assist the Director of Naval Education in administering the Meteorological service. In 1966, this post was upgraded to Deputy Director Meteorology in the rank of Commander (Education). In 1968, the Directorate of Naval Education was redesignated as the Directorate of Naval Education and Meteorology.

In 1970, the Naval Met offices at Bombay and Cochin were provided with dedicated meteorological teleprinter channels. This helped to provide uninterrupted meteorological data of the region for briefing aircrew and issuing weather warnings.

In 1973, Automatic Picture Transmission (APT) reception facilities were provided to the meteorological offices at Cochin, Port Blair and onboard INS VIKRANT. APT enabled satellite pictures of the prevailing weather to actually be seen in real time, by day and by night. In due course APT facilities were extended to all naval met offices and the Met Training School.

The Met Training Cell, which had started in the INS GARUDA in 1952, grew in due course into a full fledged Met Training Section by 1968 and was eventually redesignated as the Meteorological Training School in 1974.

in 1977, fascimile (FAX) weather chart recorders were installed in the Naval Met offices at Cochin, Visakhapatnam, Bombay, Goa, Port Blair and on board MYSORE and VIKRANT. This equipment enabled met offices to receive analysed surface and upper air charts from the India Met Department.

In the early 1970's, a met officer was sent to the Royal Naval School of Meteorology and Oceanography (RNSOMO) in Britain for training in oceanography. On return, he was appointed to the Naval Hydrographic Office in Dehradun where he helped to produce a document on oceanography and sonar range prediction. Soon thereafter, a second officer was deputed to the US Naval Oceanographic Office in Washington DC for training in oceanography. On return, he was appointed to INS GARUDA where the Seaking anti submarine helicopters were based.

In 1974:

- Oceanography was introduced as a topic for study in Met sailors' specialist courses and in Observers and Sub Lieutenant courses.

- Oceanographic forecasting was made the responsibility of met officers.

In December 1980, an Oceanographic Forecasting Cell (OFC) was established at Cochin under the operational control of the FOCINCSOUTH. This marked the beginning of oceanographic studies and forecasting in the Navy. The OFC was located in the premises of the Met School and headed by the officer who had been trained by the American Navy. The OFC's terms of reference were to liaise with the National Physical and Oceanographic Laboratory (NPOL) located in Cochin and

(a) Provide a general description of the major oceanographic and acoustic factors affecting a specified area of operation for a specified forecast period, the sea state at the beginning of the forecast period and significant changes expected during the forecast period.

(b) Collect and store processed oceanographic data in the form of atlases, charts and reports issued by the NPOL and the Chief Hydrographer.

(c) Collect oceanographic information, records and research outputs from agencies like the National Institute of Oceanography, OSTA and ONGC.

(d) Provide forecasts of thermal structure and salinity profiles based on the available past data and current oceanographic observations received from fleet ships during exercises.

(e) Devise and standardise codes for transmission of oceanic data and forecasts.

(f) Undertake selective studies in oceanography to update and validate the forecasting techniques developed by NPOL.

(g) Undertake studies on air-sea interaction in collaboration with NPOL and other agencies.

(h) Assist the Met Training School in the training of naval personnel in oceanography.

Although met officers studied "introductory oceanography" as a topic during their Advanced Weather Forecaster's training, it was realised that they needed to be trained in oceanographic forecasting. The first capsule course in Oceanography was conducted in April 1981 by the Cochin University. The second Oceanography capsule course was conducted by IIT Delhi in March 1982.

In 1981, sanction was received for three digital electronic systems to be installed at Naval Air Stations GARUDA and HANSA to enhance safety during landing and take off:

(a) The Ceilograph which gave digital printouts of the heights of lowest cloud over an air station.

(b) The Skopograph which gave digital printouts of runway visibility and

(c) The Current Weather Instrument System (CWIS) which gave digital printouts of weather parameters like humidity, tem-perature, wind direction and speed.

In 1982, the need was felt for the establishment of a dedicated Directorate of Oceanology. The rationale was:

(a) Oceanographic forcasting was vitally important for anti submarine warfare.

(b) It was necessary to safeguard the security aspects arising out of the increased oceanographic activity in Indian waters.

(c) The Navy's existing arrangements to plan, co-ordinate and progress oceanographic tasks were inadequate.

(d) The Navy should assist in ocean development.

A new Directorate of Naval Oceanology and Meteorology was therefore established and the met component of the Directorate of Naval Education and Meteorology was transferred to the new Directorate. Thereafter, this directorate became the single nodal agency dealing with all aspects of naval oceanology and meteorology.

Since its inception the directorate has contributed/undertaken the following:

(a) Co-ordination of the Navy's help for Second Indian Scientific Antarctica Expedition in 1982-83.

(b) Rendering consultancy about design of polar research vessels for Department of Ocean Development.

(c) Monitoring the progress of oceanographic research undertaken by the DRDO and by CSIR's scientific organisations.

(d) Participation in UNESCO's Inter Governmental Oceanographic Commission at Paris.

(e) Organisation of the oceanographic course in the Centre for Advance Studies in Atmospheric and Fluid Sciences at IIT, New Delhi.

(f) Functioned as a think-tank for oceanographic data collection, its utilisation and application for Naval activities.

(g) Interacted with India Met Department in Conferences of Forecasting Officers.

In 1985, the Meteorology Training School in INS Garuda was renamed as the School for Naval Oceanology and Meteorology.