Navy Chief Admiral Nirmal Verma today asked his commanders to maintain a high state of preparedness as the force's role in fighting terrorism and piracy would grow.

He also emphasised the need to maintain the highest standards of "moral conduct and integrity in addition to professional excellence."

"The Navy needs to maintain a high state of preparedness due to the ever-increasing demands of maritime security both in the littorals and high seas," Verma said at the four-day Navy Commanders Conference, which began here yesterday.

He said the tempo of operational commitments were increasing significantly necessitating greater attention to improving operational efficiencies and material availability.

"Professional excellence, coupled with material preparedness, sound logistics, effective maintenance and comprehensive training are the cornerstones of combat readiness," he said.

His remarks on moral conduct come against the backdrop of reports that a senior Naval officer, Commodore Sukhjinder Singh, posted in Russia to supervise the Admiral Gorkshkov aircraft carrier project, had established inappropriate relationship with woman there.

The Navy has ordered a probe to find out if Singh's liaison with the woman could have influenced the hike in the price of Gorshkov's repair and refit from the contracted USD 974 million in 2004 to the recently concluded cost of USD 2.34 billion in 2010.

Verma pointed out that during the 2009-10 financial year, the Navy had fully utilised its allotted budget and signed major contracts including those for additional MiG-29K fighter jets from Russia and for revision of Gorshkov cost.

Appreciating the additional funds for clearing important schemes for the Navy, he said due emphasis was being laid on improving efficiency of internal processes associated with acquisition to achieve the goals laid down in the Maritime Capability Perspective Plan.

During discussions on anti-piracy measures, he brought out that since October 2008, the Navy maintained continuous patrol of the Gulf of Aden when 17 warships were deployed on anti-piracy duties to escort 976 merchant ships, including 130 Indian traders.

The Navy had also deputed its units for patrolling the exclusive economic zone and maritime areas of interest of friendly island countries in western Indian Ocean such as Mauritius, Seychelles and Maldives, which Verma said would continue to be facilitated.

The conference also discussed lessons learnt from internal and international exercises concluded in the past six months and finalised the exercise calendar for the next six months.

On Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA), Verma said, "there is a requirement for a national effort involving various ministries to build a common maritime picture and enable on line information exchange.

"The aim is to synergise various agencies with the vast spectrum of information available to build an integrated picture of the maritime domain," he added.

During discussions on Coastal Security, it was brought out before the commanders that the Joint Operations Centres (JOC) set up after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks were operating effectively and in close co-ordination with Navy and Coast Guard.

Verma noted that a fillip was provided to the coastal security matrix by fisherman, who would now act as the "eyes and ears" of the maritime security establishment.

The Navy commanders were also briefed about various measures being taken to address the extant shortage of junior officers in the force, according to Navy spokesperson Commander P V S Sathish.

The Navy suffers a shortage of about 1,439 officers in all the branches of the officer cadre. Of the sanctioned 9,293 officer strength, the Navy at present has only 7,854 officers in service.

It is also facing a shortage among sailors. Against a sanctioned strength of 54,317 sailors, the Navy at present has 47,134 sailors in service and another 4,957 trainees, leaving a shortfall of 7,183.

Measures to improve the 'teeth-to-tail' ratio (the weapon platforms and systems compared to its manpower strength) were also discussed, Sathish said.

The deliberation would include issues pertaining to maintenance, operational readiness, availability of ships, submarines and aircraft, cyber security and personnel matters impacting the welfare of personnel.