 During the 1971 Indo–Pak war his ship was in the escort groups for missile boats responsible for humbling the adversary.A Specialist in Communication and Electronic Warfare, he was Flag Lt. to Chief of the Naval Staff in 1968–70 and Naval Assistant to Chief of the Naval Staff in 1986-87.Vishnu Bhagwat completed his first major command in INS "Amini" with the Western Fleet before being assigned as the Fleet Operations Officer of the same Fleet (1978–79).