Sarma was born on 1 December 1922, in the then Bihar and Orissa Province, in a large well-to-do family, the eldest of nine children. His father was a employee of the Bihar and Orissa Province government.
Naval career
The Indian Mercantile Marine Training Ship Dufferin was established in 1927 to train young men for India's marine service. Sarma joined the Dufferin in January 1937 and graduated in December 1939. He was awarded the Viceroy's Gold Medal for the best all-round cadet, the Lawrence and Mayo prize for navigation and the Bombay Port Trust scholarship. He then joined the British India Steam Navigation Company in 1940 as a cadet.
Sarma served in the mercantile marine till 1942, when he was commissioned into the Royal Indian Navy Reserve as a Sub-lieutenant. On 1 June 1944, he was promoted to temporary lieutenant and assigned to the minesweeper HMIS Kumaon. He served in various theatres during the World War II. He served on ships on escort duties and minesweeping operations.
Post-Independence
In 1948, Sarma was selected to undergo a navigation course at the Royal Navy School of Navigation, HMS Dryad, then based at the Southwick House, where he specialised in Navigation. He was promoted to the acting rank of Lieutenant Commander on 31 December 1951. Sarma was promoted substantive lieutenant-commander on 1 June 1953. In 1954, he was appointed Commanding Officer of the Navigation and Direction School, the youngest to do so. Sarma then attended the Royal Naval College, Greenwich where he completed the Staff college course in 1957. Promoted to the rank of Commander, Sarma was appointed the commissioning commanding officer of the new frigate. The Khukri was launched on 20 November 1956 and commissioned on 16 July 1958. He sailed the ship down to India as her first commanding officer. In 1960, Sarma was appointed the Deputy Naval Adviser to the High Commissioner of India to the United Kingdom at India House, London. The High Commissioner then was Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit. It was during this time that India's first aircraft carrier was commissioned in Belfast. After a three year stint as Deputy naval adviser, Sarma was promoted Captain on 31 December 1964 and was appointed commanding officer of the frigate. He also commanded the 16th frigate squadron comprising the ships, and from 1964 to 1965. In mid 1965, Sarma was posted as the Chief of Staff, Southern Naval Area and in 1966, he took over as the commanding officer of the largest training establishment of the Indian Navy, INS Venduruthy. He commanded INS Venduruthy for 2 years, until 1968. Captain Sarma took command of the cruiser on 16 December 1968. Under his command, INS Mysore won the Western Fleet Sailing Regatta in 1969. Apart from serving as CO of INS Mysore, Sarma also filled in as the Chief of Staff to the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Naval Command, Vice AdmiralNilakanta Krishnan, an appointment he assumed full-time in August 1970. Sarma was promoted to acting Rear Admiral and appointed as Directing Staff at the National Defence College, New Delhi on 6 January 1971. He served as DS at the NDC only for a few months.
In September 1971, he was summoned by the Chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral S M Nanda who told him that he was to move to Visakhapatnam and take up command of the yet-to-be-formed Eastern Fleet. The two-fleet concept of the Navy came into force with the constitution of the Eastern Fleet on 1 November 1971. Rear Admiral Sarma took over as the Founding Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet. In mid 1971, The Aircraft carrierINS Vikrant, along with the frigates INS Brahmaputra and INS Beas were moved from the Western Fleet to the Eastern Naval Command. Thus, INS Vikrant became the flagship of the Eastern Fleet. According to Rear Admiral S H Sarma, the tasks of the Eastern Fleet were:
To destroy his bases so that enemy naval units could not get shore support
To establish a blockade off the East Pakistani coast
To establish contraband control
The Eastern Fleet effectively blockaded the ports of East Pakistan. Alizé and Hawker Sea Hawk aircraft from the INS Vikrant and the ships of the fleet bombarded Chittagong and Cox's Bazar. The air strikes of INS Vikrant resulted in the sinking or rendering useless 11 merchant ships totalling 56914 tons. The Eastern Fleet also enforced contraband control until tasked with an amphibious landing to cut off the land escape routes into Burma. After the Surrender of Pakistan, in early 1972, Sarma led the fleet's minesweeping operations to make the Port of Chittagong operational. For his command of the Eastern Fleet in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, Admiral Sarma was decorated with the Param Vishisht Seva Medal.
Post-war career
After commanding the Eastern Fleet for about 2 years, Sarma was appointed Director General Naval Dockyard Expansion Scheme in 1973, and was promoted substantive rear admiral on 1 March of the same year. He then served as the Flag Officer Commanding Southern Naval Area from 1973 to 1975. On 7 January 1975, he was promoted Vice Admiral and took over as the Commandant of the National Defence College on 8 January 1975. After a two year stint as Commandant NDC, he took over as the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Naval Command. After commanding the Eastern Naval Command for a year, Sarma retired on 2 February 1978.
Later life
Post-retirement, Sarma wrote his autobiography, "My Years at Sea," which he released in book format in 2017. On 14 January 2020, he was present at Odisha's fourth annual Armed Forces Veterans' Day and Ex-Servicemen Sammelan, during which he presented Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik with a bouquet.
Autobiography
SH Sharma published his autobiography, My Years at the Sea on May 2017 which writes about the reminiscences of the defeat of Pakistani Naval forces, and the growth of Indian Navy.
