Home > Admiral Flote

The idea of having a five star rank, in a country whose military is so small, can be traced back to Communist origins in Yugoslavia, where Marshals and Fleet Admirals were routinely appointed in order to mirror such ranks in the Soviet Union. Following the breakup of Yugoslavia into smaller republics, Croatian navy retained the old military rank structure despite the fact it was insignificant in numbers (as a large part of Yugoslav navy was retained by Serbia and Montenegro). Regardless, the five levels of navy and army ranks have been reaffirmed in 1999 in the process of adjustment to NATO standards.

In the Croatian Navy, an admiral can be promoted to the rank of fleet admiral only for distinguished service during wartime, and there is currently no officer with this rank. There was only one fleet admiral, Sveto Letica (1926-2001), a senior admiral who commanded the fledgling Croatian navy in the Croatian war of independence and later retired.