Spanish Navy

Admiral Santiago Bolíbar Piñeiro is currently the Admiral of the Fleet.

He was born in Pontevedra in 1950. He joined the Naval Academy in August 1970 and was promoted to Lieutenant Junior Grade in 1975.

As Lieutenant Junior Grade he was assigned to the following units: frigates "Andalucía" and "Vicente Yáñez Pinzón", and destroyer "Méndez Núñez". He was promoted to Lieutenant in 1978 embarking in the frigates "Baleares" and "Cataluña". He was Brigade Commander and Teacher at the Naval Academy. He embarked on board the Spanish training ship "Juan Sebastián de Elcano" during her training cruise in 1986. He was promoted to Lieutenant Commander in 1988 and assigned to different posts in the Fleet Staff and Aircraft Flotilla as Chief of the Weapons Division. He was promoted to Commander in 1995 and appointed Chief of Intelligence at the Fleet Staff for two years. In 2001 he was promoted to Captain and appointed Secretary of the Spanish Naval Staff. He was promoted to Rear Admiral In 2005 and held the post of Chief of the Information and Communication Systems Division of the Naval Staff. In September 2006 he was appointed Commander of the Fleet Projection Units Group and in May 2008 he was promoted to Vice-Admiral and appointed Chief of the Ferrol Arsenal.

Admiral Bolíbar has been Commanding Officer of the following units: offshore tug "Mahon" as Lieutenant (1986/87); offshore patrol boat "Chilreu" and the historic ship "Santa María" as Lieutenant Commander, as well as the other two caravels built to celebrate the 5th Centenary of the Discovery of America (1990/1992), sailing 27,000 miles in the course of 300 days at sea. The frigate "Baleares" as Commander (1999/2000), taking part in several exercises integrated into NATO's Standing Force in the Atlantic for four months. As Captain he was Chief of the "Combat Evaluation Center" (CEVACO) from September 2000 to June 2002, and Commanding Officer of the Spanish training ship "Juan Sebastián de Elcano" (2002/2003) in her 75th training cruise, sailing around the world for the 10th time during nine and half months. As Rear Admiral and Chief of the Fleet Projection Units Group, he commanded the Operational Amphibious Force 150 deployed during two months in the Lebanon and embarking the Marine Corps units returning to Spain. In 2007 he commanded the Tactical Group during the GALIBER 07 deployment, the first Combat Group deployment in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic on board the aircraft carrier "Príncipe de Asturias". In 2008 he commanded the Amphibious Force on board the LPD "Galicia" during the two-month ESPABRAS 08 deployment in the Atlantic, carrying out amphibious exercises in Brazil and the Canary Islands, being the longest deployment of the kind of an amphibious group in recent years.

He is a specialist in Artillery and Naval Gun Fire and has carried out the following courses: Air-Naval Operations; Fire Coordination at Division level; Naval Warfare and the NATO Defense course at the Defense College in Rome. He also attended the promotion course for Brigadier Generals / Rear Admirals.

Admiral Bolíbar has been awarded fifteen Spanish and foreign decorations.

He is very fond of sailing since he was 6 years old. He is married and has five children.