List of admirals of Croatia

Admirals from Croatia served in many naval forces on the eastern Adriatic seaboard. First admirals, were mentioned in 1350s as commanders of the royal fleet of Croatian-Hungarian king Louis I. Officers from today's Croatia served in various navies in control of Croatia or its parts. For instance, Jusuf Mašković served as a grand admiral of Ottoman Navy in 1630s; Ivan of Vrana was a Venetian admiral in late 16th century, taking part in the Battle of Lepanto. Croatian personnel served in the Venetian Navy until its demise in 1797 and, in modern times, in Habsburg/Austro-Hungarian Navy as Croatia was a constituent part of the monarchy. First Croatian admirals distinguished themselves commanding Habsburg ships in First Italian War of Independence in 1848.
Croatian admirals helped lead Austro-Hungarian Navy through World War I and later oversaw the creation and development of Royal Yugoslav Navy in the interwar years. In World War II they found themselves on opposing sides, as some chose to collaborate and joined rather limited Navy of Independent State of Croatia, while others founded guerilla Partisan Navy, which liberated the Croatian Adriatic and later developed into Yugoslav Navy. Croatian admirals co-led Yugoslav Navy during the Cold War, overseeing its development of submarines and frigates, strengthening its capacities. After 1991, breaking off from Yugoslav Navy, Croatian admirals steered Croatian Navy through the Croatian War of Independence from Yugoslavia and worked on joining NATO.
What follows is a list of naval officers from the territory of today's Republic of Croatia. For a list of admirals of the modern, post-1991 Croatian Navy, see List of Croatian Navy admirals.

Fleet Admiral

In Yugoslav Navy, Branko Mamula was promoted to the rank of the Fleet Admiral in 1983. In Croatian Navy, rank of Fleet Admiral was introduced in 1995 as the naval equivalent to the five-star rank of the OF-10. Commending him on his role as the commander of Croatian Navy during the War of Independence, president Tuđman conferred the rank on admiral Letica. Sveto Letica-Barba was the first and so far the only Croatian flag officer to hold this rank.

Name	Born	Died	Date of rank	Navy	Crew/Year	Notes
	4 April 1926	6 November 2001	March 1996		1950	Served in Yugoslav Navy 1942–86, retired as viceadmiral and retroactively promoted to the rank of admiral. Reactivated in 1991
	30 May 1921	19 October 2021	22 December 1983		1958

Admirals

Name	Born	Died	Date of rank	Navy	Crew/Year	Notes
	1905	1980	1956			People's Hero of Yugoslavia
	1912	1998	1968			People's Hero of Yugoslavia
	1915	1991	1969			People's Hero of Yugoslavia
	31 October 1858	1 July 1930	23 February 1917		1877	Commander of Austro-Hungarian Navy 1917–8
	1867	1960	6 September 1929		1885	Served as a rear admiral in Austro-Hungarian Navy until 1918
	1866	1940	30 April 1930		1885	Served as a rear admiral in Austro-Hungarian Navy until 1918
	1932	2021	1988			Joined Croatian Navy in 1991, his earlier rank confirmed
	1920	1976	1974
	1932	1990	1989
						retired in 2000
					1959	retired in 2002
			11 March 2020		1985	retired in June 2024
	1924	2008	5 7 1984			Retired as viceadmiral in April 1984; in July retroactively promoted to the rank of an admiral

Vice Admirals

Name	Born	Died	Date of rank	Navy	Crew/Year	Notes
		4 9 2023				retired in 2011
					1977	retired in 2014
					1958	retired in 2002

						People's Hero of Yugoslavia
		2006	22 12 1971			served as an NCO in Royal Yugoslav Navy
		2009	22 12 1976
		1976	22 12 1968
			22 12 1975
		1993	22 12 1974
		2009	22 12 1977
		1988	22 12 1967			People's Hero of Yugoslavia
		1978	22 12 1966
		2012	22 12 1978
		1982	22 12 1978		1/
					1909	retired as SotL Captain of Royal yugoslav Navy in Feb 1940
	1876	1958	6 9 1935		1893	Retired in April 1940
	1943	2020	1994		117/1965	left Yugoslav navy in 1992 as captain

Rear Admirals

Name	Born	Died	Date of rank	Navy	Crew/Year	Notes
	1965		18 September 2019		1987	retired as of March 2025
					1986
			28 May 2025		1988	Commander of Croatian Navy 2024-
	1959	2019	2015		1982	retired in 2015
	1884	1956	1 December 1937		1902	In 1941 commander-in-chief of Royal Yugoslav Navy Later joined ISC Navy, earlier rank confirmed
	7 October 1871	1 November 1918	30 October 1918		1889	Served in Austro-Hungarian Navy as captain. Promoted to the rank of rear admiral by the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs
			10 April 1941		1909
	1913	1982	22 December 1954			People's Hero of Yugoslavia
	1920	2010				People's Hero of Yugoslavia
	1820	1906
	1867	1935	11 May 1918		1885
	1785	1849	28 August 1848		von Flaggentreu
	1903	1971			1929
	1915	1985	22 December 1961
	1864	1950	29 December 1919		1882
	1867	1939	1 5 1918		1886
	1866	1928	1 5 1918		1886
	1870	1918	1 11 1918		1888
	1936	2022	22 12 1986		1957	Joined Croatian Navy, his earlier rank confirmed
	1933	2023	22 December 1987
	1932	2024	22 December 1990		5/
	1935	2008	22 December 1987		9/
	1945					retired in 2002
	1886	1961	1 12 1937			Retired in 1940; later joined ISC Navy, earlier rank confirmed
	1887	1953	1 12 1939			Joined ISC Navy, earlier rank confirmed
	1889	1968	6 9 1940		1909	Commander in chief of Royal Yugoslav Navy in April 1941
	1916	1998
	1854	1913	3 January 1910			born in Šibenik
	1858	1922	10 August 1917			retired in 1907, reactivated, promoted to Titular RAdm, retired in April 1918
	1836	1917	1 May 1892			promoted to RAdm at his retirement

Yugoslav Navy

SotL Captain Pecotić, Kuzma.
Petar Strčić.
with active duty period and year a rank was attained

Royal Yugoslav Navy

*
*

Austro-Hungarian Navy

Schmidt-Brentano, Antonio. '. Oesterreichischer Staatsarchiv, 2007
Dubrović, Ervin. ' Rijeka: Pomorski fakultet u Rijeci/Muzej Grada Rijeke, 2011.