Captain general of the Navy

Not to be confused with Captain general of the Sea.

This article is about the Spanish Navy rank. For other uses, see Captain general.

Captain general of the Navy (Spanish: Capitán general de la Armada) is the highest naval officer rank of the Spanish Navy, rated OF-10 with the NATO ranking system. The routine honorary appointments formally ceased in 1999.^{[citation needed]} The rank of captain general of the Navy is equivalent to an admiral of the fleet in many nations, a captain general of the Spanish Army or a Captain general of the Air Force in the Spanish Air and Space Force.

Captain general of the Navy Capitán general de la Armada
Rank flag
Shoulder and sleeve insignia
Country	Spain
Service branch	Spanish Navy
Abbreviation	CGN
Rank group	Flag officer
NATO rank code	OF-10
Formation	c. 1714
Next lower rank	Admiral general
Equivalent ranks	Captain general (Army) Captain general (Air and Space Force)

A peculiar usage of the term captain general arose in the Spanish Navy of the 16th century. A captain general was appointed by the king as the leader of a fleet (although the term 'squadron' is more appropriate, as most galleon fleets rarely consisted of more than a dozen vessels, not counting escorted merchantmen), with full jurisdictional powers. The fleet second-in-command was the admiral, an officer appointed by the capitan-general and responsible for the seaworthiness of the squadron.^{[1][page needed]}

Since King Amadeo's reign (1871–1873), the monarchs used captain general of the Navy rank and insignia as Commander-in-chief. Briefly abolished by the Second Spanish Republic, it was restored in 1938 during the regime of Francisco Franco, a General of the Army. Since 19th century honorary promotions of retired admirals to this rank were also made, such as the prime ministers Juan Bautista Aznar-Cabañas (1928) and Luis Carrero Blanco (1973), the only posthumous promotion. Infante Juan, Count of Barcelona, claimant to the Spanish throne (1941–1977) and father of King Juan Carlos, was also made honorary captain general of the Spanish Navy in 1992.^{[citation needed]}

List

Date of promotion	Image	Name	Dead/Annulled	Notes	Ref.
1750		Juan José Navarro, 1st Marquess of Victoria	† 5 February 1772	1st general captain of the Navy
1783		Luis de Córdova y Córdova	† 29 September 1796	2nd general captain of the Navy	[2]
1789		Pedro Fitz-James Stuart	† 23 July 1791	3rd general captain of the Navy
1792		Antonio Valdés y Fernández Bazán	† 4 April 1816	4th general captain of the Navy Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece	[3][4]
1794		Francisco Javier Everardo-Tilly [es]	† 11 December 1795	5th general captain of the Navy	[5][6]
1796		Antonio González de Arce [es]	† 23 February 1798	6th general captain of the Navy	[7]
1798		Manuel Antonio Flórez y Maldonado	† 23 March 1798	7th general captain of the Navy	[8][9]
1798		Juan Cayetano de Lángara y Huarte	† 18 January 1806	8th general captain of the Navy	[10]
1802		José Solano y Bote	† 24 April 1806	9th general captain of the Navy	[11][12]
1805		Francisco de Borja y Poyo [es]	† 10 June 1808	10th general captain of the Navy	[13]
1805		Francisco Gil de Taboada y Lemos	† 1809	11th general captain of the Navy	[14]
9 November 1805		Federico Carlos Gravina y Nápoles	† 9 March 1806	12th general captain of the Navy	[15]
3 November 1808		Félix Ignacio de Tejada [es]	† 20 February 1817	13th general captain of the Navy	[16]
24 February 1817		Ignacio Maria de Álava y Sáenz de Navarrete	† 26 May 1817	14th general captain of the Navy	[17]
6 June 1817		Juan María Villavicencio y de la Serna [es]	† 25 April 1830	15th general captain of the Navy	[18]
1 May 1830		Juan Ruiz de Apodaca y Eliza	† 11 January 1835	16th general captain of the Navy	[19]
25 January 1835		Cayetano Valdés y Flores	† 16 February 1835	17th general captain of the Navy	[20][21]
16 January 1836		Francisco Javier de Uriarte y Borja [es]	† 29 November 1843	18th general captain of the Navy	[22][23] [24][25]
12 February 1843		José Sartorio [es]	† 30 December 1843	19th general captain of the Navy	[26]
2 June 1843[a]		Ramón Romay [es]	† 23 May 1849	20th general captain of the Navy Minister of the Navy (28 February-20 April 1823)	[27]
15 September 1847[b]		José Rodríguez de Arias [es]	† 26 January 1852	21st general captain of the Navy	[28][29]
17 February 1852		Francisco Javier de Ulloa [es]	† 24 November 1855	22nd general captain of the Navy Secretary of the Navy (1832–1833)	[30]
28 November 1855		Dionisio Capaz [es]	† 27 December 1855	23rd general captain of the Navy Minister of the Navy (1822–1823 and 11–16 September 1840)	[31]
13 February 1856		Francisco Armero y Fernández de Peñaranda	† 1 July 1856	24th general captain of the Navy Lieutenant general of the Army Minister of the Navy, Commerce and Overseas Governance (1840, 1844–1846 and 1846–1847) Minister of War (1846 and 1857–1858) Minister of Governance (1857–1858) Minister of the Navy (1851–1852 and 1864–1865) Prime Minister (1857–1858) Last surviving Spanish veteran officer of the Battle of Trafalgar	[32]
24 November 1858[c]		Casimiro Vigodet [es]	† 2 January 1872	Minister of the Navy (1837) Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece	[33][34][35]
16 November 1870		Amadeo de Saboya	11 February 1873 (First Spanish Republic established)	Ex officio Captain general of the Army (1870–1873)
5 September 1872[d]		Juan José Martínez de Espinosa y Tacón	† 14 October 1875		[36]
29 December 1874		Alfonso de Borbón y Borbón	† 25 November 1885	Ex officio Captain general of the Army (1874–1885)
24 August 1875[d]		Joaquín Gutiérrez de Rubalcaba [es]	† 3 April 1881	Ad honorem Minister of the Navy (17 January – 1 March 1864 and 1866–1867) 1st Marquis Rubalcaba with sucesion (1878)[e][37]	[38]
18 April 1881[d]		Luis Hernández-Pinzón Álvarez [es]	† 22 February 1891	Ad honorem	[39]
27 February 1891[d]		Guillermo Chacón Maldonado [es]	† 28 March 1899	Ad honorem Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece	[40]
15 April 1899[d]		Carlos Valcárcel y Ussel de Gimbarda	† 23 April 1903	Ad honorem Minister of the Navy (1883–1884) Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece	[41]
17 May 1902		Alfonso de Borbón y Habsburgo-Lorena	14 April 1931 (Second Spanish Republic established)[f]	Ex officio Captain general of the Army (1902–1931)
30 April 1903[d]		José María Beránger [es]	† 23 January 1907	Ad honorem Minister of the Navy (1870–1871, 1872–1873, 1885–1886, 1890–1891, 11 March – 11 December 1892 and 1895–1897)	[42]
21 February 1910[g]		Juan Bautista Viniegra [es]	† 21 February 1918	Ad honorem Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece	[43]
17 March 1918		José Pidal Rebollo [es]	† 4 May 1920	Ad honorem Minister of the Navy (1911–1912 and 23 March – 27 July 1918)	[44][45]
11 May 1920		José María Chacón y Pery [es]	† 13 April 1922	Ad honorem Minister of the Navy (1918–1919)	[46][47] [48]
22 April 1922		Ricardo Fernández de la Puente y Patrón	† 23 October 1928	Ad honorem President of the Supreme War and Navy Council	[49]
30 October 1928		Juan Bautista Aznar y Cabañas	† 19 February 1933	Ad honorem Minister of the Navy (16 February – 15 September 1923) Prime Minister (18 February – 14 April 1931) Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece	[50][51]
18 July 1938		Francisco Franco y Bahamonde	† 20 November 1975	Ex officio (As Head of state)[h] Captain general of the Army (1938[i]–1975) and Air captain general (1939–1975) Generalissimo (1936[i]–1975)
21 December 1973		Luis Carrero y Blanco	—	Posthumous promotion Deputy Prime Minister (1967–1973) Prime Minister (9 June – 20 December 1973)	[52]
20 November 1975[j]		Juan Carlos de Borbón y Borbón	Active until 19 June 2014 (Abdication)	Ex officio Retired since 19 June 2014 Captain general of the Army and Air captain general	[53]
5 December 1992		Juan de Borbón y Battenberg	† 1 April 1993	Ad honorem Infante of Spain Claim to the Spanish throne (1941–1977)	[54]
19 June 2014		Felipe de Borbón y Grecia	Present	Ex officio Captain general of the Army and Air captain general

See also

• Captain general
• Captain general of the Army
• Captain general of the Air Force
• Spanish Navy

Notes

1. Supernumerary captain general of the Navy until 30 December 1843.
2. Supernumerary captain general of the Navy until 23 May 1849.
3. Supernumerary captain general of the Navy until 1866. Rank replaced by Admiral of the Spanish Navy in 1869.
4. Promoted as Admiral of the Spanish Royal Navy.
5. Vide Rubalcava.
6. On 14 April 1931 Alfonso XIII renounced as head of state but did not formally abdicate.
7. Admiral of the Spanish Royal Navy until 10 January 1912, when the traditional rank of Captain General of the Navy was recovered.
8. Named himself.
9. At Civil War until 1 April 1939.
10. Monarch since 22 November 1975.