Admiral flote

"Admiral flote" (lit. Admiral of the Fleet) is the fifth and highest Admiral of the Croatian navy. This officer is referred to as, and is considered the equivalent of, a five-star Fleet Admiral. The insignia for a Croatian Senior Admiral is two thick rank stripes on both the sleeve and shoulder board. Between 1995 and 2002, the rank was called "Stožerni admiral", meaning "Admiral of the Headquarters", analogous to "Stožerni general" for the ground forces.

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, the Croatian navy retained the old military rank structure despite the fact it was smaller 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.