The Hellenic Navy General Staff () is the

general staff A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, Enlisted rank, enlisted, and civilian staff who serve the commanding officer, commander of a ...

of the

Hellenic Navy The Hellenic Navy (HN; , abbreviated ΠΝ) is the Navy, naval force of Greece, part of the Hellenic Armed Forces. The modern Greek navy historically hails from the naval forces of various Aegean Islands, which fought in the Greek War of Independ ...

, the naval component of the

Greek Armed Forces The Hellenic Armed Forces () lead the military forces of Greece. The Hellenic Armed Forces consists of the Hellenic Army, the Hellenic Navy, Hellenic Air Force and Hellenic Coast Guard. The civilian authority overseeing the Hellenic Armed Fo ...

. It is headed by the Chief of the Navy General Staff, currently

Vice Admiral Vice admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, usually equivalent to lieutenant general and air marshal. A vice admiral is typically senior to a rear admiral and junior to an admiral. Australia In the Royal Australian Navy, the rank of Vice ...

Stylianos Petrakis Stylianos Petrakis () is a Greek naval officer. He was appointed as Chief of the Hellenic Navy General Staff The Chief of the Hellenic Navy General Staff (, abbrev. Α/ΓΕΝ) is the head of the Hellenic Navy General Staff and commander of the H ...

History

The Hellenic Navy General Staff was established by law on 21 July 1907 and organized by Royal Decree on 12 November of the same year. It ceased to function following the

German invasion of Greece The German invasion of Greece or Operation Marita (), were the attacks on Kingdom of Greece, Greece by Kingdom of Italy, Italy and Nazi Germany, Germany during World War II. The Italian invasion in October 1940, which is usually known as the Gr ...

in April 1941, and was reconstituted following Liberation in September 1944. During the intervening period, the Royal Hellenic Navy, although run by the

Greek government in exile The Greek government-in-exile was formed in 1941, in the aftermath of the Battle of Greece and the subsequent occupation of Greece by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. The government-in-exile was based first in South Africa, then London, then, fi ...

, was subordinated operationally to the

British Admiralty The Admiralty was a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, department of the Government of the United Kingdom that was responsible for the command of the Royal Navy. Historically, its titular head was the Lord High Admiral of the ...

. When the

Hellenic National Defence General Staff The Hellenic National Defence General Staff (, abbr. ΓΕΕΘΑ) is the senior staff of the Hellenic Armed Forces. It was established in 1950, when the separate armed services ministries were consolidated into the Ministry of National Defence. ...

was established in 1950, the HNGS was subordinated to it. During the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

, the Chief of the HNGS also fulfilled the duties of

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

Commander Eastern Mediterranean (COMEDEAST).

Command Structure

* Chief of the Navy General Staff (Αρχηγός ΓΕΝ, Α/ΓΕΝ), the head of the Navy * Deputy Chief of the Navy General Staff (Υπαρχηγός ΓΕΝ), who functions as the

chief of staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supportin ...

and runs its day-to-day affairs * General Inspector of the Navy (Γενικός Επιθεωρητής ΠΝ), subordinated directly to the Chief of the HNGS * Director of Financial Inspection of the Navy (Διευθυντής Οικονομικού Ελέγχου ΠΝ)

External links

Hellenic Navy General Staff
{{Chiefs of the Hellenic Navy General Staff Naval units and formations of Greece Staff (military)