Petar Šimić (1932 – 11 April 1990) was an

admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in many navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force. Admiral is ranked above vice admiral and below admiral of ...

of the

Yugoslav Navy The Yugoslav Navy ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, Југословенска ратна морнарица, Jugoslavenska ratna mornarica, Yugoslav War Navy), was the navy of Yugoslavia from 1945 to 1992. It was essentially a coastal defense force with the miss ...

, Commander of the

Split Split(s) or The Split may refer to: Places * Split, Croatia, the largest coastal city in Croatia * Split Island, Canada, an island in the Hudson Bay * Split Island, Falkland Islands * Split Island, Fiji, better known as Hạfliua Arts, enter ...

Military Area and Assistant Commander of the Military Naval Area for political-legal sector.

Early life

Šimić's family hailed from the village of Drivenik near

Novi Vinodolski Novi Vinodolski (, often also called Novi or ''Novi del Vinodol'' o ''Novi in Valdivino'' in Italian) is a town on the Adriatic Sea coast in Croatia, located south of Crikvenica, Selce and Bribir and north of Senj. The population of Novi is 3,9 ...

Role in SKJ

Before his death, Šimić served as the President of the League of Communists Organisation in the Yugoslav People's Army, thereby acting as head of the

League of Communists of Yugoslavia The League of Communists of Yugoslavia, known until 1952 as the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, was the founding and ruling party of SFR Yugoslavia. It was formed in 1919 as the main communist opposition party in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats ...

(SKJ) in the

Yugoslav People's Army The Yugoslav People's Army (JNA/; Macedonian language, Macedonian, Montenegrin language, Montenegrin and sr-Cyrl-Latn, Југословенска народна армија, Jugoslovenska narodna armija; Croatian language, Croatian and ; , J ...

(JNA). In the late 1980s, he represented hardliners within JNA in public appearances. On 31 January 1989, he issued an announcement in which he accused some politicians of "pushing the Yugoslav ship on the rocks". Although he didn't name them at the time, it was clear that the announcement was directed at

Croat The Croats (; , ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and other neighboring countries in Central Europe, Central and Southeastern Europe who share a common Croatian Cultural heritage, ancest ...

and Slovene politicians, especially at

Stipe Šuvar Stipe Šuvar (17 February 1936 – 29 June 2004) was a Croatian politician and sociologist who was regarded to have been one of the most influential communist politicians in the League of Communists of Croatia (SKH) in SR Croatia in the 1980s ...

, the

leader of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia The Party leader, leader of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia (LCY) was first established as an office on 23 April 1919 under the name "Secretary of the Central Committee" (later renamed "Political Secretary of the Central Committee" at the ...

at the time.Yugoslav Military Warns Feuding Politicians
/ref> Šimić also added that "JNA will oppose, with all its might, anybody who wants to play dangerous games with achievements of our struggle and the socialist revolution". At one of the sessions where fierce discussions occurred, according to official version, he suffered a

stroke Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...

and died. After the

Yugoslav Wars The Yugoslav Wars were a series of separate but related#Naimark, Naimark (2003), p. xvii. ethnic conflicts, wars of independence, and Insurgency, insurgencies that took place from 1991 to 2001 in what had been the Socialist Federal Republic of ...

had ended, Croatian journalist Franjo Deranja published a book, sourced mainly to Antun Tus, saying that it was probable that the Yugoslav People's Army leadership was at fault for Šimić's death.

References

Sources

* Franjo Deranja: Slučaj admirala Petra Šimića – Strogo povjerljivo (Glosa d.o.o., Rijeka, 2015.; 60 stranica, tvrdi uvez) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Šimić, Petar 1932 births 1990 deaths Military personnel from Bihać Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina Yugoslav communists Admirals of the Yugoslav People's Army Members of the Central Committee of the 13th Congress of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia