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Pavlin Petkov
Captain Pavlin Petkov was born on 10 July 1972 in Ruse, Bulgaria. He joined the "Nikola Vaptsarov" Naval Academy in 1991 in Varna, Bulgaria. After his commission as a Naval Officer in 1996 he served at sea in various operational billets on board corvettes and frigates. He was successively appointed as Navigator, Weapons officer and Executive officer on board ASW ships. He served as Commanding officer of BGS "Letiasti" from 2001 to 2005. Captain Pavlin Petkov attended the Bulgarian Military Academy (Staff College) from 2004 to 2006 in Sofia, Bulgaria. On completion, he was appointed again as an Executive officer on board BGS "Drazki" and Commanding officer of BGS "Gordi" and BGS "Verni" from 2008 to 2015. Following his second command tour, he was assigned to Chief of staff position in Fourth Patrol Ships Squadron in Burgas Naval Base. He was promoted to Captain (N) and assumed command of Fourth Patrol Ships Squadron (frigates) in Burgas Naval Base from 2016 to 2018.
From 2018 to 2019 he attended US Naval War College - Newport, Rhode Island, and he is Naval Command College class of 2019 graduate. Following his graduation he was appointed as Deputy Chief of Naval Operations Department at HQ Bulgarian Navy. Following the assignment in the Navy HQ from 2020 to 2022 he served as a Chief of staff of the Bulgarian Naval Flotilla. As of 01 December 2022 he assumed his current position.
Captain Petkov has attended various professional development courses. His more significant engagements include participation in Operation Active Endeavour, Operation Sea Guardian, UNIFIL MAROPS /Lebanon/ and Operation Unified Protector /Libya/.
Captain Pavlin Petkov is married to Polina Petkova, and they have one son.
EDUCATION
1996 Master’s Degree in Navigation and Weapons, Nikola Vaptsarov Naval Academy, Varna, Bulgaria
2006 Graduated from Bulgarian Military Academy (Staff College), Sofia, Bulgaria
2016 Strategic Course, Rakovski National Defence College, Sofia, Bulgaria
2019 Graduated from U.S. Naval Command College, Newport, Rhode Island, USA
MILITARY CAREER DEVELOPMENT
1996 – 1997 Navigator on board ASW ship
1997 – 1998 Weapons officer on board ASW ship
1998 – 2001 Executive officer on board ASW ship
2001 – 2005 Commanding officer of ASW ship
2005 – 2008 Executive officer of FFG
2008 – 2015 Commanding officer of FFG
2015 – 2016 Chief of staff of Patrol Squadron
2016 – 2018 Commander of Patrol Squadron
2019 – 2020 Deputy Chief of Naval Operations Department at HQ Bulgarian Navy
2020 – 2022 Chief of staff of the Bulgarian Naval Flotilla
2022 – now Deputy Commander Of The Bulgarian Naval Flotilla