Admiral Jose Maria Treviño

Born in Granada, Admiral José M. Treviño joined the Spanish Navy in 1965, graduating from the Spanish Naval Academy in 1970. Although, Admiral Trevino’s main specialties are submarines and communications, he has also attended to several NATO and national courses including Spanish Naval War College or NATO Defence College.

Admiral Treviño has served on board several surface ships and submarines, Temerario (D-37) and Poseidon (AS-01) as Ensign, Narciso Monturiol (S-35), Cosme García (S-34) and Delfín (S-61) as Lieutenant, serving for two years as Executive Officer of Tonina (S- 62). During the years 1978/79 he sailed the fifth round of the world trip on board the sailing training ship (top-sail schooner) Juan Sebastián Elcano, serving as communications officer.

His six commands at sea included MCM diving unit UBMCM and minesweeper Odiel (M- 26) as Lieutenant, submarine Marsopa (S-63) as Lieutenant Commander, FFG class frigate Navarra (F-85) as Commander, Spanish Submarine Flotilla as Captain and finally Commander of the Spanish CVBG Group as Rear Admiral and the Spanish Italian Amphibious Force (SIAF) from October 2002 until February 2004. Being Rear Admiral, he also served for one year as Chief of Staff of the Spanish Fleet.

Commanding the FFG Navarra (F-85), Admiral Treviño took part in the Sharp Guard Operation, in the Adriatic Sea during the Yugoslavian conflict in 1995, performing duties as flag captain of STANAVFORMED. In the summer of 2003, commanding the Spanish Amphibious Group, he carried out a tour in the Persian Gulf performing, among other tasks, the transport of the Spanish Army Brigade Plus Ultra, later deployed to Iraq. His tours ashore include: Intelligence Division at the Joint Defense Staff HQ’s in Madrid, Director of Naval Intelligence at the General Naval Staff HQ’s, Chief of the Cabinet of the Spanish Minister of Defence and as Vice-Admiral Chief of Staff of Joint Command at Lisbon. On 22nd of September 2006, he was promoted to Admiral (OF-8) and appointed as Spanish Military Representative by the Government of Spain.

Admiral Treviño’s decorations are the following: Grand Crosses of Saint Hermenegildo, Navy and Air Merit, Commandeur de l’Ordre National du Mérite (France), Honour Sword of Republic of Argentina, NATO Medal, WEU medal, one Army Merit Cross, four Navy Merit Crosses, among others.

He speaks five languages fluently. Admiral Treviño is married to Lola Portela since 1973; they have two daughters, María and Carmen, one son, José and two granddaughters, Lucía and Carmen. He likes playing tennis, motor biking, writing articles and windsurfing, and finding books in Brussels’s bouquinistes.