Pierre-François Forissier (born 29 December 1951, in Lorient) is a notable

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

Admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some 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, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...

Submariner and former Chief of Staff of the French Navy, a post which he took up, on February 4, 2008 and left on September 12, 2011.

Biography

After studying his secondary education in

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

and

Toulon Toulon (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Tolon , , ) is a city on the French Riviera and a large port on the Mediterranean coast, with a major naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, and the Provence province, Toulon is th ...

, he then attended a Lycée naval at

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(1968–1971). He married Brigitte Desbrest on 24 June 1978 at Bonnetan, and have four children.

Military career

Pierre-François entered the École Navale (1971–1974). Upon completing his chartered course, he graduated as an enseigne de vaisseau de première classe and rallied to the French Submarine Forces FSM in 1975. He served on all types of operational

submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...

s, notably commanding the nuclear attack submarine

SNA SNA or Sna may refer to: Organizations * Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency), Bulgaria's largest English-language news provider * Shanni Nationalities Army * Singapore National Academy, a school in Surabaya, Indonesia * Sky News Australia, an Austra ...

'' Rubis'' and the

ballistic missile submarine A ballistic missile submarine is a submarine capable of deploying submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) with nuclear warheads. The United States Navy's hull classification symbols for ballistic missile submarines are SSB and SSBN – t ...

SNLE '' Tonnant''. In 1974, he served on the 20th minesweepers surface division and the minesweeper ''Glycine'' as second officer in command, then in 1990 as a manoeuvring-officer of the

carrier Carrier may refer to: Entertainment * ''Carrier'' (album), a 2013 album by The Dodos * ''Carrier'' (board game), a South Pacific World War II board game * ''Carrier'' (TV series), a ten-part documentary miniseries that aired on PBS in April 20 ...

Foch Ferdinand Foch ( , ; 2 October 1851 – 20 March 1929) was a French general and military theorist who served as the Supreme Allied Commander during the First World War. An aggressive, even reckless commander at the First Marne, Flanders and Ar ...

''. In 1993, he was designated as second in command of the Brest Naval Training Centre. He served also at the general staff headquarters of the French Navy (french: état-major de la marine) in the « Material » division, the a couple years later in the « Plans » division and was promoted to Contre-Amiral ( Counter-Admiral) in 2001. He then occupied the functions of territorial assistant (french: adjoint) to the commandant of the coded maritime region « Atlantic ». Vice-Amiral ( Vice-Admiral), he commanded the Submarines Forces FSM and Force Océanique Stratégique FOST before being designated as a

Vice-Amiral d'Escadre Squadron vice-admiral (french: Vice-amiral d'escadre) is a naval rank found in navies of the world which follow the French tradition of naval ranks. The squadron vice-admiral leads a squadron and is typically senior to a vice-admiral and junior ...

( Squadron Vice-Admiral) deputy in 2005 at the post of Major Général de La Marine (french: major général de la marine). On November 4, 2008, he was elevated to the rank of

Amiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some 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, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...

(

) and designated as Chief of Staff of the French Navy (french: Chef d'état-major de la Marine). He left that command function on September 12, 2011 and was replaced by

Bernard Rogel Bernard Rogel (born 5 January 1956) is a French admiral, Chief of the Military Staff of the President of the Republic, and former Chief of Staff of the French Navy, a post which he took up on 12 September 2011 until 13 July 2016. Early life and c ...

Decorations and medals

* Grand Officer of the Order of the Legion of Honour *

Knight of the National Order of Merit A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

* Commander of the Order of Maritime Merit * Medaille de la Défense Nationale (silver echelon) * Gold Honor Cross of the Bundeswehr (Germany) * Commander of the Legion of Merit (United States) * Grand Cross with Swords pro Merito Melitensi (Order of Malta) * Grand Officer of the Order of Naval Merit (Brazil) * Grand Cross of the Order of Rio Branco (Brazil)

Gallery

File:US Navy 101028-N-5549O-053 Secretary of the Navy (SECNAV) the Honorable Ray Mabus, left, and Adm. Pierre-Francois Forissier, chief of staff of the.jpg,

SECNAV The secretary of the Navy (or SECNAV) is a statutory officer () and the head (chief executive officer) of the Department of the Navy, a military department (component organization) within the United States Department of Defense. By law, the sec ...

, The Honorable Ray Mabus (left) and Amiral Pierre-Francois Forissier. File:US Navy 080923-N-8273J-112 Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. Gary Roughead, left, speaks with Adm. Pierre-Francois Forissier, the chief of staff of the French Navy, during a visit to the Pentagon.jpg, CNO Admiral

Gary Roughead Gary Roughead ( "rough head"; born July 15, 1951) is a former United States Navy officer who served as the 29th Chief of Naval Operations from September 29, 2007 to September 22, 2011. He previously served as Commander, United States Fleet Forces ...

(left) with

CEMM CEMM, for Compaq Expanded Memory Manager was the first so-called PC " memory manager" for Intel 80386 CPUs, able to provide expanded memory (EMS) emulation by using the virtual memory features and the virtual 8086 mode of the CPU. It was present i ...

Admiral Pierre-Francois Forissier. File:US Navy 080923-N-8273J-092 Adm. Pierre-Francois Forissier, the chief of staff of the French Navy, left, greets Vice Adm. Kevin McCoy, commander, Naval Sea Systems Command and other flag officers.jpg, CEMM Admiral Pierre-Francois Forissier (left) greeting Vice-Admiral Kevin M. McCoy. File:US Navy 080927-N-1429M-142 Adm. Pierre-Francois Forissier, Chief of Naval Staff for the French Navy, center left, and Adm. Mark Fitzgerald, commander of U.S. Naval Forces Europe, far right, observe the unveiling of a U.S. Navy.jpg, CEMM Admiral Pierre-Francois Forissier (center left) & Admiral Mark P. Fitzgerald in a U.S. Navy unveiling.

Notes and references

External links