Rear Admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star "admiral" rank. It is often regarde ...

Sinsy Ndeshi Bamba Nghipandua is a retired Namibian military officer whose last appointment served was as the Commander of the

Namibian Navy The Namibian Navy is the maritime warfare branch of the Namibian Defence Force. History Development of Namibia's navy has been slow, and the force was only formally established on 11 September 1998 as a maritime wing and in 2004 as a fully f ...

. He was appointed the Commander of the Namibian Navy in 2017. Prior to that he served as Commander of Naval Operations with the rank of Rear Admiral.

Career

Exile

Admiral Ngipandua joined

People's Liberation Army of Namibia The People's Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN) was the military wing of the South West Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO). It fought against the South African Defence Force (SADF) and South West African Territorial Force (SWATF) during the Sout ...

under

SWAPO The South West Africa People's Organisation (, SWAPO; af, Suidwes-Afrikaanse Volks Organisasie, SWAVO; german: Südwestafrikanische Volksorganisation, SWAVO), officially known as the SWAPO Party of Namibia, is a political party and former ind ...

in exile in 1978 as a 17 year old teenager and received military training in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

and

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

NDF career

Rear Admiral Nghipandua's career in the Namibian Defence Force started in 1990 as a

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

after Namibia's independence when he was appointed as a Staff Officer 3 Military Intelligence Branch DHQ in the

Namibian Army The Namibian Army is the ground warfare branch of the Namibian Defence Force. History Development of Namibia's army was fastest of the three arms of Service. The first units of the Army were deployed as early as 1990. The Army was formed when ...

. In 1995 he attended the Naval Surface Warfare Course Brazil. In 2000 he was attached to the

Brazilian Navy ) , colors= Blue and white , colors_label= Colors , march= "Cisne Branco" ( en, "White Swan") (same name as training ship ''Cisne Branco'' , mascot= , equipment= 1 multipurpose aircraft carrier7 submarines6 frigates2 corvettes4 amphibious warf ...

as a ship captain under instruction as an

Executive Officer An executive officer is a person who is principally responsible for leading all or part of an organization, although the exact nature of the role varies depending on the organization. In many militaries and police forces, an executive officer, o ...

. Nghipandua became the first Namibian Ship Commanding Officer as he was appointed as captain of the Patrol Vessel NPV Oryx in 2002 with the rank of Commander. In 2005 he was appointed as the Commanding Officer of the Naval Base Capt (N) P.N. Sacharia with the rank of Navy Captain. In 2009 he was appointed as the Commander Naval Operations with the rank of Rear Admiral (JG).In 2017 he rose to the rank of Rear Admiral and appointed as Navy Commander he served in that position until his retirement in August 2020.http://www.mod.gov.na/documents/264813/286599/profile+of+Bamba+navy+commander.pdf/da0fd5bb-9c27-48f2-af75-dfa20e658438

Qualifications

*Command and Staff Course and NDC programme in Kenya in 2008 * Naval Senior Staff Course in USA * Naval Officers Formative Course in Brazil * Junior Staff Course (BMATT) * Recce Training in Lubango, Angola * Intelligence and Special Operations in Cuba * Counter Intelligence * Advance military Law He also holds a: *Bachelor of Technology in Business Administration from the

University of South Africa The University of South Africa (UNISA), known colloquially as Unisa, is the largest university system in South Africa by enrollment. It attracts a third of all higher education students in South Africa. Through various colleges and affiliates, U ...

*National Diploma in public administration from the then

Polytechnic of Namibia The Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST), formerly known as Polytechnic of Namibia, is a public university located in the city of Windhoek, Namibia. Andrew Niikondo is its acting vice-chancellor. NUST was headed by the founding ...

. *Postgraduate Diploma in National Security and Strategic Studies from the United States Naval Staff College
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Military Decorations

Namibian Army Pioneer Medal * Namibia Independence medal

Independence Medal * Meritorious Services (10) years’ services medal * NDF commendation ribbon

NDF Commendation Medal *The Naval Merit Order *The Namibian Navy Achievement Medal *The Sea Services 250 days Medal *The ten (10) years (Navy) Meritorious Services Medal *The Namibian Navy Pioneer Medal *The Silver Star Medal *The Southern Cross Medal

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nghipandua, Sinsy Living people Namibian military personnel 1960 births