The Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Arsenal received a very special visitor on Wednesday. Admiral Chief of Staff Antonio Piñeiro Sánchez visited the Naval Base during his first tour of the Canary Islands since being appointed as the head of the corps last year.
The last time he was officially in the islands was in 2022, when he was the Chief of Personnel of the Navy. During his stay, he firsthand learned about the concerns of the personnel and the needs of the facilities. In this sense, one of his concerns was to improve the Navy’s onshore facilities, somewhat neglected in recent years compared to the need to enhance defense with state-of-the-art ships.
Nearly twenty cannon shots
The admiral, born in Murgardos (La Coruña) in 1960, will also visit the facilities that the Navy has in Tenerife, La Palma, and El Hierro. Antonio Piñeiro will visit the Naval Command of Tenerife and the Naval Sub-delegations of El Hierro and La Palma, and will also interact with the troops.
The visit to the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Arsenal began early. At eight in the morning, the troops paid ceremonial honours to the Chief of the Navy Staff in the parade ground of the military compound. In this activity, Navy units, the music band of the Canary Islands Air Command, and the honorary artillery pieces of the 94th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiment participated, and they were responsible for giving the 17 welcome cannon shots to the Admiral.
The admiral commander of the Canary Islands Naval Command, during the visit of the Chief of the Navy Staff to Las Palmas de Gran Canaria / LP/DLP
Communication Expert
Admiral Antonio Piñeiro Sánchez took office on April 27, 2023, replacing the late Antonio Martorell Lacave. Since 2021, he held the position of Chief of Personnel of the Navy.
The head of the Navy joined the Armed Forces in 1979, achieving the rank of Ensign in 1984. He would later be promoted to Lieutenant in 1987, moving through all ranks until becoming a Navy Captain in 2011. An expert in communications, he has been posted for over twelve years in the Persian Gulf (Operation Desert Storm), the Mediterranean (Active Endeavour), the South Pacific (Cruise Ship “Luis Váez de Torres”), and on several occasions with NATO’s permanent naval groupings. In this regard, he is a graduate of the NATO Defence College.
During his assumption of office, the Chief of the Navy Staff noted that his intention was to continue the unfinished work of his predecessor Antonio Martorell Lacave, whom the Navy paid homage to on April 1st, a year after his passing. “At this moment, my intention is to continue the unfinished work, initiated by my predecessor, Admiral Martorell, focusing on his motto: improve the present and prepare the future, seeking agility to efficiently utilize the resources provided by the Government, and exploiting the synergies that can be achieved in the joint arena,” he said.
