Captain (N) Petar Dimitrov was born on August 7, 1976, in the city of Varna. He completed his secondary education at Kiril Halachev Technical School of Shipbuilding and Navigation, in his hometown in 1995. In the same year, he entered Nicola Vaptsarov Naval Academy in Navigation Specialty, from which he graduated in 2000. He began his officer service in the Mine Countermeasure Squadron, as a Mine Warfare Officer on board a coastal minesweeper. From November 2004 to May 2005, he completed an Advanced Mine Warfare (MW) staff officers’ course at the Belgian-Netherlands MW School Eguermin in the city of Ostende, Belgium. Until 2008, he consecutively held the positions of Executive Officer and Commanding Officer of BGS Iskar. In the period from July 2008 to June 2009, he studied and graduated from the U.S. Naval Staff College in Newport, Rhode Island, USA. After his return, he was appointed as Senior Expert at the Training and Force Employment Department (N7/3) at the Bulgarian Navy Command. In 2013, for six months, he was appointed to an international position at the headquarters of the EU operation Atalanta, which is being conducted to deter piracy and armed robbery off the coast of Somalia and the Gulf of Aden. In 2015, he was appointed as Commander of Mine Countermeasure Vessels Group Varna. The next position he held in 2019 was the Head of the Training Department (N7) at the Bulgarian Navy Command. He was in this position until 2021, when he was sent for education at the U.S. Naval Command College in Newport, Rhode Island, USA. After his return on June 27, 2022, he was appointed as Commander of Varna Naval Base. He was fulfilling his duties as Base Commander until November, 30th 2023 when he was assigned as Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations at the Bulgarian Navy Command.  

Captain (N) Dimitrov is fluent in English.

He is married with one child.

EDUCATION

1995  Graduated from Technical High School of Shipbuilding and Navigation, Varna, Bulgaria

2000  Master’s Degree in Navigation, Nikola Vaptsarov Naval Academy, Varna,  Bulgaria

2005  Advanced Mine Warfare Staff Officers’ Course in Belgian-Netherlands MW School Eguermin, Ostende, Belgium

2009  Graduated from U.S. Naval Staff College, Newport, Rhode Island, USA

2019  Strategic Course, Rakovski National Defence College, Sofia, Bulgaria

2022  Graduated from U.S. Naval Command College, Newport, Rhode Island, USA

MILITARY CAREER DEVELOPMENT

2000 – 2001  Mine Warfare Officer of Mine Sweeper Coastal

2001 – 2002  Executive Officer of Mine Sweeper Coastal

2002 – 2008  Commanding Officer of Mine Sweeper Coastal

2009 – 2015  Senior Expert at Training and Force Employment Department, Bulgarian Navy Command

2015 – 2019  Commander of Mine Countermeasure Vessels Group Varna

2019 – 2021  Head of Training Department, Bulgarian Navy Command

2022 – 2023   Commander of Varna Naval Base

2023 – now    Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations, Bulgarian Navy Command