DON FERNANDO BALEN GARCIA
(1904-1966)
Rear Admiral, Spanish Navy
Hydrographic Engineer
Director of the Naval Hydrographic Institute
Gran Cruz del Mérilo Naval
Gran Cruz de la Orden de San Hermenegildo
Encomienda de la Orden de Africa
Medalla Naval de Servicios Distinguidos del Brasil
Medalla del Mérito Militar
Cruz de Guerra
Ingresó en la Escuela Naval en San Fernando, como aspirante de marino, el 10 de enero de 1921, siendo promovido a oficial cinco años después. En 1929 ingresó en la Escuela de Hidrografía del Observatorio de Marina de San Fernando (Cádiz) y tomó parte en los levantamientos del estrecho de Gibraltar y del golfo de Cádiz. Fue nombrado oficial hidrógrafo en 1931. Ascendido a teniente de navío, fue designado instructor de astronomía y navegación en la Escuela Naval.
En 1937 desempeñó el puesto de agregado naval en la embajada española en Roma.
El 1 de julio de 1944, habiendo sido ascendido a capitán de corbeta, fue nombrado director del recién fundado Instituto Hidrográfico de la Marina, cargo que desempeñó durante veintidós años, llevando a cabo la gran tarea de crear un centro hidrográfico modélico desde el punto de vista técnico y científico. Adicionalmente le fue reconocido el título de ingeniero hidrógrafo.
Fue ascendido a contralmirante, el 1 de septiembre de 1963. Como director del Instituto Hidrográfico de la Marina asistió a varias ediciones de la Conferencia Hidrográfica Internacional y representó a España en el Bureau Hidrográfico Internacional, en cuyas actividades colaboró estrechamente.
En el campo de la hidrografía española contribuyó al desarrollo de técnicas hidrográficas e instrumentación y comenzó a entrenar a oficiales en Oceanografía y en la aplicación de esta ciencia a la Hidrografía. Al mismo tiempo dio pasos decisivos para la creación de un cuerpo de oficiales especialistas en Hidrografía.
Tanto dentro como fuera de España adquirió gran prestigio científico. Fue secretario del Consejo Superior Geográfico y del Comité Nacional de Geodesia y Geofísica, así como de la Comisión Interdepartamental sobre estandarización de balizamiento. En el ámbito internacional asistió a numerosísimos congresos y sesiones. Fue miembro del Instituto de Navegación de la Universidad de California y del Instituto de Navegación en Londres y miembro del Congreso Mundial Meteorológico y del Consejo Internacional para la exploración del mar.
Fue distinguido con los siguientes honores y condecoraciones: Gran Cruz del Mérito Naval, Gran Cruz de la Orden de San Hermenegildo, Encomienda de la Orden de África, medalla naval de Servicios Distinguidos de Brasil, medalla del Mérito Militar, Cruz de Guerra.
Bibl.: Redacción, “Traslado y sepelio de los restos del Almirante Balén”, en ABC (Sevilla), 9 de noviembre de 1966; J. A. Samalea, “Prestigio mundial del Contralmirante Balén, R.G.M. 10/1967”, en Revue Hydrographique Internationale. Boletín de los Archivos del Instituto Hidrográfico de la Marina (diciembre de 1966).
Rear Admiral Don Fernando Balen Garcia , Director of the Hydrographic Institute of the Spanish Navy, died at the San Fernando Naval Hospital in Cadiz on 7 November 1966.
The hydrographic community at large has lost one of its most eminent figures of the last twenty-five years.
Born at Seville on 17 October 1904, Rear Admiral Balen entered the Naval School on 17 December 1920, and was promoted to officer’s rank on 15 September 1925.
On 12 September 1929 he entered the Hydrographic Training School at the Naval Observatory of San Fernando (Cadiz), and while there he carried out hydrographic surveys aboard the survey ship Giralda and took part in surveys of the Strait of Gibraltar and in the Gulf of Cadiz. He was nominated Hydrographic Officer in May 1931. On his promotion to the rank of Lieutenant, he was appointed Instructor at the Naval School in Astronomy and Navigation which he also taught on various other occasions later in his career.
In 1933 he carried out hydrographic surveys off the Moroccan coast, the Cape of Gata and in Mar Menor as surveyor on the hydrographic vessels Giralda and Tofino. Then in October 1934 he was given command of the Coast Guard vessel Arcila, attached to the Canary Islands Hydrographic Survey, for the surveying of these islands and of the Rio de Oro coast.
In August 1937 he was appointed Deputy Naval Attaché at the Spanish Embassy in Rome, a function he filled until January 1938 when he was recalled to become Instructor at the Naval School. Later, whilst a Lieutenant-Commander, he was appointed Chief Operations Officer for the Squadron Naval Staff, and in recognition of his innate qualities of leadership and his professional competence as an Instructor he was appointed Commanding Officer of the Minelayer Vulcano — the training ship for Midshipmen — a post he occupied for two years.
Previously, as the First Lieutenant of the survey ship Malaspina, he carried out hydrographic surveys at the River Guadalquivir mouth and off the west coast of southern Spain.
He was promoted Lieutenant-Commander in 1944, and during this time of technical expansion in the Spanish Navy when the Naval Hydrographic Institute was founded he was appointed the first Director of that Institute and was nominated Hydrographic Engineer.
During the 22 years that he was head of this institute he carried on the immense task of creating a model hydrographic centre, both from the technical and the scientific point of view.
One of his preoccupations as Director of the Hydrographic Institute w'as to promote modern methods and to adapt cartographic production to highly-developed techniques, continually striving his utmost to acquire the means necessary to the realization of this aim. During his office interrupted surveys were resumed and surveys of Spanish West Africa, Spanish Equatorial Guinea and the Canary Islands were carried out.
At the same time he took decisive steps regarding the creation of a permanent branch of officers specialising in hydrography.
In August 1963 he was promoted to the rank of Rear Admiral.
In his capacity of Director of the Spanish Naval Hydrographic Institute he was the official representative of Spain at the IHB and he attended the International Hydrographic Conferences of 1947, 1952, 1957 and 1962.
In the field of IHB activities he carried out a vast amount of cooperation with States Members, a task made easier by his comprehension of both human and technical problems and by his deep conviction of the necessity for cooperation between men and between states in order to solve in the best possible way the problems common to all.
In the domain of Spanish hydrography he made a point of developing hydrographic techniques and instrumentation and started the training of Naval Officers in oceanography and the application of this science to surveying.
In his own country as well as in international circles Rear Admiral B a l e n had acquired great scientific prestige. In Spain he was Chairman of the Higher Council on Geography and of the National Committee on Geodesy and Geophysics, as well as the Interdepartmental Commission charged with the application of the regulations concerning the standardization of buoyage and the amendments to the 1930 Lisbon international agreement on buoyage.
In international relations, as the Spanish delegate he attended numerous congresses and meetings, amongst others the following : the Plenary Session of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea, Copenhagen, 1948; the 9th General Assembly on Maritime Meteorology in London in 1952; the 2nd International Conference on Maritime Meteorology and the International Congress on Navigation and Depth Measurements using Radio and Radar held in Hamburg in 1956; the 6th General Assembly of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics in Toronto, 1957, visiting also the Hydrographic Office of the U.S.A.; the 13th General Assembly of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics in San Francisco, California, in 1963; and the Maritime Meteorology Commission of the World Meteorological Organization in January 1964.
He was a member of the Institute of Navigation of the University of California (U.S.A.) and of the Institute of Navigation in London, and a corresponding member for the World Meteorological Congress and for the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea.
The premature death of this eminent hydrographer will be felt as a great loss to the hydrographic world. All those who knew will remember his magnificent personal qualities, his capacity for friendship, the universality of his ideals, his enormous creative ability and his great courtesy.
We are certain that we shall derive much gain by following his example in all the fields where he so assiduously exercised his profession.
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