History
The Hydrographic Service was established on 2 December 1883, when the commander of the Danube Flotilla and the Naval Unit, Lieutenant Zinovy Rozhestvensky, wrote a report to Prince Alexander Battenberg for the construction of a meteorological station at the Danube Flotilla in the town of Ruse.
In 1894, meteorological observations along the Black Sea coast began, and from 1895, hydrological observations were added to them - measuring sea level by water-gauge poles (pegels) established in Varna and Burgas harbours.
The first hydrographic activities date back to the autumn of 1896, when the Bulgarian Navy undertook hydrographic surveys of Burgas Bay in connection with plans for the construction of a future naval base. In the spring of 1897, Ensign Matej Stoykov began surveying the Varna Lake and its surrounding area with the aim of building naval barracks and harbours in the area.
In 1904, the commander of the Danube Flotilla, Commander Matej Stoykov, completed the first Bulgarian navigational chart of the Danube river. Its original is kept in the Naval Museum.
In 1908, under the direction of Ensign Nedelcho Nedev, the first Bulgarian nautical chart-plan of the Varna Bay was made, the original of which is kept in the Hydrographic Office.
In 1932 the Hydrographic Department was established at the State Geographical Institute. Its first head was Ensign Boris Rogev, a naval officer who graduated in 1931 from the Sorbonne with a degree in astronomy and navigation.
The Navy provided the Hydrographic Department with the ship Kamchia and other vessels. In 1933, under Rogiev's direction, the Varna Bay was surveyed and mapped at a scale of 1:10 000. In the period 1942-1944, hydrographic surveys were carried out on sections of the northern coast of the Aegean Sea and magnetic measurements in Varna and Burgas bays.
In 1945 Rogev carried out hydrographic surveys along our coast with the guard ship Belomorets.
By Decree of the Council of Ministers No. 11 of 23 March 1949, the Hydrographic Service, which had been attached to the Directorate of Water Communications, was transferred back to the Navy.
In 1950, the "Means of Navigation Provision" Department and the "Maps and Locations" Department were formed, and from 30 October 1950, by order of the Commander of the Navy, the "Hydrographic Department" was established at the Navy Headquarters with Lieutenant Eng. Evstati Dimitrov Statev as its head.
In September 1951 the "Hydrological Department" was formed.
In October 1952 the Hydrographic Department of the Navy was renamed the "Hydrographic Service" at the Navy Headquarters.
At the end of 1955, hydro-divisions were formed at the Varna and Burgas naval bases by order of the Commander of the Navy, and the raiding boats available in the service were handed over to them.
On 26.04.1976 the Hydrographic Service received a new specialized hydrographic ship named "Admiral Branimir Ormanov". The same was built in Gdansk town, Poland and faithfully served the fleet for 32 years.
On 01.10.1979 the Hydrographic Service acquired a Coastal Radio Navigation System "BRAS", designed for the needs of hydrographic research and to ensure the training and combat actions of the ships of the fleet.
On 21.11.1981 two hydrographic boats of project 612 built in "TEREM - KRZ Fleet Arsenal - Varna" were taken into service.
Great progress was achieved in 1988, when under the leadership of the Scientific and Research Sector at the Nikola Vaptsarov Naval Academy, a package of application programs for hydrological and hydrographic data processing was developed, which marked the beginning of the automation of information processing of the Hydrographic Service.
Since 01.04.2000 a GPS reference station has been put into operation and replaced the BRAS system in operation until then.
On 01.11.2011, the Varna Hydrographic Region and the Burgas Hydrographic Region were transferred to the Hydrographic Service.
On 11.05.2018 the Hydrographic Service became a full member of the International Hydrographic Organisation.
140 years Hydrographic service
