Admiral Royal Navy See Also External Link United States Navy

King Edward I of England appointed the first English Admiral in 1297 when he named William de Leyburn "Admiral of the sea of the King of England". The rank of Admiral should not be confused with the office of Admiral of England or Lord High Admiral, which was an office held by the person with overall responsibility for the Navy.

The Royal Navy has had Vice and Rear Admirals since at least the 16th century. When in command of the fleet, the Admiral would either be in the lead or the middle portion of the fleet. When the Admiral commanded from the middle portion of the fleet his deputy, the Vice AdmiralVice Admiral is a naval rank of three star level, equivalent to Lieutenant General in seniority. In the United States Navy, Vice Admirals generally command the numbered fleets around the world that make up the naval components of each of the regional unif, would be in the leading portion or van. Below him was another admiral at the rear of the fleet, called Rear AdmiralThe term Rear Admiral originated from the days of Naval Sailing Squadrons, and is most directly associated with the British Royal Navy. Each Naval Squadron would be assigned an Admiral as its head, who would command from the center vessel and direct the a.

In Elizabethan times the fleet grew large enough to be organized into squadrons. The admiral's squadron wore a red ensignAlternate meanings Ensign (rank), Ensign (magazine) An ensign is a distinguishing token, emblem, badge, or flag such as a symbol of office. The word is derived from the French enseigne from the Latin plural insignia and is more particularly used of a mili, the vice admiral's white, and the rear admiral's blue. As the squadrons grew, each was eventually commanded by an Admiral (with Vice Admirals and Rear Admirals commanding sections) and the official titles became Admiral of the White, etc.

The squadrons ranked in order Red, White and Blue, and admirals ranked according to their squadron:

Promotion up the ladder was in accordance with seniority in the rank of Post-CaptainFor the Patrick O'Brian novel, see Post Captain (novel). In the British Royal Navy, Post-Captain is the rank achieved after being a Commander (Prior to 1794, it before that it was possible to achieve post rank as a Lieutenant; Commander was an informal ra, and rank was held for life, so the only way to get promoted was for the person above you on the list to die or resign. Lord Nelson when he died was only Vice Admiral of the White. Another way was to promote unsuccessful captains to the rank of admiral without distinction of squadron (a practice known as yellowing – the unfortunate became known as a yellow admiral).

In the 18th century17th century 18th century 19th century more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 18th century refers to the century that lasted from 1701- 1800; however, historians will sometimes specifically refer to the 18th Century as 1715- 89,, the original nine ranks began to be filled by more than one person per rank, although the rank of Admiral of the Red was always filled by only one person and was known as Admiral of the Fleet, but the organisation of the fleet into coloured squadrons was abandoned in 1864. The Red Ensign was allocated to the Merchant Marine, the White Ensign became the flag of the Royal Navy, and the Blue Ensign was allocated to the naval reserve and naval auxiliary vessels.

The current ranks are Rear Admiral, Vice Admiral, Admiral and Admiral of the Fleet, also known as flag ranks because admirals, known as Flag Officers, are entitled to fly a personal flag. An Admiral of the Fleet flies a Union Flag at the masthead, while an Admiral flies a St George's cross (red cross on white). Vice Admirals and Rear Admirals fly a St George's cross differenced with one and two red balls in the hoist respectively.

The rank of Commodore in the Royal Navy is not considered a flag rank, and Commodores fly swallow-tailed pennants bearing the cross of St George and a single red ball in the upper hoist. Instead of being referred to as flying their flag, Commodores fly their broad pennant.

In 1996, the rank of Admiral of the Fleet was put in abeyance in peacetime, except for members of the Royal family. However, Admirals of the Fleet promoted before 1996 continue to hold their rank on the active list for life.

1.1 See also

British ensigns

1.2 External link

Squadronal Colours factsheet from the Royal Naval museum

	Student Officer	OF(D)	OF-1	OF-2	OF-3	OF-4	OF-5	OF-6	OF-7	OF-8	OF-9	OF-10
British comissioned officer ranks
Royal Navy:	OCdt	Mid	SLt	Lt	Lt Cdr	Cdr	Capt	Cdre	RAdm	VAdm	Adm	Admiral of the Fleet
Royal Marines:	OCdt		2Lt - Lt	Capt	Maj	Lt Col	Col	Brig	Maj Gen
Army:	OCdt	OD	2Lt - Lt	Capt	Maj	Lt Col	Col	Brig	Maj Gen	Lt Gen	Gen	FM
Royal Air Force:	OCdt	OD	PO - FO	Flt Lt	Sqn Ldr	Wg Cdr	Gp Capt	ACdre	AVM	AM	ACM	MRAF

2 United States Navy

The United States Navy did not have any Admirals until 1862 because many people felt the title too reminiscent of royalty to be used in the country's navy. Others saw the need for ranks above Captain, among them John Paul Jones, who pointed out that the Navy had to have officers who "ranked" with Army Generals. He also felt there must be ranks above Captain to avoid disputes among senior Captains. The various secretaries of the Navy repeatedly recommended to Congress that Admiral ranks be created because the other navies of the world used them and American senior officers were "often subjected to serious difficulties and embarrassments in the interchange of civilities with those of other nations." Congress finally authorized nine Rear Admirals on July 16, 1862, although that was probably more for the needs of the rapidly expanding Navy during the American Civil War than any international considerations. Two years later Congress authorized the appointment of a Vice Admiral from among the nine Rear Admirals: David Farragut. Another bill allowed the President of the United States to appoint Farragut to full Admiral on July 25, 1866, and David Dixon Porter to Vice Admiral. When Farragut died in 1870 Porter became Admiral and Stephen C. Rowan Vice Admiral. Even after they died, Congress did not allow the promotion of any of the Rear Admirals to succeed them, so there were no more Admirals or Vice Admirals by promotion until 1915 when Congress authorized an Admiral and a Vice Admiral each for the Atlantic, Pacific and Asiatic fleets.

There was one Admiral in the interim, however. In 1899, Congress recognized George Dewey's accomplishments during the Spanish-American War by authorizing the President to appoint him Admiral of the Navy. He held that rank until he died in 1917. Nobody has since held that title. In 1944, Congress approved the five-star Fleet Admiral rank. The first to hold it were Ernest J. King, William D. Leahy, and Chester W. Nimitz. The Senate confirmed their appointments December 15, 1944. The fourth Fleet Admiral, William F. Halsey, got his fifth star in December 1945. None have been appointed since.

The sleeve stripes now used by Admirals and Vice Admirals in the United States date from March 11, 1869, when the Secretary of the Navy's General Order Number 90 specified that for their "undress" uniforms Admirals would wear a two-inch stripe with three half-inch stripes above it and Vice Admirals the two-inch stripe with two half-inch stripes above it. The Rear Admiral got his two-inch stripe and one half-inch stripe in 1866.

The sleeve stripes had been more elaborate. When the Rear Admiral rank started in 1862 the sleeve arrangement was three stripes of three-quarter-inch lace alternating with three stripes of quarter-inch lace. It was some ten inches from top to bottom. The Vice Admiral, of course, had even more stripes and when Farragut became Admiral in 1866 he had so many stripes they reached from his cuffs almost to his elbow. On their dress uniforms the admirals wore bands of gold embroidery of live oak leaves and acorns.

The admirals of the 1860s wore the same number of stars on their shoulders as admirals of corresponding grades do today. In 1899, the Navy's one Admiral (Dewey) and 18 Rear Admirals put on the new shoulder marks, as did the other officers when wearing their white uniforms, but kept their stars instead of repeating the sleeve cuff stripes.

During the 20th century, the ranks of the modern U.S. Admiralty were firmly established. An oddity that did exist was that the U.S. Navy did not have a one star rank except briefly during the Second World War and then not permanently until 1986. (See Commodore)

The 21st century United States Navy Admiral ranks are as follows.

The rank of Fleet Admiral is still listed on U.S. Navy precedence charts but is not considered an active rank.

2.1 See also

U.S. Navy Officer Rank Insignia

3 German Navy

The German Navy of the early 20th century was greatly expanded and enlarged as part of a build-up and mobilization in preparation for the First World War with additional enlargement during the Second World War. There were many famous German Admirals during these formative years of German naval power, among them Alfred von Tirpitz and Karl Dönitz.

The ranks of the German Admiralty were based on those from other European Powers, with some modifications in the titles and pronunciation. The German Navy also never considered Commodore a rank of the Admiralty, as this rank has always been considered more of a senior Captain.

In 1944, the ranks of the German Kriegsmarine were in order of seniority as follows:

Großadmiral ( Grand Admiral)
Generaladmiral ( General Admiral)
Admiral (Admiral)
Vizeadmiral ( Vice Admiral)
Konteradmiral ( Rear Admiral)

In the modern age, the German Navy no longer uses the ranks of General Admiral and Grand Admiral. A junior admiral rank, known as Flottillenadmiral rates below Konteradmiral and is generally considered the equivalent of a Rear Admiral (Lower Half).

4 See also

Military ranks *Admiral

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1 Royal Navy