Subject:
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Re: Ranks
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.pirates
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Date:
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Sat, 3 Nov 2001 03:19:51 GMT
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Viewed:
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1130 times
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In lugnet.pirates, Andrzej M. Szlaga writes:
> Hello,
>
> Could you help me? I need English names of all military ranks from
> sailor to captain.
>
> Thanks and bye,
Hmm... this might depend on the era you're talking about. If you're talking
about modern Navies, Rick's got it on the nose. If you're looking at the Age
of Sail, things are a bit different...
I'm not fully brished up on Royal Navy non-commisioned ranks (somebody else
here will doubtless be able to help you there) but in Nelson's day, officers
were as follows (Going up):
*Midshipman* - a 'young gentleman', basically aboard ship to learn the
sailing trade and considered an officer able to command men (for instance,
taking a prize)
*Acting Lieutenant* - a Midshipman giving an acting rank as Lieutenant, with
the priviledges and responisbilities but no commission and a chance of
reverting back to Midshipman if they are found unsuitable.
*Lieutenant* - lowest commisioned rank, commanded small craft, executive
officers on proper warships -- sometimes officers would never advance past
here, depending on skill.
*Commander* - intermediary between Captain and Lieutenant, usually
commanding a sloop or brig of less than 18 guns. Men here were virtually
garunteed a Captaincy.
*Captain* - Commanding ships deemed better than a Commander's command but
less than a Post Ship... this one's an iffy division depending on when you
talk about.
*Post Captain* - Captain of a Post ship - anything rated and some 20-gun
sloops, depending on size. Once made Post, a Captain was garunteed flag rank
barring death, as soon as his name made the top of the list.
*Commodore* - Two different levels, full and... hmm... 'not'. Junior
Commodores ('not') were only senior Captains put in charge of a squadron
temporarily. Full Commodores flew broad pennants and had Captains beneath
them, commanding their flagships. They were temporary Admirals, essentially,
just with more seniority than the juniors.
*Rear Admiral* - First flag rank.
*Vice Admiral* - Next
*Admiral* - the head Admiral rank.
Now, I might be wrong here, but once you get to 'Admiral' you start playing
with Lords of the Admiralty, Admirals of the Fleet, etc. Confusing and
almost entirely political beyond here -- not to say that priviledge had
nothing to do with the rest of the ladder...
In flag ranks at that time, the Royal Navy had three grades of Admiral...
not to be mixed with the rank itself. I've read conficting things about
these, but hopefully I can get it right here...
*(Rear/Vice) Admiral of the Blue* - lowest level of Admiral, commanding
ships in the rear of a fleet van.
*(Rear/Vice) Admiral of the Red* - next up, not sure the position in the
van, but these were Nelson's favorites.
*(Rear/Vice) Admiral of the White* - highest up on the scale, the seniors.
So, a Rear Admiral of the Blue would be junior to one of the Red, at least
at sea, but a Rear Admiral of the white wouldn't (I don't *think*) outrank a
Vice Admiral of the Blue. It was all just a tad messy...
And of course, the reason you often see three different colors of Ensigns in
those pictures of RN ships in action is because all ships flew the color of
the Admiral they were under. Hence the Blue, Red and White.
Dear me, but I've ranted.
Well, hope this helps you... somehow... :)
Kenneth Tam
GA 826 Squadron
http://www.members.home.com/ga826squadron/Main.html
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: Ranks
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| Hello Kenneth, (...) You both guys helped me a lot. Thank you very much! :) Bye, (23 years ago, 3-Nov-01, to lugnet.pirates)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Ranks
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| Hello, Could you help me? I need English names of all military ranks from sailor to captain. Thanks and bye, (23 years ago, 31-Oct-01, to lugnet.pirates)
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