Rear admiral (Royal Navy)

Not to be confused with Rear-Admiral of the United Kingdom.
Please see “rear admiral” for other nations which use this rank.

Rear admiral (RAdm) is a flag officer rank of the British Royal Navy. It is immediately superior to commodore and is subordinate to vice admiral. It is a two-star rank and has a NATO ranking code of OF-7.

The rank originated in the days of naval sailing squadrons and each naval squadron would be assigned an admiral as its head. He would command from the centre vessel and direct the activities of the squadron. The admiral would in turn be assisted by a vice admiral, who commanded the lead ships which would bear the brunt of a naval battle. In the rear of the naval squadron, a third admiral would command the remaining ships and, as this section of the squadron was considered to be in the least danger, the admiral in command of the rear would typically be the most junior of the squadron admirals. This has survived into the modern age, with the rank of rear admiral the most-junior of the admiralty ranks of many navies.

The Royal Navy rank of rear admiral should be distinguished from the office of Rear-Admiral of the United Kingdom, which is an Admiralty position usually held by a senior (and possibly retired) "full" admiral.

Rank insignia and personal flag

  1. ^ http://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/server/show/ConWebDoc.6020/changeNav/3533
  2. ^ Refer UK DCI (Joint Service) 125/2001

References

    Commissioned officer ranks of the British Armed Forces
    NATO rank code Student officer OF-1 OF-2 OF-3 OF-4 OF-5 OF-6
    *    		 OF-7
    **    		 OF-8
    ***    		 OF-9
    ****    		 OF-10
    *****
    Royal Navy O Cdt Mid SLt Lt Lt Cdr Cdr Capt Cdre RAdm
    (list)    		 VAdm
    (list)    		 Adm
    (list)    		 Adm of the Fleet
    Royal Marines 2Lt Lt Capt Maj Lt Col Col Brig Maj-Gen Lt-Gen Gen
    (list)
    Army O Cdt 2Lt Lt Capt Maj Lt Col Col Brig Maj-Gen
    (list)    		 Lt-Gen
    (list)    		 Gen
    (list)    		 FM
    Royal Air Force Off Cdt / SO APO / Plt Off Fg Off Flt Lt Sqn Ldr Wg Cdr Gp Capt Air Cdre AVM Air Mshl Air Chf Mshl
    (list)    		 MRAF
    This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, December 29, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.