Rankings On A Ship

Throughout Naval Fiction books many ranks are mentioned and the characters undertake various duties. This page is intended to clarify the structure of ranks and their duties in the Royal Navy during Nelson's time.

The rating system of the Royal Navy and its predecessors was used by the British Royal Navy between the beginning of the 17th. The great ships as second rank. Compare Carnival cruise ship reviews with easy to use ratings and reviews. Read expert Cruise Critic reviews along with 28,663 cruise reviews from other cruisers. Flag Rank Officers. Admiral: The most senior flag rank officers were the Admirals who commanded fleets and squadrons, or the ships and dockyard facilities in major ports.

The divisions of rank were: Flag Rank Officers Admiral: The most senior flag rank officers were the Admirals who commanded fleets and squadrons, or the ships and dockyard facilities in major ports. There were Admirals, Vice Admirals and Rear Admirals divided by the colour of the flag they flew. More information on these divisions is available on the page. In large fleets an Admiral would have overall command and on remote stations such as the Mediterranean Fleet would be referred to as the Commander in Chief. In the line of battle he commanded the centre division. His deputy would be a Vice Admiral who commanded the leading division called the Van whilst a Rear Admiral commanded the rear division.

Commodore: Promotion to Admiral was strictly by seniority and was therefore dependant on those senior being killed in battle or dying of old age. A deserving Post-Captain could be given the rank of Commodore (First Class). He would then be entitled to hoist a Broad Pendant and command a fleet or squadron. Another Post-Captain would command his flagship. He might also be Commander in Chief of a small remote station if no Admiral was present.

He was entitled to fly his broad pendant even in the presence of an Admiral. The senior captain of a group of detached ships would also be entitled to call himself Commodore (Second Class) and hoist a broad pendant but he would continue to command his own ship and would haul down the broad pendant in the presence of an Admiral.

Commodores reverted to being a Post Captain when their assigned duty ended. Sin Chew. Commissioned Officers Post Captain: All officers in command of a vessel were addressed with the courtesy title of Captain regardless of rank so the term Post-captain was used to distinguish those who had been given the substantive rank although they were still only addressed as Captain. Once an officer had been promoted to Post-Captain, his further promotion was strictly by seniority and if he could avoid death or disgrace, he would eventually become an admiral. For this reason it was regarded as a major milestone in an officers career. Commissioned officers might be promoted to the next rank but not be appointed to a ship. Until that time they were 'on the beach' and on half-pay. An officer who was promoted from Commander was a captain, but when he was given a command, his name was 'posted' in the London Gazette.