Commodore Admiral

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      Hierarchy of naval officer ranks
      Flag officers:
      Admiral of the navy

      Admiral of the fleet • Fleet admiral
      General admiral • Grand admiral • Admiral
      Squadron admiral • Flotilla admiral
      Vice admiral • Lieutenant admiral
      Rear admiral • Counter admiral
      Commodore admiral • Schout-bij-nacht
      Port admiral
      Senior officers:

      Commodore • Fleet captain
      Post captain • Captain
      Captain of sea and war • Ship-of-the-line captain
      Captain at sea • Corvette captain
      Frigate captain • Commander
      Junior officers:

      Lieutenant commander • Captain lieutenant
      Flag lieutenant • Lieutenant
      Ship-of-the-line lieutenant • Corvette lieutenant
      Frigate lieutenant • Lieutenant (junior grade)
      Sub-lieutenant • Ensign
      Training officers:

      Passed midshipman • Midshipman
      Naval cadet

      Commodore admiral was a short lived military rank of the United States Navy that existed for less than 11 months during the year 1982. The rank of commodore admiral was established as the Navy's one-star admiral rank after nearly forty years of all Navy captains receiving promotion directly to the two-star position of rear admiral.

      The new rank of commodore admiral was created both as a means to appease other branches of the military (who felt promoting O-6s to O-7, yet entitling them to wear the insignia of an O-8 was unfair) and also as a means of distinguishing that Navy one-star admirals were in fact flag officers. This had been a major problem in World War II when cultural mistakes had led to several Navy commodores being regarded as senior captains by members of foreign militaries and in turn denied honors due to a U.S. admiral grade officer.

      Upon its establishment, many in the leadership of the US Navy felt that the rank of commodore admiral violated over a century of tradition and there were numerous petitions to the Chief of Naval Operations to eliminate the rank. As a compromise, the rank of commodore admiral was changed simply to "commodore" at the start of 1983, which itself was abolished as a rank in 1985. It was replaced by the new rank of rear admiral (lower half).

      The rank of commodore admiral is one of the rarest ranks in the history of United States Navy. Only a handful of officers, mainly those captains promoted to O-7 during the year 1982, have ever held the position, such as Admiral Leon A. Edney, when promoted while serving as the Commandant of Midshipmen at the U.S. Naval Academy.

      United States commissioned officer and officer candidate ranks
      Pay grade / Branch of service Officer
      candidate      		 O-1 O-2 O-3 O-4 O-5 O-6 O-7 O-8 O-9 O-10 O-10
      (war time)      		 Special
      grade
      Approximate insignia[1][2] Officer Candidate Second lieutenant / Ensign First lieutenant / Lieutenant (junior grade) Captain / Lieutenant Major / Lieutenant commander Lieutenant colonel / Commander Colonel / Captain Brigadier general / Rear admiral (lower half) Major General / Rear admiral Lieutenant general / Vice admiral General / Admiral General of the Air Force / General of the Army / Fleet Admiral General of the Armies
      Air Force Cadet / OT 2d Lt 1st Lt Capt Maj Lt Col Col Brig Gen Maj Gen Lt Gen Gen GAF[3] [5]
      Army CDT / OC 2LT 1LT CPT MAJ LTC COL BG MG LTG GEN GA[3] GAS[3]
      Marine Corps Midn / Cand 2ndLt 1stLt Capt Maj LtCol Col BGen MajGen LtGen Gen [5] [5]
      Navy MIDN / OC ENS LTJG LT LCDR CDR CAPT RDML RADM VADM ADM FADM[3] AN[3]
      Coast Guard CDT / OC ENS LTJG LT LCDR CDR CAPT RDML RADM VADM ADM [5] [5]
      Public Health Service [4] ENS LTJG LT LCDR CDR CAPT RADM RADM VADM ADM [5] [5]
      National Oceanic and
      Atmospheric Administration      		 [4] ENS LTJG LT LCDR CDR CAPT RDML RADM VADM[2]
      		 [4] [5] [5]
      [1]No universal insignia for officer candidate rank; Navy candidate insignia shown
      [2]Proposed General of Armies insignia; John J. Pershing was given General of the Armies as the insignia for the rank
      [3]Grade is inactive; requires Congressional approval for re-activation
      [4]Grade is authorized by the U.S. Code for use but has not been created
      [5]Grade has never been created or authorized
      United States warrant officer ranks
      W-1 W-2 W-3 W-4 W-5
      Air Force WO1[1] CWO2[1] CWO3[1] CWO4[1] CWO5[1]
      Army WO1 CW2 CW3 CW4 CW5
      Marine Corps WO1 CWO2 CWO3 CWO4 CWO5
      Navy WO1[1] CWO2 CWO3 CWO4 CWO5
      Coast Guard WO1[1] CWO2 CWO3 CWO4 [2]
      Public Health Service [2] [2] [2] [2] [3]
      National Oceanic and
      Atmospheric Administration      		 [3] [3] [3] [3] [3]
      [1]Grade inactive
      [2]Grade is authorized for use by U.S. Code but has not been created
      [3]Grade never created or authorized


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      Last modified on 3 March 2013, at 03:09