is the highest rank of the

Royal Danish Navy The Royal Danish Navy ( da, Søværnet) is the sea-based branch of the Danish Defence force. The RDN is mainly responsible for maritime defence and maintaining the sovereignty of Danish territorial waters (incl. Faroe Islands and Greenland). O ...

. As a

four-star rank A four-star rank is the rank of any four-star officer described by the NATO OF-9 code. Four-star officers are often the most senior commanders in the armed services, having ranks such as (full) admiral, (full) general, colonel general, army ge ...

it is the equivalent to the rank of

general A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED ...

in the

Royal Danish Army The Royal Danish Army ( da, Hæren, fo, Herurin, kl, Sakkutuut) is the land-based branch of the Danish Defence, together with the Danish Home Guard. For the last decade, the Royal Danish Army has undergone a massive transformation of structures ...

and

Air force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an ...

. The rank is rated

OF-9 A four-star rank is the rank of any four-star officer described by the NATO OF-9 code. Four-star officers are often the most senior commanders in the armed services, having ranks such as (full) admiral, (full) general, colonel general, army gen ...

within

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

. It has the grade of M406 within the Ministry of Defence's pay structure. The rank of Admiral is reserved for the Chief of Defence and the King À la suite.

History

Originally, admiral was not a rank, but rather a title given to the commander of any given naval force. It soon, however, changed to become an actual rank. On 25 May 1671, the rank was codified, by King Christian V, with the publication of the

Danish order of precedence The Danish order of precedence is a symbolic hierarchy of Danish officials used to direct protocol. It has no official status and entails no special privileges, but has been established in practical use, e.g. determining seating arrangements at ...

. Here admiral was placed below Lieutenant general admirals ( da, General-Admiral-Lieutenant), and above Vice admirals ( da, Vice-Admiral). In 1868, following the defeat in the

Second Schleswig War The Second Schleswig War ( da, Krigen i 1864; german: Deutsch-Dänischer Krieg) also sometimes known as the Dano-Prussian War or Prusso-Danish War was the second military conflict over the Schleswig-Holstein Question of the nineteenth century. ...

, it was decided to collect all admiral ranks into one "Admiral", as part of the major cuts made to the Danish military. This new rank was only allowed for the King and the chief of the Naval Officers' Corps. In 1880, the ranks of vice admiral and counter admiral were reintroduced. At the same time, the rank of admiral was made exclusively for royalty. The rank was reintroduce for fleet officers in 1950, following the decision to award the rank to naval officers promoted to Chief of Defence.

Insignia

The first uniforms for the Navy was introduced in 1722, though they did not have any insignia. In 1771, the first insignia was introduced for admirals. These were gold rings on the cuffs, with three for full admirals, two for vice admirals, and one for counter admirals. This insignia was however removed before proper introduction as

Christian VII Christian VII (29 January 1749 – 13 March 1808) was a monarch of the House of Oldenburg who was King of Denmark–Norway and Duke of Duchy of Schleswig, Schleswig and Duchy of Holstein, Holstein from 1766 until his death in 1808. For his motto ...

wished to introduce

epaulette Epaulette (; also spelled epaulet) is a type of ornamental shoulder piece or decoration used as insignia of rank by armed forces and other organizations. Flexible metal epaulettes (usually made from brass) are referred to as ''shoulder scales' ...

s. However, after the fall of

Johann Friedrich Struensee Lensgreve Johann Friedrich Struensee (5 August 1737 – 28 April 1772) was a German-Danish physician, philosopher and statesman. He became royal physician to the mentally ill King Christian VII of Denmark and a minister in the Danish governmen ...

, the old ranks were reintroduced promptly. In 1801, epaulettes were introduced for all officers of the Navy. In 1841, new insignia was introduced for all officers. With the advent of steamship, epaulettes quickly became dirty and were in general cumbersome. As a result, they were removed for daily wear, and were replaced by smaller lace epaulettes. In 1871, sleeve insignia was introduce in favour of epaulettes. Following the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, the navy began more international cooperation, the admiral ranks were seen as excessive compared to other nations and its relative size. Sleeve insignia was changed to look more like the insignia of the Royal Navy.

Rank insignia

File:Denmark-Navy-OF-7 (1880-1951).svg, Sleeve insignia File:Denmark-Navy-OF-9 (1882-1951).svg, ... File:Generic-Navy-12.svg, ... Naval Rank Flag of Denmark - Vice Admiral.svg, ?–1979 Naval Rank Flag of Denmark - Admiral.svg, 1979–present

References

;Citations ;Bibliography * * * * * * * {{cite web , author1=Ministry of Defence , author1-link=Ministry of Defence (Denmark) , title=Historik , url=https://forpers.dk/hr/Pages/Historik.aspx , website=forpers.dk , publisher=Forsvarsministeriets Personalestyrelse , access-date=8 April 2021 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190222185850/https://forpers.dk/hr/Pages/Historik.aspx , archive-date=22 February 2019 , language=da , date=9 January 2017

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

Military ranks of Denmark Royal Danish Navy da:Admiral#Danske admiraler

History

Insignia

Rank insignia

See also

References