Admiral is a senior rank of the
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
, which equates to the NATO rank code
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 ...
, outranked only by the rank of
admiral of the fleet. Royal Navy officers holding the ranks of
rear admiral
Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star "admiral" rank. It is often regarde ...
,
vice admiral and admiral of the fleet are sometimes considered generically to be admirals. The rank of admiral is currently the highest rank to which a serving officer in the Royal Navy can be promoted, admiral of the fleet being in
abeyance
Abeyance (from the Old French ''abeance'' meaning "gaping") is a state of expectancy in respect of property, titles or office, when the right to them is not vested in any one person, but awaits the appearance or determination of the true owner. ...
except for honorary promotions of retired officers and members of the Royal Family.
The equivalent rank in the
British Army
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...
and
Royal Marines
The Corps of Royal Marines (RM), also known as the Royal Marines Commandos, are the UK's special operations capable commando force, amphibious light infantry and also one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy. The Corps of Royal Marine ...
is
general
A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of highest military ranks, high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry.
In some usages the term "general officer" refers t ...
; and in the
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
, it is
air chief marshal
Air chief marshal (Air Chf Mshl or ACM) is a high-ranking air officer originating from the Royal Air Force. The rank is used by air forces of many countries that have historical British influence. An air chief marshal is equivalent to an Admir ...
.
History
The first admirals (1224 to 1523)
King
Henry III of England
Henry III (1 October 1207 – 16 November 1272), also known as Henry of Winchester, was King of England, Lord of Ireland, and Duke of Aquitaine from 1216 until his death in 1272. The son of King John and Isabella of Angoulême, Henry a ...
appointed the first known English Admiral Sir Richard de Lucy on 29 August 1224.
De Lucy was followed by
Sir Thomas Moulton in 1264,
who also held the title of ''Keeper of the Sea and Sea Ports''. Moulton was succeeded by Sir
William de Leybourne, (the son of
Sir Roger de Leybourne) as ''Admiral of the Sea of the King of England''. In 1286 he was appointed ''Admiral of the Navy'', holding the rank of admiral until 1294
and serving under King
Edward I of England
Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he ruled the duchies of Aquitaine and Gascony as a vassa ...
. As the English Navy was expanding towards the end of the thirteenth century, new appointments of admirals with specific administrative and geographic responsibilities were created.
Sir John de Botetourt was appointed ''
Admiral of the North
The Admiral of the North also known as Admiral of the Northern Seas and Admiral of the Northern Fleet was a senior English Navy appointment. The Admiral was chiefly responsible for the command of the navy's fleet that operated in the North Sea ...
'' in 1294. This position existed until 1412.
Also in 1294, the king appointed Sir William de Laybourne to the dual commands of ''
Admiral of the South
The Admiral of the South also known as Admiral of the Southern Fleet was a senior English Navy appointment. The post holder was chiefly responsible for the command of the navy's fleet that operated in the English Channel out of Portsmouth from ...
'', (1294–1412) and ''
Admiral of the West
The Admiral of the West, also known as Admiral of the Western Seas or Admiral of the Western Fleet, was formerly an History of the Royal Navy, English Navy appointment. The postholder was chiefly responsible for the command of the English navy's f ...
'', (1294–1412). The first royal commission as Admiral to a
naval officer
An officer is a person who holds a position of authority as a member of an armed force or uniformed service.
Broadly speaking, "officer" means a commissioned officer, a non-commissioned officer, or a warrant officer. However, absent context ...
was granted in 1303 to
Gervase Alard
Admiral Sir Gervase Alard, Bart. (1270–1340), was an English knight and naval commander who was appointed Admiral of the Cinque Ports Fleet and Admiral of the Western Fleet of the English Navy who served under King's Edward I, Edward II and ...
.
By 1344 it was only used as a rank at sea for a captain in charge of a fleet or fleets.
In 1364 the office of ''
Admiral of the North and West
Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...
'' was created until 1414.
Beginning in 1408 these admirals' responsibilities were gradually absorbed by the office of the
High Admiral of England, Ireland and Aquitaine (later Lord Admiral of England) leading to a centralized command by 1414. In 1412 the
Admiral of the Narrow Seas
Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...
was established briefly until 1413. It was revived on a more permanent basis from 1523, until lapsing again in 1688.
Squadron admirals of the colour from 1558 to 1603
In
Elizabethan
The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The symbol of Britannia (a female personifi ...
times the fleet grew large enough to be organised into
squadrons. The squadron's admiral flew a
red ensign, the vice admirals
white
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...
, and the rear admirals
blue
Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when obs ...
on the aft mast of his ship. As the squadrons grew, each was eventually commanded by an admiral (with vice admirals and rear admirals commanding sections) and the official ranks became admiral of the white and so forth, however each
admirals command flags were different and changed over time.
Introduction of vice and rear admirals
The Royal Navy has had vice and rear admirals regularly appointed to the post since at least the 16th century. When in command of the fleet, the admiral would be in either the lead or the middle portion of the fleet. When the admiral commanded from the middle portion of the fleet his deputy, the
vice admiral, would be in the leading portion or
van. Below him was another admiral at the rear of the fleet, called
rear admiral
Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star "admiral" rank. It is often regarde ...
.
Promotion path of flag officers from 1702 to 1864
Promotion up the ladder was in accordance with seniority in the rank of
post-captain
Post-captain is an obsolete alternative form of the rank of Captain (Royal Navy), captain in the Royal Navy.
The term served to distinguish those who were captains by rank from:
* Officers in command of a naval vessel, who were (and still are) ...
, and rank was held for life, so the only way to be promoted was for the person above on the list to die or resign. In 1747 the Admiralty restored an element of merit selection to this process by introducing the concept of ''yellow admirals'' (formally known as granting an officer the position of 'Rear-Admiral without distinction of squadron'), being captains promoted to flag rank on the understanding that they would immediately retire on
half-pay Half-pay (h.p.) was a term used in the British Army and Royal Navy of the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries to refer to the pay or allowance an officer received when in retirement or not in actual service.
Past usage United Kingdom
In the Eng ...
. This was the navy's first attempt at
superannuating older officers.
Interregnum to the present
During the
Interregnum
An interregnum (plural interregna or interregnums) is a period of discontinuity or "gap" in a government, organization, or social order. Archetypally, it was the period of time between the reign of one monarch and the next (coming from Latin '' ...
, the rank of admiral was replaced by that of
general at sea
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 On ...
. In the 18th century, the original nine ranks began to be filled by more than one man per rank, although the rank of admiral of the red was always filled by only one man and was known as
Admiral of the Fleet. After the
Battle of Trafalgar
The Battle of Trafalgar (21 October 1805) was a naval engagement between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French and Spanish Navies during the War of the Third Coalition (August–December 1805) of the Napoleonic Wars (180 ...
in 1805 the rank of admiral of the red was introduced. The number of officers holding each rank steadily increased throughout the 18th and early 19th centuries. In 1769 there were 29 admirals of various grades; by the close of the
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...
in 1816 there were 190 admirals in service. Thereafter the number of admirals was reduced and in 1853 there were 79 admirals.
Although admirals were promoted according to strict seniority, appointments to command were made at the discretion of the
Board of Admiralty
The Board of Admiralty (1628–1964) was established in 1628 when Charles I put the office of Lord High Admiral into commission. As that position was not always occupied, the purpose was to enable management of the day-to-day operational requi ...
. As there were invariably more admirals in service than there were postings, many admirals remained unemployed, especially in peacetime.
The organisation of the fleet into coloured squadrons was finally abandoned in 1864. The Red Ensign was allocated to the
Merchant Navy, the White Ensign became the flag of the Royal Navy, and the Blue Ensign was allocated to the naval reserve and naval auxiliary vessels.
The 18th- and 19th-century Royal Navy also maintained a positional rank known as
port admiral. A port admiral was typically a veteran captain who served as the shore commander of a British naval port and was in charge of supplying, refitting, and maintaining the ships docked at harbour.
The problem of promoting strictly by seniority was well illustrated by the case of
Provo Wallis
Provo or Provos may refer to:
In geography In the United States
* Provo, Kentucky, an unincorporated community
* Provo, South Dakota, an unincorporated community
* Provo Township, Fall River County, South Dakota
* Provo, Utah, a city
** Provo P ...
who served (including time being carried on the books while still a child) for 96 years. When he died in 1892 four admirals under him could immediately be promoted. By request of
Queen Victoria
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...
,
John Edmund Commerell
Admiral of the Fleet Sir John Edmund Commerell, (13 January 1829 – 21 May 1901) was a Royal Navy officer. As a junior officer, he was present at the Battle of Vuelta de Obligado in November 1845 during the Uruguayan Civil War. He also took pa ...
became Admiral of the Fleet rather than
Algernon Frederick Rous de Horsey, who as senior active admiral nearing the age limit would customarily have received the promotion;
John Baird became an Admiral;
James Erskine James Erskine may refer to:
*James Erskine, 6th Earl of Buchan (died 1640)
*James Erskine, 7th Earl of Buchan (died 1664), Earl of Buchan
*Sir James Erskine, 2nd Baronet (c. 1670–1693), of the Erskine baronets
*James Erskine (Aberdeen MP) (born 1 ...
a vice-admiral; and
Harry Rawson
Admiral Sir Harry Holdsworth Rawson, (5 November 1843 – 3 November 1910) was a senior officer in the Royal Navy. He is chiefly remembered for overseeing the Benin Expedition of 1897, a British punitive expedition against the Kingdom of Benin ...
a rear-admiral. Ironically, all these younger men would die at least a decade before de Horsey. In the time before squadron distinctions were removed or age limits instituted, the death of
James Hawkins-Whitshed
Admiral of the Fleet (Royal Navy), Admiral of the Fleet Sir James Hawkins-Whitshed, 1st Baronet, (1762 – 28 October 1849), was a Royal Navy officer. He saw action in command of a sloop-of-war, sloop at the Battle of Martinique (1780), Battle of ...
resulted in ''ten'' men moving up to higher ranks.
In 1996, the rank of admiral of the fleet was put in abeyance in peacetime, except for members of the
Royal family
A royal family is the immediate family of kings/queens, emirs/emiras, sultans/ sultanas, or raja/ rani and sometimes their extended family. The term imperial family appropriately describes the family of an emperor or empress, and the term ...
but was resurrected on an honorary basis in 2014 for the appointment of
Lord Boyce
Admiral of the Fleet Michael Cecil Boyce, Baron Boyce, (2 April 1943 – 6 November 2022) was a British Royal Navy officer who also sat as a crossbench member of the House of Lords until his death in November 2022.
Boyce commanded three sub ...
. Admirals of the fleet continue to hold their rank on the
active list
Active may refer to:
Music
* ''Active'' (album), a 1992 album by Casiopea
* Active Records, a record label
Ships
* ''Active'' (ship), several commercial ships by that name
* HMS ''Active'', the name of various ships of the British Royal ...
for life.
Rank insignia and personal flag
The current ranks are rear admiral, vice admiral, admiral and admiral of the fleet, also known as flag ranks because admirals, known as
flag officer
A flag officer is a commissioned officer in a nation's armed forces senior enough to be entitled to fly a flag to mark the position from which the officer exercises command.
The term is used differently in different countries:
*In many countr ...
s, are entitled to fly a
personal flag. An admiral of the fleet flies a
Union Flag
The Union Jack, or Union Flag, is the ''de facto'' national flag of the United Kingdom. Although no law has been passed making the Union Flag the official national flag of the United Kingdom, it has effectively become such through precedent. ...
at the masthead, while an admiral flies a
St George's cross
In heraldry, Saint George's Cross, the Cross of Saint George, is a red cross on a white background, which from the Late Middle Ages became associated with Saint George, the military saint, often depicted as a crusader.
Associated with the cru ...
(red cross on white). Vice admirals and rear admirals fly a St George's cross with one or two red discs in the hoist, respectively.
The rank of admiral itself is shown in its sleeve lace by a broad band with three narrower bands. In 2001 the number of stars on the shoulder board was increased to four, reflecting the equivalence to the OF-9
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 gen ...
s of other countries.
[royalnavy.mod.uk](_blank)
– Uniforms and Badges of Rank: Admiral[Admiral is a four-star rank in NATO, Commonwealth and, since 2001, the Royal Navy (Refer UK DCI (Joint Service) 125/2001).]
Image:British Royal Navy (sleeves) OF-9.svg, Sleeve lace
File:British Royal Navy OF-9.svg, Shoulder board
File:British Royal Navy OF-8.svg, Shoulder board prior to 2001
File:World War II Royal Navy admiral's shoulder board.jpg, World War II admiral's shoulder board
Image:Flag of Admiral - Royal Navy.svg, Command flag for an admiral from 1864.
History command flags
Prior to 1864 the Royal Navy was divided into coloured squadrons which determined his career path. The command flags flown by an Admiral changed a number of times during this period, there was no
Admiral of the Red
The Admiral of the Red was a senior rank of the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom, immediately outranked by the rank Admiral of the Fleet (see order of precedence below). The rank did not exist prior to 1805, as the admiral commanding the Red ...
rank until that post was introduced in 1805 prior to this the highest rank an admiral could attain to was
Admiral of the White who then flew the
Cross of St George
The Cross of Saint George (russian: Георгиевский крест, Georgiyevskiy krest) is a state decoration of the Russian Federation. It was initially established by Imperial Russia where it was officially known as the Decoration of ...
. The next promotion step up from that was to Admiral of the Fleet.
See also
*
Admiral of the Blue
The Admiral of the Blue was a senior rank of the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom, immediately outranked by the rank Admiral of the White (see order of precedence below). From 1688 to 1805 this rank was in order of precedence third; after 1805 ...
*
Admiral of the White
*
Admiral of the Red
The Admiral of the Red was a senior rank of the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom, immediately outranked by the rank Admiral of the Fleet (see order of precedence below). The rank did not exist prior to 1805, as the admiral commanding the Red ...
*
British ensigns
In British maritime law and custom, an ensign is the identifying flag flown to designate a British ship, either military or civilian. Such flags display the United Kingdom Union Flag in the canton (the upper corner next to the staff), with eith ...
*
British and U.S. military ranks compared
UK and US officer ranks compared
Not listed are U.S. warrant officers. A warrant officer is an officer who can and does command, carry out military justice actions and sits on both selection and promotion boards. A US warrant officer is a si ...
*
Coloured squadrons of the Royal Navy
The Coloured Squadrons of the Royal Navy were first introduced in the Tudor Period during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I of England (1558-1603) The purpose was to separate the English fleet into three squadrons for better command and control, tho ...
*
Comparative military ranks
This article is a list of various nations' armed forces ranking designations. Comparisons are made between the different systems used by nations to categorize the hierarchy of an armed force compared to another. Several of these lists mention '' ...
*
Royal Navy officer rank insignia
Royal may refer to:
People
* Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name
* A member of a royal family
Places United States
* Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community
* Royal, Illinois, a village
* Royal, Iowa, a c ...
*
List of Royal Navy admirals
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby unio ...
References
Sources
* Archives, National The. (2017). "Trafalgar Ancestors, Glossary". nationalarchives.gov.uk. National Archives. London. England
* Bothwell, James (2004). Edward III and the English Peerage: Royal Patronage, Social Mobility, and Political Control in Fourteenth-century England. Boydell Press. .
* Houbraken, Jacobus. Thoyras, Paul de Rapin. Vertue, George. (1747). The History of England, A List of Admirals of England (1224–1745). England. Kanpton. P and J.
*Perrin, W. G. (William Gordon) (1922). "IV:Flags of Command". British flags, their early history, and their development at sea; with an account of the origin of the flag as a national device. Cambridge, England: Cambridge : The University Press.
External links
Squadronal colours factsheetfrom the Royal Naval museum.
{{UK officer ranks
Military ranks of the Royal Navy
it:Ammiraglio#Regno Unito