''Kommendör av 1. graden'' was a

senior captain Senior captain is a rank which is used in some countries' armed forces, navies, merchant marines, civil aviation and in the airline industry. Army In some armies of the world, the senior captain is a rank between a regular captain and a majo ...

rank of the

Swedish Navy The Swedish Navy ( sv, Svenska marinen) is the naval branch of the Swedish Armed Forces. It is composed of surface and submarine naval units – the Fleet () – as well as marine units, the Amphibious Corps (). In Swedish, vessels o ...

, ranking below

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 ...

(1972–2000) and rear admiral (lower half) (since 2000), and above

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

History

In 1972, the so-called employment reform (''tjänstställningsreformen'') was implemented. In connection with the Swedish Armed Forces' increasing involvement in international operations with UN battalions and observers, it became increasingly clear that the Swedish service system did not quite correspond to what was common in other countries. A Swedish

had basically the same training and service as a

major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

in other countries' defense forces. In many cases, a Swedish

colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...

had tasks that in other armed forces were performed by

brigadier generals Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed to ...

. During the 1960s, this was solved many times by the Swedish officers being given a higher rank during their service abroad. The Supreme Commander suggested to the Swedish government that the Swedish service system should be changed, so that the captains would receive the rank of major and the majors would receive the rank of

lieutenant colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

. He further proposed that a new general, brigadier general, be introduced. The government approved the Supreme Commander's proposal regarding captains and majors. No new general rank was introduced. The motivation for the government not following the Supreme Commander's proposal in this respect was that it did not want to contribute to an increase in the number of generals and admirals in the Swedish Armed Forces. However, the government decided to introduce the rank of ''kommendör av 1. graden'' (

) for the navy and '' överste av 1. graden'' ( senior colonel) for the army. The reform was implemented on 1 July 1972. During the 1990s, the Swedish government raised the issue of introducing a rank for professional officers called brigadier general and rear admiral (lower half), respectively, and stated there, among other things, the following. For a few years, the Swedish Armed Forces had in various ways announced that they wished to change the current rank level system for professional officers. The idea was that the rank of ''överste 1. graden'' ( senior colonel) and ''kommendör av 1. graden'' (

) would be abolished and instead replaced with the rank of brigadier general and rear admiral (lower half). The reason for this was stated to be that then almost only Sweden did not have this rank. The increased international cooperation was thus considered to have been made more difficult.

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 = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

and

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

had recently introduced the brigadier general's rank. The government stated in the same bill that the issue should be prepared further before a position was taken on the proposal. In 1999, the government stated that the said rank should now be introduced and intended to make changes to the bill (1994:642) with instructions for the Swedish Armed Forces and the Officers Ordinance (1994:882) with effect from 1 July 2000. The rear admiral (lower half) rank was finally introduced in 2000 and replaced the old rank of ''kommendör av 1. graden''. Anyone who, according to older regulations, held the rank of ''kommendör av 1. graden'' would continue to hold that rank until otherwise decided. Thus, the rank of ''kommendör av 1. graden'' was placed between the rank of rear admiral (lower half) and the rank of

Uniform

Shoulder mark

The top galloon is shaped like a "loop" for an officer in the

(the loop is shaped like a "grenade" for an officer in the

Swedish Amphibious Corps The Amphibious Corps ( sv, Amfibiekåren, Amf) is the maritime land force arm of the Swedish Navy, with an emphasis on coastal defence. Until 2000 it was known as the Coastal Artillery ( sv, Kustartilleriet), but the name was changed to reflect i ...

). The rank insignia is worn on the shoulder mark to jacket and coat (''jacka m/87'', ''kappa m/87''), as well as to blue wool sweater (''blå ylletröja m/87''), trench coat (''trenchcoat m/84''), sea coat (''sjörock 93'', black raincoat and to white shirt (''vit skjorta m/78''). Rank insignia on shoulder mark (''axelklaffshylsa 02B'') is worn on all garments with shoulder straps. The shoulder mark consists of a 16 mm star m/30 in gold embroidery, 16 mm galloon m/51 and 8 mm galloon m/51. File:OF-5+ Kommendör 1gr FL hylsa.jpg, Embroidered shoulder mark

Sleeve insignia

Rank insignia is worn on both sleeves for inner suit jacket (''innerkavaj m/48'') and mess jacket (''mässjacka m/1878''). The sleeve insignia consists of a 24 mm star m/30 in gold embroidery, one 23 mm galloon m/51 and three 11 mm galloons m/51. The distance between galloons should be 6 mm. The distance from the bottom edge of the sleeve to the bottom edge of the top galloon should be 100 mm. File:OF-5+ Kommendör 1gr FL arm.jpg, Sleeve insignia

Hats

Peaked cap

A senior captain wears as embellishments (known as

scrambled egg Scrambled eggs is a dish made from eggs (usually chicken eggs) stirred, whipped or beaten together while being gently heated, typically with salt, butter, oil and sometimes other ingredients. Preparation Only eggs are necessary to make scrambled ...

) a gold embroidered

laurel wreath A laurel wreath is a round wreath made of connected branches and leaves of the bay laurel (), an aromatic broadleaf evergreen, or later from spineless butcher's broom (''Ruscus hypoglossum'') or cherry laurel (''Prunus laurocerasus''). It is a sy ...

(''skärmbroderi m/49'') on the visor of the

peaked cap The peaked cap, peaked hat, service cap, barracks cover or combination cap is a form of headgear worn by the armed forces of many nations, as well as many uniformed civilian organisations such as law enforcement agencies and fire departments. It ...

(''skärmmössa m/48''). It also fitted with a hat badge (''mössmärke m/78 off för flottan'') and with a strap in form of a golden

braid A braid (also referred to as a plait) is a complex structure or pattern formed by interlacing two or more strands of flexible material such as textile yarns, wire, or hair. The simplest and most common version is a flat, solid, three-strande ...

(''mössträns m/42''). File:Kommendör Harry Bong Fo156421.jpg, Peaked cap worn by

Harry Bong Kommendör, Captain Nils ''Harry'' Martin Bong (13 June 1905 – 18 July 1987) was a Swedish Navy officer. Bong served as commanding officers of the torpedo boat HSwMS ''Antares'', the cruisers HSwMS ''Örnen'' and , and the coastal defence ship . ...

. File:Mössmärke m78 FL Officer.png, Hat badge

Side cap and winter hat

An officer wears a hat badge (''mössmärke m/78 off'') for the navy and another (''mössmärke m/87 off'') for amphibious units on the side cap (''båtmössa m/48'') and on the winter hat (''vintermössa m/87'').

Aiguillette

A senior captain wears a large

aiguillette An aiguillette (, from '' aiguille'', "needle"), also spelled , or , is a cord with metal tips or lace tags, or the decorative tip itself. Functional or purely decorative fasteners of silk cord with metal tips were popular in the 16th and ea ...

(''stor ägiljett m/1816'') to

mess dress Mess dress uniform is the most formal (or semi-formal, depending on the country) type of uniforms used by military personnel, police personnel, and other uniformed services members. It frequently consists of a mess jacket, trousers, white d ...

, service dress uniform in connection with representation (equivalent), and to

full dress uniform Full dress uniform, also known as a ceremonial dress uniform or parade dress uniform, is the most formal type of uniforms used by military, police, fire and other public uniformed services for official parades, ceremonies, and receptions, inclu ...

s. For uniform parts without a shoulder strap (''axelklaff''), a shoulder girdle is used in the navy (if applicable with a royal name cipher) to attach a large aiguillette to the shoulder next to the shoulder seam. For the inner jacket (''innerkavaj m/48'') and the mess jacket, the aiguillette is attached to two small buttons under the coat. File:Royal_Wedding_Stockholm_2010-Konserthuset-413.jpg, Large

(''Stor ägiljett m/1816'') on

mess uniform Mess dress uniform is the most formal (or semi-formal, depending on the country) type of uniforms used by military personnel, police personnel, and other uniformed services members. It frequently consists of a mess jacket, trousers, white d ...

Epaulette

A senior captain wears epaulette's (''epålett m/1878'') to

white tie White tie, also called full evening dress or a dress suit, is the most formal in traditional evening western dress codes. For men, it consists of a black tail coat (alternatively referred to as a dress coat, usually by tailors) worn over a whit ...

(''frack m/1878'') and to coat (''rock m/1878''). On the epaulette, a senior captain wears 7 mm and 4 mm (within) fringe in two rows.

Footnotes

References

Notes

Print

* * *{{cite book , url=http://www.tjelvar.se/pdf/unir_2003.pdf , title=Uniformsreglemente för Försvarsmakten: UniR FM , edition=2003 , year=2003 , publisher=Försvarsmakten , location=Stockholm , language=sv , id={{SELIBR, 9043529 , ref={{harvid, ''Uniformsreglemente'', 2003 Military ranks of the Swedish Navy