Lieutenant junior grade is a
junior commissioned 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 ...
rank used in a number of navies.
United States
Lieutenant (junior grade), commonly abbreviated as LTJG or, historically, Lt. (j.g.) (as well as variants of both abbreviations), is a
junior commissioned 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 ...
rank of the
United States Navy, the
United States Coast Guard, the
United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, and the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Officer Corps (NOAA Corps). LTJG has a US military
pay grade of O-2,
[10 USC 5501](_blank)
Navy: grades above chief warrant officer, W–5
Pay grades: assignment to; general rules and a
NATO rank code of OF-1. The rank is also used in the
United States Maritime Service. The NOAA Corps's predecessors, the
United States Coast and Geodetic Survey Corps (1917–1965) and the
Environmental Science Services Administration Corps or ESSA Corps (1965–1970), also used the rank.
Lieutenant, junior grade, ranks above
ensign and below
lieutenant and is equivalent to a
first lieutenant in the other
uniformed services (the
Army,
Marine Corps,
Air Force, and
Space Force) and
sub-lieutenant
Sub-lieutenant is usually a junior officer rank, used in armies, navies and air forces.
In most armies, sub-lieutenant is the lowest officer rank. However, in Brazil, it is the highest non-commissioned rank, and in Spain, it is the second high ...
in the
Royal Navy and the navies of many
Commonwealth countries.
Promotion to LTJG is governed by Department of Defense policies derived from the
Defense Officer Personnel Management Act of 1980. DOPMA guidelines suggest all "fully qualified"
ensigns should be promoted to LTJG. The time for promotion to LTJG is a minimum of two years after commissioning in the Navy or 18 months in the Coast Guard. Lieutenants, junior grade typically lead
petty officers and
non-rated personnel, unless assigned to small aircraft or on
staff duty. A LTJG's usual shipboard billet is as a
division officer.
Lieutenant, junior grade is often referred to colloquially as JG. Prior to March 3, 1883, this rank was known in the U.S. Navy as
master.
Notable LTJGs
*
Neil Armstrong
Neil Alden Armstrong (August 5, 1930 – August 25, 2012) was an American astronaut and aeronautical engineer who became the first person to walk on the Moon in 1969. He was also a naval aviator, test pilot, and university professor.
...
, Korean War
naval aviator
Naval aviation is the application of military air power by navies, whether from warships that embark aircraft, or land bases.
Naval aviation is typically projected to a position nearer the target by way of an aircraft carrier. Carrier-based a ...
and as an
astronaut
An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...
, Commander of
Apollo 11
*
Paul Brown, high school, college, and pro American football coach
*
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker BushSince around 2000, he has been usually called George H. W. Bush, Bush Senior, Bush 41 or Bush the Elder to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009; pr ...
,
World War II naval aviator and 41st
President of the United States
*
Albert David, only Atlantic Fleet sailor awarded the
Medal of Honor in
World War II
*
Kirk Douglas
Kirk Douglas (born Issur Danielovitch; December 9, 1916 – February 5, 2020) was an American actor and filmmaker. After an impoverished childhood, he made his film debut in ''The Strange Love of Martha Ivers'' (1946) with Barbara Stanwyck. Do ...
, American actor
*
Henry Fonda, American film and stage actor
*
L. Ron Hubbard, science fiction writer and founder of
Scientology
*
John F. Kennedy,
commanding officer
The commanding officer (CO) or sometimes, if the incumbent is a general officer, commanding general (CG), is the officer in command of a military unit. The commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually given wide latitu ...
of
motor torpedo boat PT-109 and 35th
President of the United States
*
Bob Kerrey,
Navy SEAL Medal of Honor recipient and
U.S. Senator
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and powe ...
*
Harvey Milk, gay rights activist and member of the
San Francisco Board of Supervisors
*
Thomas R. Norris, Navy SEAL and Medal of Honor recipient
*
David Robinson, U.S. Naval Academy (Class of 1987) and
National Basketball Association (NBA)
Hall of Fame
A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...
player
*
Potter Stewart, served in World War II as a member of the U.S. Naval Reserve aboard oil tankers,
Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court
*
Madeline Swegle, U.S. Navy's first black female tactical jet pilot
*
Malcolm Wilson, New York politician
*
Francis Bellotti, Former
Massachusetts Attorney General who served in
World War II
*
Brian Lamb, Founder of
C-SPAN
Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American cable and satellite television network that was created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a nonprofit public service. It televises many proceedings of the United States ...
Gallery
File:Generic-Navy-3.svg, Lieutenant (junior grade)
( Antigua and Barbuda Coast Guard)
( Belize Coast Guard)
File:Generic-Navy-3.svg,
( Ethiopian Navy)
File:Generic-Navy-3.svg, Lieutenant (junior grade)
( Gambian Navy)
File:Generic-Navy-3.svg, Lieutenant (junior grade)
( Guyana Coast Guard)
File:Generic-Navy-(star)-O2.svg, Lieutenant (junior grade)
( Liberian National Coast Guard)
( Jamaican Coast Guard)
( Namibian Navy)
(Philippine Navy
The Philippine Navy (PN) ( tgl, Hukbong Dagat ng Pilipinas, , Sea Army of the Philippines) ( es, Armada de Filipinas, , Ejército del Mar de las Filipinas) is the naval warfare service branch of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. It has an e ...
)
File:Generic-Navy-3.svg, Lieutenant (junior grade)
(Sierra Leone Navy
The Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces (RSLAF) are the armed forces of Sierra Leone, responsible for the territorial security of Sierra Leone's borders and defending the national interests of Sierra Leone, within the framework of the 1991 Si ...
)
File:US Navy O2 insignia.svg, Lieutenant (junior grade)
( United States Navy)
( United States Coast Guard)
See also
*
Comparative military ranks
*
U.S. Navy officer rank insignia
In the United States Navy, officers have various ranks. Equivalency between services is by pay grade. United States Navy commissioned officer ranks have two distinct sets of rank insignia: On dress uniform a series of stripes similar to Commonwea ...
References
{{US officer ranks
Military ranks of the United States Navy
Military ranks of the United States Coast Guard
Naval ranks