The Rear-Admiral of the Blue was 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 ...
of the United Kingdom, immediately outranked by the rank
Rear-Admiral of the White
The Rear-Admiral of the White was 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 maj ...
. Royal Navy officers currently holding the ranks of commodore, rear admiral, vice admiral and admiral of the fleet are sometimes considered generically to be admirals. From 1688 to 1805 this rank was in order of precedence ninth; after 1805 it was the tenth. In 1864 it was abolished as a promotional rank (pictured adjacent is the command flag for an Rear-Admiral of the Blue).
History
The
Navy Royal
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 ...
inaugurated squadron colours during the reign of
Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen".
El ...
(1558-1603) to subdivide the English fleet into three squadrons. There were three classes of admirals and differentiated by using coloured flags.
In 1620 the official
Flag ranks of Admiral, Vice Admiral, and Rear Admiral were legally established that arose directly out of the organisation of the fleet into three parts, in 1688 the rank of
Admiral of the Fleet was formally created.
The Rear-Admiral of the Blue was a senior rank of the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom, immediately outranked by the rank Rear-Admiral of the White (see order of precedence below). Royal Navy officers currently holding the ranks of commodore, rear admiral, vice admiral and admiral of the fleet are sometimes considered generically to be admirals.
From 1688 to 1805 this rank was in order of precedence ninth; after 1805 it was the tenth. In 1864 it was abolished as a promotional rank.
Order of precedence Admirals of the Colour
The Navy was divided into three squadrons Red, White and Blue in order of seniority. Admirals were appointed to these squadrons and therefore their rank and squadron split the seniority originally into nine bands then later 10 with "Admiral of the Fleet" as senior to all others.
[
Seniority was therefore from 1805 to 1864:
# Admiral of the Fleet
# Admiral of the Red Squadron (rank created in 1805)
# Admiral of the White Squadron
# Admiral of the Blue Squadron
# Vice-Admiral of the Red Squadron
# Vice-Admiral of the White Squadron
# Vice-Admiral of the Blue Squadron
# Rear-Admiral of the Red Squadron
# Rear-Admiral of the White Squadron
# Rear-Admiral of the Blue Squadron
Seniority was therefore from 1688 to 1805:
# Admiral of the Fleet (rank created in 1688)
# Admiral of the White Squadron
# Admiral of the Blue Squadron
# Vice-Admiral of the Red Squadron
# Vice-Admiral of the White Squadron
# Vice-Admiral of the Blue Squadron
# Rear-Admiral of the Red Squadron
# Rear-Admiral of the White Squadron
# Rear-Admiral of the Blue Squadron
Admirals without an appointment were colloquially referred to as Yellow Admirals. Ships of the Royal Navy flew the Ensign that coincided with the squadron of their commanding officer.][
]
See also
*List of command flags of the Royal Navy
This is a list of historic and current command flags of the Royal Navy.
Command rank flags to denote the commander-in-chief of the English fleet and later Royal Navy were used from as early as 1189. Coloured squadrons of the Royal Navy were estab ...
Citations
{{Reflist
Military ranks of the Royal Navy