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A rear admiral in the uniformed services of the United States is either of two different ranks of commissioned officers: one-star flag officers and two-star flag officers. By contrast, in most other countries, the term " rear admiral" refers only to an officer of two-star rank.


Rear admiral (lower half)

Rear admiral (lower half) (abbreviated as RDML), is a one-star flag officer, with the pay grade of O-7 in the
United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
, the United States Coast Guard, the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Officer Corps. Navy: grades above chief warrant officer, W–5 Grades and ratings Pay grades: assignment to; general rules Rear admiral (lower half) ranks above captain and below rear admiral. Rear admiral (lower half) is equivalent to the rank of
brigadier general 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 appointe ...
in the
United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, ...
, Air Force, Marine Corps, and
Space Force A space force is a military branch of a nation's armed forces that conducts military operations in outer space and space warfare. The world's first space force was the Russian Space Forces, established in 1992 as an independent military service. ...
and equivalent to the rank of commodore in most other navies. In the United States uniformed services, rear admiral (lower half) replaced the rank of commodore in 1985. File:US-O7 insignia.svg, U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. PHS, U.S. NOAA rank insignia of a rear admiral (lower half) File:US CG O7 insignia.svg, The collar star, shoulder boards, and sleeve stripes of a U.S. Coast Guard rear admiral (lower half) File:US PHS O7 insignia.svg, The collar star, shoulder boards, and sleeve stripes of a U.S. Public Health Service rear admiral (lower half) File:US NOAA O7 insignia.svg, The collar star, shoulder boards, and sleeve stripes of a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration rear admiral (lower half) File:Flag of a United States Coast Guard rear admiral (lower half).svg, Rank flag of a U.S. Coast Guard rear admiral (lower half) File:Flag of a 1-Star Assistant Surgeon General.png, Rank flag of a U.S. Public Health Service rear admiral (lower half) File:NOAA Rear Admiral (lower half) Flag.png, Rank flag of a NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps rear admiral (lower half)


Rear admiral

Rear admiral (abbreviated as RADM), also sometimes referred to informally as "rear admiral (upper half)", is a two-star flag officer, with the pay grade of O-8 in the United States Navy, the United States Coast Guard, the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Officer Corps and the
United States Maritime Service The United States Maritime Service (USMS) was established in 1938 under the provisions of the Merchant Marine Act of 1936 as voluntary training organization to train individuals to become officers and crewmembers on merchant ships that form the ...
. Rear admiral ranks above rear admiral (lower half) and below vice admiral. Rear admiral is equivalent to the rank of
major general Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of ...
in the U.S. Army, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Space Force. It is the highest permanent rank during peacetime in the uniformed services. All higher ranks are temporary ranks and linked to their specific commands or office and expire with the expiration of their term of command or office. - Positions of importance and responsibility: generals and lieutenant generals; admirals and vice admirals File:USN-USMC O8 insignia.svg, U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard, USPHSCC, NOAACOC shoulder insignia of a rear admiral File:USCG O-8 insignia.svg, The collar stars, shoulder boards, and sleeve stripes of a U.S. Coast Guard rear admiral File:US PHS O8 insignia.svg, The collar stars, shoulder boards, and sleeve stripes of a U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps rear admiral File:US NOAA O8 insignia.svg, The collar stars, shoulder boards, and sleeve stripes of a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Officer Corps rear admiral File:Flag of a United States Coast Guard rear admiral.svg, Rank flag of a U.S. Coast Guard rear admiral File:Flag of the United States Deputy Surgeon General.png, Rank flag of a U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps rear admiral serving as Deputy Surgeon General of the United States File:Flag of a 2-Star Assistant Surgeon General.png, Rank flag of a U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps rear admiral File:NOAA Rear Admiral (upper half) Flag.png, Rank flag of a NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps rear admiral


History

Before the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and t ...
, the U.S. Navy had resisted creating the rank of admiral. Instead, they preferred the term " flag officer", in order to distinguish the rank from the traditions of the European navies. During the American Civil War, the U.S. Congress honored David Farragut's successful assault on the city of New Orleans by creating the rank of rear admiral on July 16, 1862. During
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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Coast Guard both had a temporary one-star rank of commodore that was used in limited circumstances. By the end of the war, all incumbents had been advanced to the rank of two-star rear admiral and the commodore rank was eliminated in both services. Both the Navy and the Coast Guard divided their rear admirals into "lower half" and full rear admirals, or "upper half", the former being paid at the same rate as a one-star brigadier general in the U.S. Army,
U.S. Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through co ...
and the newly independent U.S. Air Force. Lower-half rear admirals were eventually promoted to full rear admirals, or upper half status, where they would receive pay equivalent to a two-star major general. However, both categories of rear admiral wore two-star insignia, an issue that was a source of consternation to the other services. At the same time, the Navy also bestowed the title of commodore on selected U.S. Navy captains who commanded multiple subordinate units, such as destroyer squadrons, submarine squadrons and air wings and air groups not designated as
carrier air wings Carrier may refer to: Entertainment * ''Carrier'' (album), a 2013 album by The Dodos * ''Carrier'' (board game), a South Pacific World War II board game * ''Carrier'' (TV series), a ten-part documentary miniseries that aired on PBS in April 20 ...
or carrier air groups. Although not flag officers, these officers were entitled to a personal blue and white command pennant containing the initials, acronym abbreviation or numerical designation of their command. In 1981, expanded commodore from a title to an official permanent grade by creating the one-star rank of commodore admiral.10 U.S.C. 5501 Notes
/ref> After only 11 months, the rank was reverted to just commodore but kept the one-star insignia. However, this caused issues with the Navy due to the difficulty in discriminating those commodores who were flag officers from commodores who were senior captains in certain command positions. Then in 1985, renamed commodore to the current grade of rear admiral (lower half) effective on November 8, 1985. Up until 1981 all rear admirals wore two stars on their
shoulder boards A shoulder mark, also called rank slide, or slip-on, is a flat cloth sleeve worn on the shoulder strap of a uniform. It may bear rank or other insignia. A shoulder mark should not be confused with a ''shoulder board'' (which is an elaborate s ...
and rank insignia. Since then, rear admirals (lower half) wear one star while rear admirals wear two; verbal address remains "rear admiral" for both ranks. On correspondence, where the rear admiral's rank is spelled out, the acronym (LH) and (UH) follows the rear admiral's rank title to distinguish between one and two stars. Beginning around 2001, the Navy, Coast Guard, and NOAA Corps started using the separate rank abbreviations RDML (one star) and RADM (two stars), while the Public Health Service continued to use the abbreviation RADM for both. The Public Health Service formally adopted the RDML abbreviation for the O-7 pay grade in 2022. As flag officers, the flags flown for rear admirals of the unrestricted line of the U.S. Navy have one or two white, single-point-up stars on blue fields for the lower half or upper half, respectively. The flags of restricted line officers and staff corps officers have blue stars on a white field. All services officially list the two-star grade as rear admiral and not rear admiral (upper half) as stated by and of the U.S. Code of law. However, the four uniformed services will sometimes list the rank as rear admiral (upper half) to help the general public distinguish between the two grades.


United States Maritime Service

Although it exists largely as a maritime training organization, the United States Maritime Service does use the ranks of rear admiral (upper half) and rear admiral (lower half). By law, the Service has the same rank structure as the United States Coast Guard, but its uniforms are more similar to the United States Navy.


Statutory limits

By statute, Congress has expressly limited the total number of flag officers that may be on active duty at any given time. The total number of active duty flag officers is capped at 162 for the Regular Navy, augmented by a smaller number of additional flag officers in the Navy Reserve who are either on full-time active duty, temporary active duty, or on the Reserve Active Status List as part-time drilling reservists. Some of these billets are reserved or set by statute. For example, the Deputy Judge Advocate General of the Navy is a two-star rear admiral in the Navy.H.R. 4986: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008
/ref>H.R. 4986: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 full text
/ref> A newer statute enacted in 2016 lowers the cap on the total number of active duty flag officers in the Department of Defense to 151, effective December 31, 2022. In the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, at least half of the Assistant Surgeons General are one-star rear admirals and no more than half are two-star rear admirals. - Grades, ranks, and titles of commissioned corps The Coast Guard's chief medical officer is also a commissioned corps two-star rear admiral, on assignment to the Coast Guard. Officers serving in certain intelligence positions are not counted against the statutory limit.


Promotion, appointment, and tour length

For the Navy and the Coast Guard, to be promoted to the permanent grade of rear admiral (lower half) or rear admiral, officers who are eligible for promotion to these ranks are screened by an in-service promotion board composed of other flag officers from their branch of service. This promotion board then generates a list of officers it recommends for promotion to flag rank. This list is then sent to the service secretary and the joint chiefs for review before it can be sent to the President, through the defense secretary, for consideration. The president nominates officers to be promoted from this list with the advice of the
Secretary of Defense A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in so ...
, the service secretary, and if applicable, the service's chief of staff or commandant. The President may nominate any eligible officer who is not on the recommended list if it serves in the interest of the nation, but this is uncommon. The Senate must then confirm the nominee by a majority vote before the officer can be promoted. Once confirmed, a nominee is promoted once he or she assumes an office that requires or allows an officer to hold that rank. For one-star or two-star positions of office that are reserved by statute, the President nominates an officer for appointment to fill that position. For the Navy and the Coast Guard, because the one-star and two-star grades are permanent ranks, the nominee may still be screened by an in-service promotion board to add their input on the nominee before the nomination can be sent to the Senate for approval. For the NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps and the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, one-star and two-star rank are achieved by appointment from the President, or from their department secretary, and do not require senatorial approval. The standard tour length for most rear admiral positions is three years, but some are set at four or more years by statute. For the Navy, Coast Guard, and NOAA Corps, both grades of rear admiral are permanent ranks and do not expire when the officer vacates a one-star or two-star position. The Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, however, employs permanent promotions in both grades of rear admiral as well as position-linked temporary appointments in both grades (e.g., Assistant Surgeons General). Their temporary ranks expires when those officers vacate certain temporary positions of office designated to bear those ranks.


Tradition

By tradition in the United States Navy, when an officer is selected or appointed to flag rank, all current Navy flag officers write the selectee a letter congratulating him or her for attaining flag officer status.


Retirement

Other than voluntary retirement, statute sets a number of mandates for retirement. All one-star officers must retire after five years in grade or 30 years of service, whichever is later, unless they are selected or appointed for promotion or reappointed to grade to serve longer. - Retirement for years of service: regular brigadier generals and rear admirals (lower half). All two-star officers must retire after five years in grade or 35 years of service, whichever is later, unless appointed for promotion or reappointed to grade to serve longer. Otherwise all flag officers must retire the month after their 64th birthday. However, the Secretary of Defense can defer a flag officer's retirement until the officer's 66th birthday and the President can defer it until the officer's 68th birthday. Flag officers typically retire well in advance of the statutory age and service limits, so as not to impede the upward career mobility of their juniors.DoD News Briefing on Thursday, June 6, 1996.
Retirement of Admiral
Leighton W. Smith Jr. Leighton Warren Smith Jr. (born August 20, 1939) is a former United States Navy admiral. In 1994, he became the Commander in Chief of United States Naval Forces Europe and Allied Forces Southern Europe, holding the commands during the height of t ...


See also

* United States Navy officer rank insignia *
United States Coast Guard officer rank insignia United States Coast Guard officer rank insignia describes an officer's pay-grade. Rank is displayed on collar devices, shoulder boards, and on the sleeves of dress uniforms. Commissioned officer ranks Commissioned officers in the Coast Guard are ...


References


External links

{{US officer ranks Military ranks of the United States Navy Military ranks of the United States Coast Guard * * Two-star officers