''Captain-commandant'' is a rank currently used in the

Belgian Armed Forces The Belgian Defense Forces ( nl, Defensie; french: La Défense) is the national military of Belgium. The King of the Belgians is the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces. The Belgian Armed Forces was established after Belgium became indepen ...

and formerly used in the

United States Revenue Cutter Service ) , colors= , colors_label= , march= , mascot= , equipment= , equipment_label= , battles= , anniversaries=4 August , decorations= , battle_honours= , battle_honours_label= , disbanded=28 January 1915 , flying_hours= , website= , commander1= , co ...

and its successor, the

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mult ...

Belgian Armed Forces

Captain-commandant is a company grade of

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 in the

air component The Belgian Air Component ( nl, Luchtcomponent, french: Composante air) is the air arm of the Belgian Armed Forces, and until January 2002 it was officially known as the Belgian Air Force ( nl, Belgische Luchtmacht; french: Force aérienne bel ...

, land component, the old Belgian ''Gendarmerie'' and medical component of the

. A ''kapitein-commandant'' (Dutch) or ''capitaine-commandant'' (French) ranks directly above a

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 ...

and immediately under 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 ...

. Officers of this rank usually serve in staff functions or more rarely as commanders of small units such as squadrons and

companies A company, abbreviated as co., is a legal entity representing an association of people, whether natural, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common purpose and unite to achieve specific, declared go ...

. The insignia are three pips under a narrow stripe for the land component, three blue stripes with navy curl for the air component and three gold stripes with navy curl for the medical component. In the naval component, the rank is called ''luitenant ter zee eerste klasse'' or ''Lieutenant de vaisseau de première classe'' (" ship-of-the-line lieutenant first class"), and the insignia is two and a half gold stripes with a naval curl.

U.S. Revenue Cutter Service and U.S. Coast Guard

In the United States between the years 1908 and 1923 the rank of captain-commandant was used by the

and the

for its most senior ranking officer.Evans, p 200 Since 1923 this title has been

Commandant of the Coast Guard The commandant of the Coast Guard is the service chief and highest-ranking member of the United States Coast Guard. The commandant is an admiral, appointed for a four-year term by the president of the United States upon confirmation by the Uni ...

Citations

References

mil.be
* No ISBN Military ranks of Belgium {{italictitle

Belgian Armed Forces

U.S. Revenue Cutter Service and U.S. Coast Guard

See also

Citations

References