Naval military rank
Royal Navy
captain's rank insignia during Divisions conducted at
HMNB Clyde
, 2013
Captain from
US Navy
(at left) and Senior Captain from
PLA Navy
, 2015
Captain
is the name most often given in English-speaking
navies
to the rank corresponding to command of the largest ships.
[1]
[2]
[3]
The rank is equal to the army rank of
colonel
and air force rank of
group captain
.
Equivalent ranks worldwide include
ship-of-the-line captain
(e.g. France, Argentina, Spain),
captain of sea and war
(e.g. Brazil, Portugal),
captain at sea
(e.g. Germany, Netherlands) and "
captain of the first rank
" (Russia).
Etiquette
[
edit
]
Any naval officer who commands a ship is addressed by naval custom as "captain" while aboard in command, regardless of their actual rank, even though technically an officer of below the rank of captain is more correctly titled the
commanding officer
, or C.O. Officers with the rank of captain travelling aboard a vessel they do not command should be addressed by their rank and name (e.g., "Captain Smith"), but they should not be referred to as "the captain" to avoid confusion with the vessel's captain.
[4]
The naval rank should not be confused with the
army, air force, or marine ranks of captain
, which all have the NATO code of OF-2.
[Note 1]
Commands
[
edit
]
Captains with sea commands generally command ships of
cruiser
size or larger; the more senior the officer, the larger the ship, but ship commanders do not normally hold a higher rank than captain. In the
Royal Navy
, a captain might command an
aircraft carrier
, an
amphibious assault ship
, or the
Ice Patrol Ship
, while
naval aviator
and
naval flight officer
captains in the
U.S. Navy
command
aircraft carriers
, large-deck amphibious assault ships, carrier air wings, maritime patrol air wings, and functional and specialized air wings and air groups.
Maritime battle staff commanders of one-star rank (
commodores
or
rear admirals
lower half) will normally embark on large capital ships such as aircraft carriers, which will function as the flagship for their strike group or battle group, but a captain will retain command of the actual ship, and assume the title of "flag captain". Even when a senior officer who is in the ship's captain's
chain of command
is present, all orders are given through the captain.
By country
[
edit
]
Belgium
[
edit
]
In the
Belgian Navy
the rank of
capitaine de vaisseau
or
kapitein-ter-zee
is the third grade of superior officer, equivalent to colonel in the land forces. Its insignia is made up of four bands. He or she commands a
capital ship
(cruiser, battleship or aircraft carrier) or a shore establishment. Smaller vessels such as
destroyers
and frigates are commanded by a
kapitein-luitenant
.
Canada
[
edit
]
In the
Royal Canadian Navy
, Captain(N) (abbreviated Capt(N);
capitaine de vaisseau
, abbreviated
capv
) is a
senior officer
rank, equal to an army or air force
colonel
. A captain(N) is senior to a
commander
, and junior to a
commodore
.
[5]
Typical appointments for captains(N) include:
[
citation needed
]
The rank insignia for a captain(N) is four
1
⁄
2
-inch (1.3 cm) stripes, worn on the cuffs of the service dress jacket, and on
slip-ons
on other uniforms. On the visor of the
service cap
is one row of gold oak leaves along the edge. Captains(N) wear the officers' pattern branch cap badge.
[
citation needed
]
The "(N)" is a part of the rank descriptor, and is used in official publications and documents to distinguish a captain(N) from a
captain
in the army or air force. It is also important to distinguish between the rank of captain(N) and the appointment of captain, meaning the commanding officer of a ship, regardless of his or her rank.
Captains(N) are addressed initially as "Captain" followed by their surname (example: "Captain Bloggins"), thereafter by superiors and peers as "Captain" and by subordinates as "Sir" or "Ma'am". The "(N)" is not part of the spoken address.
Prior to the
unification of the Canadian Forces in 1968
, rank structure and insignia followed the British pattern.
[
citation needed
]
Estonia
[
edit
]
India
[
edit
]
Sri Lanka
[
edit
]
United Kingdom
[
edit
]
United States
[
edit
]
In the United States, the O-6 rank of captain exists in four of the
uniformed services of the United States
: the
United States Navy
,
United States Coast Guard
,
United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps
, and
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Officer Corps
.
Gallery
[
edit
]
Variants
[
edit
]
Captain at sea
[
edit
]
Captain at sea
is a naval rank corresponding to command of a
ship-of-the-line
or
capital ship
.
Germany
[
edit
]
Kapitan zur See
(
German:
[kapi?t?ːns
t?suː??
?zeː]
ⓘ
, abbreviated
KptzS
,
KZS
, or
KzS
) is a senior officer
rank
in the
German Navy
.
[28]
Netherlands
[
edit
]
In the
Royal Netherlands Navy
, the rank of
kapitein-ter-zee
is the third grade of superior officer, equivalent to colonel in the land-forces. His insignia is made up of four bands and he commands a
capital ship
or a shore establishment (until recently, a
kapitein-ter-zee
commanded the
Onderzeedienst
and
Mijnendienst
, the Netherlands Navy's submarine and mine-laying training establishments).
Smaller vessels such as
destroyers
and frigates are commanded by a
kapitein-luitenant ter zee
. Until recently flagships such as
Tromp
-class frigates
were also commanded by a
kapitein-ter-zee
. Currently,
De Zeven Provincien
-class frigates
are commanded by a
kapitein-luitenant-ter-zee
.
Gallery
[
edit
]
Captain lieutenant
[
edit
]
Portuguese-speaking navies
[
edit
]
Front page of the
Breve Compendio do que pertence a obrigacao de hum Capitao de Mar, & Guerra
, or "Brief compendium of what pertains to the obligation of a captain of sea and war" (1676)
Captain of sea and war
(
Portuguese
:
capitao de mar e guerra
,
formerly spelled
capitao-de-mar-e-guerra
) is a rank in most of the
Portuguese
-speaking navies, notably those of
Portugal
and
Brazil
.
The term captain of sea and war, like the modern rank of ship-of-the-line captain in the navies of France, Italy, and Spain, has deep historic roots. Although the rank was first formally established in the 17th century, the expression had been sometimes been used in the Portuguese and Spanish (as
Capitan de Mar y Guerra
) armadas of the 16th century. But generally, in the 16th and early 17th centuries, the captain of a Portuguese
man-of-war
was simply called a
capitao
, while the commander of a fleet was termed
capitao-mor
, literally "
captain-major
".
Portrait miniature
of the Portuguese captain of sea and war Andre de Sousa Ferreira in 1751.
During the 16th century, the term
almirante
was used in
Portugal
to designate the second in command of a fleet. Only during the 18th century would it come to designate the fleet commander - an admiral in the more modern sense. But during the latter half of the 17th century, the term "captain of sea and war" came to designate the commander of a larger man-of-war - the
ship of the line
that began evolving at that time. When that happened, the Portuguese Navy, as other navies, came to use the term
capitao de fragata
and
capitao-tenente
, literally "
frigate captain
" and "captain-lieutenant", to designate the commanders of smaller warships. When Brazil gained her independence from Portugal in 1822, its
navy
adopted the Portuguese rank denominations, which both countries still use.
Corvette captain
[
edit
]
Frigate captain
[
edit
]
Rank captain
[
edit
]
Captain of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd class are ranks used by the
Russian Navy
and a number of
former communist states
. Within NATO forces, the ranks are rated as OF-5, 4 and 3, respectively.
[43]
Ship-of-the-line captain
[
edit
]
Serbian River Flotilla Ship-of-the-line captain (
Serbian
:
капетан бо?ног брода
,
romanized
:
kapetan bojnog broda
)
Ship-of-the-line-captain
(
French
:
capitaine de vaisseau
;
German
:
Linienschiffskapitan
(in the Austro-Hungarian navy);
Italian
:
capitano di vascello
;
Spanish
:
capitan de navio
;
Croatian
:
kapetan bojnog broda
) is a
rank
that appears in several navies. The name of the rank derives from the fact the rank corresponded to command of a warship of the largest class, the
ship-of-the-line
, as opposed to smaller types (
corvettes
and
frigates
). It is normally above the rank of
frigate captain
.
France
[
edit
]
Capitaine de vaisseau
is a rank in the
French Navy
, corresponding to that of
colonel
in the
French Army
. They usually command the navy's most important ships.
Gallery
[
edit
]
See also
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
The
Polish Navy
is, however, a notable exception with "naval captain" (Polish -
kapitan marynarki
) in the OF-2 rank of
lieutenant
or
captain lieutenant
and the OF-5 rank being a "Commodore" (Polish -
komandor
).
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edit
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