Commander (Royal Navy)

Commander (Royal Navy)
A Royal Navy commander's rank insignia.

Commander (often abbreviated "Cdr") is a senior officer rank of the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom. It is immediately junior to captain and immediately senior to the rank of lieutenant commander. Officers holding the junior rank of lieutenant commander are not considered to be commanders.

History

The title (originally "master and commander")[1] originated in the 18th century to describe naval officers who commanded ships of war too large to be commanded by a lieutenant but too small to warrant the assignment of a post-captain, or (before about 1770) a sailing-master; the commanding officer served as his own master. In practice, these were usually unrated sloops-of-war of no more than 20 guns. The Royal Navy shortened "master and commander" to "commander" in 1794; however, the term "master and commander" remained (unofficially) in common parlance for several years.[2] In the 20th and 21st centuries, the rank has been assigned the NATO rank code of OF-4.

Seniority and usage

A commander in the Royal Navy is senior to an officer holding the rank of lieutenant commander but junior to a captain. A commander may command a frigate, destroyer, submarine, aviation squadron or shore installation, or may serve on a staff. A commander is equivalent in rank to a lieutenant colonel in the British Army or a wing commander in the Royal Air Force. The rank of wing commander was derived from the naval rank of commander via the usage in the World War I Royal Naval Air Service.

The rank insignia of a commander features three rings of gold braid with a loop in the upper ring.[3]

References


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно решить контрольную?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Royal Navy — Pavillon de la Royal Navy (White Enseign) Période 16e siècle aujourd hui Pays …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Royal Navy — Royal Navy …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Royal Navy — This article is about the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom. For other Royal Navies, see Royal Navy (disambiguation). Royal Navy The naval ensign …   Wikipedia

  • Royal Navy Submarine Service — Infobox Military Unit unit name= Submarine Service caption= start date= 1901 country= United Kingdom allegiance= branch= Royal Navy type= role= size= command structure= garrison= garrison label= equipment= equipment label= nickname= patron= motto …   Wikipedia

  • Royal Navy Cyprus Squadron — Akrotiri mole, where the squadron was based. The Royal Navy Cyprus Squadron (RNCS) was a Royal Naval Squadron based on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus. It was formed in February 2003 in support of Operation Telic, the U.S. led invasion of Iraq …   Wikipedia

  • Royal Navy, The — ▪ British naval force  naval military organization of the United Kingdom, charged with the national defense at sea, protection of shipping, and fulfillment of international military agreements.       Organized seapower was first used in England… …   Universalium

  • Royal Navy officer rank insignia — In 1877 a Lieutenant of 8 years seniority got an additional half stripe of 3/16 in, increased to ¼in in 1891.In 1914 the rank of Lieutenant Commander was created and given the insignia of the 8 year Lieutenant.In 1919 the admirals narrow stripe… …   Wikipedia

  • Commander Royal Canadian Navy — Commander of the Royal Canadian Navy Type Commissioned Officer Command  Royal Canadian Navy Status Currently constituted …   Wikipedia

  • Captain (Royal Navy) — Please see Captain (naval) for other versions of this naval rank. Captain is a senior officer rank of the Royal Navy. It ranks above Commander and below Commodore and has a NATO ranking code of OF 5. The rank is equivalent to a Colonel in the… …   Wikipedia

  • Donald Macintyre (Royal Navy officer) — Royal Navy This page is about the World War II naval officer. For others of similar name see Donald MacIntyre Donald George Frederick Wyville Macintyre DSO Two Bars, DSC (26 January 1904 – 23 May 1981)[1 …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”