Hi just for background this topic http://forum.rankinsignia.info/viewtopic.php?t=1374&highlight=commodore gives a pretty good overview of the historical origins of the Commodore. vs Rear AdmiralBornholmer wrote:There are some navies, where commodore ranks are not in use. Russian Navy and some navies in South America, for example... Most of European navies use it. Actually, I cannot understand, why do they need this grade. Is there a serious difference between commodore and rear admiral positions, or commodores and captains?
That is true, however when the US Navy brought back the grade of commodore in the 1980s, the one-star officers objected because they would not be called "admiral" for short, as brigadier generals were called "general."Just consider "Commodore" as beeing one-star admiral, sam way as "Brigadier" is one star general ... what really matters is the number of stars on the epaulettes (or rings on the cuff).
Throughout most of their histories, the USN and RN have promoted officers from captain to rear admiral. The confusion came about when RN and army ranks were officially equated in 1747. Commodore, a temporary rank in the navy, was equated with brigadier general, a permanent rank in the army. The US followed the same system and there has been a lot of back-and-forth since.Commodore was a name used primarily by countries with large navies (UK, US and such) while those without a similarly important navy had rear admiral for the lowest level of flag officer
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