Flag officer

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A flag officer is a commissioned officer in a nation's armed forces senior enough to be entitled to fly a flag to mark the position from which the officer exercises command.

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The term is used differently in different countries:

General usage

The generic title of flag officer is used in many modern navies and coast guards to denote those who hold the rank of rear admiral or its equivalent and above, also called "flag ranks". In some navies, this also includes the rank of commodore. Flag officer corresponds to the generic terms general officer, used by land and some air forces to describe all grades of generals, and air officer, used by other air forces to describe all grades of air marshals and air commodores.

A flag officer sometimes is a junior officer, called a flag lieutenant or flag adjutant, attached as a personal adjutant or aide-de-camp.

Canada

In the Canadian Armed Forces, a flag officer (French: officier général, "general officer") is an admiral, vice admiral, rear admiral, or commodore, the naval equivalent of a general officer of the army or air force. It is a somewhat counterintuitive usage of the term, as only flag officers in command of commands or formations actually have their own flags (technically a commodore has only a broad pennant, not a flag), and army and air force generals in command of commands or formations also have their own flags, but are not called flag officers. Base commanders, usually full colonels, have a pennant that flies from the mast or flagpole on the base, when resident, or on vehicles that carry them. [1]

A flag officer's rank is denoted by a wide strip of gold braid on the cuff of the service dress tunic, one to four gold maple leaves over a crossed sword and baton, all beneath a royal crown, on epaulettes and shoulder boards; and two rows of gold oak leaves on the peak of the service cap. [2] Since the unification of the Canadian Forces in 1968, a flag officer's dress tunic had a single broad stripe on the sleeve and epaulettes.

In May 2010 the naval uniform dark dress tunic was adjusted—exterior epaulettes were removed, reverting to the sleeve ring and executive curl-rank insignia used by most navies. commodores' uniforms display a broad stripe, and each succeeding rank receives an additional sleeve ring. There are no epaulettes on the exterior of the tunic, but they are still worn on the uniform shirt underneath. [3]

India

In the Indian Armed Forces, it is applied to brigadiers, major generals, lieutenant generals and generals in the Army; commodores, rear admirals, vice admirals and admirals in the Navy; and air commodores, air vice marshals, air marshals and air chief marshals in the Air Force. Each of these flag officers are designated with a specific flag. India's honorary ranks (five star ranks) are field marshal in the Army, Marshal of the Indian Air Force in the Air Force and admiral of the fleet in the Navy. A similar equivalence is applied to senior police officers of rank Deputy Inspector General (DIG), Inspector General (IG), Additional Director General (ADG) and Director General (DG).

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, the term is only used for the Royal Navy, with there being a more specific distinction being between a "flag officer" and an "officer of flag rank". Formerly, all officers promoted to flag rank were considered to be "flag officers". [4] The term is still widely used to refer to any officer of flag rank. Present usage is that rear admirals and above are officers of flag rank, but only those officers who are authorised to fly a flag are formally called "flag officers" and have different flags for different ranks of admiral. [5]

Of the 39 officers of flag rank in the Royal Navy in 2006, very few were "flag officers" with entitlement to fly a flag. For example, a Commander-in-Chief Fleet flies an admiral's flag whether ashore or afloat and is a "flag officer". The chief of staff (support), a rear admiral, is not entitled to fly a flag and is an "officer of flag rank" rather than a "flag officer". List of fleets and major commands of the Royal Navy lists most admirals who were "flag officers". A flag officer's junior officer is often known as "Flags".[ citation needed ] Flag Officers in the Royal Navy are considered as Rear-Admirals and above. [6]

Equivalent ranks in the British Army and Royal Marines are called general officer rather than flag officers, and those in the Royal Air Force (as well as the rank of air commodore) are called air officers, although all are entitled to fly flags of rank.[ citation needed ]

United States

Captain was the highest rank in the United States Navy from its beginning in 1775 until 1857, when Congress created the temporary rank of flag officer, which was bestowed on senior Navy captains who were assigned to lead a squadron of vessels in addition to command of their own ship. [7] This temporary usage gave way to the permanent ranks of commodore and rear admiral in 1862.

The term "flag officer" is still in use today, explicitly defined as an officer of the U.S. Navy or Coast Guard serving in or having the grade of admiral, vice admiral, rear admiral, or rear admiral (lower half), [8] equivalent to general officers of an army.

The flag of the Chief of Staff of the United States Army Flag of the Chief of Staff of the United States Army.svg
The flag of the Chief of Staff of the United States Army

In the United States Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps, the term "flag officer" generally is applied to all general officers authorized to fly their own command flags—i.e., brigadier general, or pay grade O-7, and above. [9] [10] As a matter of law, Title 10 of the United States Code makes a distinction between general officers and flag officers (general officer for the Army, Marine Corps, and Air Force; flag officer for the Navy and Coast Guard). [8] Non-naval officers usually fly their flags from their headquarters, vessels, or vehicles, typically only for the most senior officer present. [11] [12]

In the United States all flag and general officers must be nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate. Each subsequent promotion requires renomination and re-approval. For the Navy, each flag officer assignment is usually limited to a maximum of two years, followed by either reassignment, reassignment and promotion, or retirement. [13]

Related Research Articles

Commodore is a senior naval rank used in many navies which is equivalent to brigadier or brigadier general and air commodore. It is superior to a navy captain, but below a rear admiral. It is either regarded as the most junior of the flag officers rank or may not hold the jurisdiction of a flag officer at all depending on the officer's appointment. Non-English-speaking nations commonly use the rank of flotilla admiral, counter admiral, or senior captain as an equivalent, although counter admiral may also correspond to rear admiral lower half abbreviated as RDML.

Vice admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, usually equivalent to lieutenant general and air marshal. A vice admiral is typically senior to a rear admiral and junior to an admiral.

Rear admiral is a flag officer rank used by English-speaking navies. In most European navies, the equivalent rank is called counter admiral.

A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Military rank</span> Element of hierarchy in armed forces

Military ranks are a system of hierarchical relationships, within armed forces, police, intelligence agencies or other institutions organized along military lines. The military rank system defines dominance, authority, and responsibility in a military hierarchy. It incorporates the principles of exercising power and authority into the military chain of command—the succession of commanders superior to subordinates through which command is exercised. The military chain of command constructs an important component for organized collective action.

A group is a military unit or a military formation that is most often associated with military aviation.

An air officer is an air force officer of the rank of air commodore or higher. Such officers may be termed "officers of air rank". While the term originated in the Royal Air Force, air officers are also to be found in many Commonwealth nations who have a similar rank structure to the RAF.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Russian military ranks</span>

Modern Russian military ranks trace their roots to the Table of Ranks established by Peter the Great. Most of the rank names were borrowed from existing German/Prussian, French, English, Dutch, and Polish ranks upon the formation of the Russian regular army in the late 17th century.

The Indian Navy (IN), the naval component of the Indian Armed Forces follows a certain hierarchy of rank designations and insignia derived from the erstwhile Royal Indian Navy (RIN).

Commodore was an early title and later a rank in the United States Navy, United States Coast Guard and the Confederate States Navy, and also has been a rank in the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Officer Corps and its ancestor organizations. For over two centuries, the designation has been given varying levels of authority and formality.

The Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI) uses a simplified ranking system for the three branches of Indonesian Army, Indonesian Navy and Indonesian Air Force. Most of the ranks are similar with differences for the rank titles of the high-ranking officers. Exception exists, however, in the ranks of the service members of the Indonesian Marine Corps. While Indonesian Marine Corps is a branch of the Navy, the rank titles of the Marine Corps are the same as those of the Army, but it still uses the Navy's style insignia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Five-star rank</span> Senior military rank used by some nations armed forces

A five-star rank is the highest military rank in many countries. The rank is that of the most senior operational military commanders, and within NATO's standard rank scale it is designated by the code OF-10. Not all armed forces have such a rank, and in those that do the actual insignia of the five-star ranks may not contain five stars. For example: the insignia for the French OF-10 rank maréchal de France contains seven stars; the insignia for the Portuguese marechal contains four gold stars. The stars used on the various Commonwealth of Nations rank insignias are sometimes colloquially referred to as pips, but in fact either are stars of the orders of the Garter, Thistle or Bath or are Eversleigh stars, depending on the wearer's original regiment or corps, and are used in combination with other heraldic items, such as batons, crowns, swords or maple leaves.

The following tables present the ranks and insignia of the Sri Lanka Navy. These ranks are similar to Royal Naval officer ranks and the ratings ranks. Sri Lanka does have an Admiral rank, but it is usually only awarded to the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) or as an honorary rank; Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda was the only Sri Lankan naval officer to hold a full admiral rank while in active service.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Admiral (Australia)</span> Rank of the Royal Australian Navy

Admiral is the highest active rank of the Royal Australian Navy and was created as a direct equivalent of the British naval rank of admiral. It is a four-star rank. Since 1968, generally the only time the rank is held is when the Chief of the Defence Force is a navy officer.

The rank of admiral in Canada is typically held by only one officer whose position is Chief of the Defence Staff and the senior uniformed officer of the Canadian Forces. It is equivalent to the army and air force rank of general.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Commodore (Canada)</span> General officer military rank, Canadian Navy

Commodore is a Canadian Forces rank used by commissioned officers of the Royal Canadian Navy. Brigadier-general is the equivalent rank in the Canadian Army and Royal Canadian Air Force.

The military ranks of Turkey are the military insignia used by the Turkish Armed Forces.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Military ranks of the Soviet Union (1940–1943)</span>

The ranks and rank insignia of the Red Army and Red Navy between 1940 and 1943 were characterised by continuing reforms to the Soviet armed forces in the period immediately before Operation Barbarossa and the war of national survival following it. The Soviet suspicion of rank and rank badges as a bourgeois institution remained, but the increasing experience of Soviet forces, and the massive increase in manpower all played their part, including the creation of a number of new general officer ranks and the reintroduction of permanent enlisted ranks and ratings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vice admiral (Pakistan)</span> Second-highest rank in Pakistan navy

Vice Admiral is a three-star commissioned armed senior flag officer rank in the Pakistan Navy, coast guards, and marines awarded by the Government of Pakistan to Rear Admirals as a position advancement in uniformed service. It is the second-highest rank in Pakistan armed services with a NATO code of OF-8, and while it is worn on epaulettes with a three-star insignia, it ranks above two-star rank Rear Admiral and below four-star rank Admiral. Vice admiral is equivalent to the rank of Lieutenant general of Pakistan Army and Air marshal of the Pakistan Air Force.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rear admiral (Pakistan)</span> Third-highest rank in Pakistan navy

Rear Admiral is a two-star commissioned armed senior flag officer rank in the Pakistan Navy, coast guards, and marines awarded by the Government of Pakistan to Commodores as a position advancement in uniformed service. It is the third-highest rank in Pakistan armed services with a NATO code of OF-7, and while it is worn on epaulettes with a two-star insignia, it ranks above one-star rank Commodore and below three-star rank Vice admiral. Rear Admiral is equivalent to the rank of Major General of Pakistan Army and Air Vice Marshal of the Pakistan Air Force.

References

  1. Canada – National Defence: A-AD-200-000/AG-000 The Heritage Structure of the Canadian Forces, Chapter 14, Section 3.
  2. Canada - National Defence: "Navy Rank and Appointment Insignia: Navy Archived 2011-08-14 at the Wayback Machine "
  3. Note: The referenced website, above, has not yet been updated to reflect the change as of July 9, 2010.
  4. See e.g.King's Regulations and Admiralty Instructions Volume I 1913., §192
  5. "BRd 2 THE QUEEN'S REGULATIONS FOR THE ROYAL NAVY Version 5" (PDF). royalnavy.mod.uk. UK Defence Council. 1 April 2017. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 November 2020. Retrieved 9 November 2020. Flag Officer. An officer of the rank of Rear-Admiral or above.
  6. "BRd 2 THE QUEEN'S REGULATIONS FOR THE ROYAL NAVY Version 5" (PDF). royalnavy.mod.uk. UK Defence Council. 1 April 2017. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 November 2020. Retrieved 9 November 2020. Flag Officer. An officer of the rank of Rear-Admiral or above.
  7. "Naval History and Heritage Command - Navy Captain". History.navy.mil. 13 May 2014. Archived from the original on 23 October 2016. Retrieved 8 June 2016.
  8. 1 2 "§101 of Title 10, US Code on law.cornell.edu". Archived from the original on 2023-03-24. Retrieved 2017-05-09.
  9. Offenhauer, Priscilla (December 2007). "General and flag officer authorizations for the active and reserve components: A comparative and historical analysis" (PDF). Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress. Archived (PDF) from the original on 7 August 2015. Retrieved 15 August 2015.
  10. Kapp, Lawrence. General and Flag Officers in the U.S. Armed Forces: Background and Considerations for Congress Archived 2016-06-11 at the Wayback Machine , Congressional Research Service, February 18, 2016.
  11. Army Regulation 840-10, Flags, Guidons, Streamers, Tabards, and Automobile and Aircraft Plates Archived 2010-06-07 at the Wayback Machine
  12. Department of the Army Institute of Heraldry website on General Officer Flags Archived 2008-06-14 at the Wayback Machine
  13. "Chief of Naval Operations. Navy Military Personnel Assignment Policy" (PDF). 2006. p. 6. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-02-24. Retrieved 2013-09-19.