Admiral
Admiral is the
rank, or part of the name of the ranks, of the highest
naval officers.
The word Admiral stems from the
Arabic term
Amir-al-bahr (commander of the sea).
Crusaders learned the term during their encounters with the
Arabs, perhaps as early as the
11th century. The
Sicilians and later
Genoese took the first two parts of the term and used them as one word,
amiral, from their
Catalan opponents. The
French and
Spanish gave their sea commanders similar titles. As the word was used by people speaking
Latin or Latin-based languages it gained the "d" and endured a series of different endings and spellings leading to the English spelling "admyrall" in the
14th century and to "admiral" by the
16th century.
The word Admiral has today come to be almost exclusively associated with the highest
naval rank in most of the world's
navies, equivalent to the Army rank of (Full)
General.
The rank of Admiral has also been subdivided into various grades, several of which are historically extinct while others are used by most present day navies. The generic terms for these naval equivalents of army generals is
Flag Officer. Some navies have also used army-type titles for them, such as the Cromwellian
General at sea.The
Israeli Defence Forces do not have separate naval ranks, and the
Hebrew rank
Aluf denotes both a General and an Admiral.
The following are the various grades of Admiral, listed by seniority.
#Admiral of the Navy was only ever held by one U.S. officer,
George Dewey. In 1945, the U.S. Navy considered creating the equivalent rank of
Flag Admiral, but nothing came of the proposal. #Lieutenant Admiral is considered equal to Vice Admiral in most navies. The Dutch are an exception, where a
Luitenant Admiraal is equivalent to an Admiral.
Some navies have a junior rank of
Flotilla Admiral, corresponding to
Commodore in other navies. The U.S. Navy briefly flirted with the rank of
Commodore Admiral (about 11 months), before splitting Rear Admiral into Rear Admiral, Upper Half and Rear Admiral, Lower Half. The Royal Navy has the position (not rank) of
Port Admiral; historically, this was often a senior
captain rather than an admiral proper.
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Canadian Navy (
Canada)
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French Navy (
France)
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German Navy (
Germany)
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Indian Navy (
India)
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Royal Netherlands Navy (
Netherlands)
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Russian Navy (
Russian Federation)
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Spanish Navy (
Spain)
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Swedish Navy (
Sweden)
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Turkish Navy (
Turkey)
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Royal Navy (
United Kingdom)
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United States Navy/Coast Guard (
United States)
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Admiral of the Ocean Sea Christopher Columbus * Admiral Sir
Francis Drake* Admiral Lord
Horatio Nelson* Admiral
Sergey Gorshkov* Admiral
Chester W. Nimitz* Admiral
Elmo Zumwalt* Admiral Sir John
Sandy WoodwardIn
science fiction, additional ranks such as
Sector Admiral,
High Admiral, and Branch Admiral are sometimes mentioned. None of these fictional ranks have ever been used, however, in a real navy. The rank of
Fleet Admiral is also common in science fiction.
Fictional characters
* Admiral
Horatio Hornblower* Admiral Sir
Miles Messervy (
M)
*
Admiral (Star Trek)*
Admiral Ackbar*
Admiral Harriman Nelson* Admiral
A.J. Chegwidden*Admiral was a private brand label for
Montgomery Ward. Montgomery Ward also licensed this brand to
Maytag.
*"The Admiral" is the nickname of
David Robinson, who held off entering the NBA to complete his duty to the Navy.
*There is a
Red Admiral butterfly.
*
Comparative military ranks*
List of naval commanders
