Naval officer ranks
Navies have
military rank systems that often are quite different from those of
armies or
air forces. Sometimes, services that are considered parts of the navy – marine or amphibious corps – use the army-style ranks instead, while the ranks listed here are reserved for
fleets.
To assist in the comparison of ranks in the armed forces of different countries, established
NATO rank codes are used. These are established codes for determining the seniority of officer and other ranks in NATO countries for a particular joint task group or command structure, although specific appointments designate a higher level of seniority over other equivalent rank codes in a given situation. Officer ranks go from OF-1 (applying to all subaltern officers below captain) up to OF-10; OF(D) being a special category for trainee officers awaiting a commission.
Other Ranks (those considered enlisted men in the United States forces) are classified from OR-1 to OR-9.
Warrant Officers in the United States forces are a special case as single track career specialists between the enlisted and officer ranks in terms of seniority, and have no NATO rank code. The system should not be confused with the pay grades used in the US military.While countries outside the NATO command structure (including some NATO member countries such as
France) do not strictly fall into this classification structure and there may be incidences of overlap (particularly in OR ranks between countries) the codes still provide a useful gauge in determining what ranks are broadly equivalent.
These are the highest ranks. Promotion to a rank above OF-9 is now rare and usually reserved for wartime.
Fleet Admiral is an example of such a rank.
Note that there is doubt about rank equivalency in countries that have Fleet Admirals but no Commodores, such as the German Empire and Russia - often it is considered that in these countries a Fleet Admiral equates to an OF-9 rank, an Admiral to OF-8, a Vice Admiral to OF-7, and a Counter/Rear Admiral to OF-6 (i.e. the ranks all move down one grade).The Royal New Zealand Navy ranks of Admiral and Vice-Admiral are generally only used in times of war.
In most navies,
Captain is the common address to commanders of a naval ship, regardless of his actual rank. As a rank, naval ranks of captain are almost always senior to army captains. Exceptions are the
Swedish Navy and
Republic of Singapore Navy, where "captain" refers to the same rank as in the navy as in the army. In many navies, the concepts of army captain and ship's lieutenant are merged into the rank of "captain-lieutenant". Examples of this are Germany, Russia, Portugal, Denmark and Norway.
Common rank titles used are:
*OF-1(junior): Acting Sub-Lieutenant, Ensign, Corvette Lieutenant, Ship-of-the-line Ensign 2nd Class.
*OF-1(senior): Sub-Lieutenant, Lieutenant (junior grade), Frigate Lieutenant, Ship-of-the-line Ensign 1st Class.
*OF-2: Lieutenant, Ship-of-the-line Lieutenant, Captain-Lieutenant.
*OF-3: Lieutenant-Commander, Corvette Captain.
*OF-4: Commander, Frigate Captain.
*OF-5: Captain, Ship-of-the-line Captain.
Many naval rank systems ultimately derive from either British, French or Spanish naval usage.
Generally speaking, naval ranks systems derived from French and Spanish usage use the names of different classes of ship (
corvette,
frigate,
ship-of-the-line) in their rank titles. This is also the case in some other navies, e.g. two German naval ranks, those of "Corvette Captain" and "Frigate Captain".
Naval rank systems derived from British usage use the rank "captain" exclusively for the highest rank of ship's captain (i.e. of the largest class of ship) and use the rank "lieutenant" exclusively for the highest rank of ship's lieutenant (i.e. of the largest class of ship). In such navies, the captains and lieutenants of smaller ships are therefore unlikely to have the naval rank of "captain" or "lieutenant" respectively; and furthermore a naval "captain" is therefore equivalent to an army
colonel, and a naval "lieutenant" to an army
captain.
| Country | OF-5 | OF-4 | OF-3 | OF-2 | OF-1 | | Albania | Kapitan i Rangut të Parë | Kapitan i Rangut të Dytë | Kapitan i Rangut te Tretë | Kapitan Lejtnant | Lejtnant | Nënlejtnant | |
| Argentina | Capitán de navío | Capitán de fragata | Capitán de corbeta | Teniente de navío | Teniente de fragata | Teniente de corbeta | Guardiamarina |
| Australia | Captain | Commander | Lieutenant Commander | Lieutenant | Sub Lieutenant | Acting Sub Lieutenant | Midshipman |
| Belgium | Kapitein-ter-zee
Capitaine de vaisseau | Fregatkapiteit
Capitaine de frégate | Korvetkapitein
Capitaine de corvette
Luitenant-ter-zee 1ste klasse
Lieutenant de vaisseau 1ère classe | Luitenant-ter-zee
Lieutenant de vaisseau | Vaandrig-ter-zee
Enseigne de vaisseau | Vaandrig-ter-zee 2de klasse
Enseigne de vaisseau de 2ème classe | |
| Canada | Captain | Commander | Lieutenant-Commander | Lieutenant | Sub-Lieutenant | Acting Sub-Lieutenant | |
| China | Shang Xiao | Zhong Xiao | Shao Xiao | Shang Wei | Zhong Wei | Shao Wei | |
| Croatia | Kapetan bojnog broda | Kapetan fregate | Kapetan korvete | Poručnik bojnog broda | Poručnik fregate | Poručnik korvete | |
| Denmark | Kommandør | Kommandør-kaptajn | Orlogskaptajn | Kaptajnløjtnant | Premierløjtnant | Løjtnant | |
| Finland | Kommodori
Kommodor | Komentaja
Kommendör | Komentajakapteeni
Kommendörkapten | Kapteeniluutnantti
Kaptenlöjtnant
Yliluutnantti
Premiärlöjtnant | Luutnantti
Löjtnant | Aliluutnantti
Underlöjtnant | |
| France | Capitaine de Vaisseau | Capitaine de Frégate | Capitaine de Corvette | Lieutenant de Vaisseau | Enseigne de Vaisseau de 1ère Classe | Enseigne de Vaisseau de 2ème Classe | Aspirant |
| Germany | Kapitän zur See | Fregattenkapitän | Korvettenkapitän | Stabskapitänleutnant
Kapitänleutnant | Oberleutnant zur See | Leutnant zur See | |
| German Empire | Kapitän zur See | Fregattenkapitän | Korvettenkapitän | Kapitänleutnant | Oberleutnant zur See | Leutnant zur See | |
| Israel | Aluf mishne | Sgan aluf | Rav seren | Seren | Segen | Segen mishne | |
| Italy | Capitano di Vascello | Capitano di Fregata | Capitano di Corvetta | Primo Tenente di Vascello | Tenente di Vascello | Sottotenente di Vascello | Guardiamarina
Aspirante Guardiamarina |
| Latvia | Jūras kapteinis | Komandkapteinis | Komandleitnants | Kapteiņleitnants | Virsleitnants | Leitnants | |
| Mexico | Capitán de Navío | Capitán de Fragata | Capitán de Corbeta | Teniente de Navío | Teniente de Corbeta | Guardiamarina | |
| Netherlands | Kapitein ter zee | Kapitein-Luitenant ter zee | Luitenant ter zee der 1e klasse | Luitenant ter zee der 2e klasse oudste categorie | Luitenant ter zee der 2e klasse | Luitenant ter zee der 3e klasse | Adjudant-Onderofficier |
| New Zealand | Captain | Commander | Lieutenant Commander | Lieutenant | Sub Lieutenant | Ensign | Midshipman |
| Norway | Kommandør | Kommandørkaptein | Orlogskaptein | Kapteinløytnant | Løytnant | Fenrik | |
| Poland | Komandor | Komandor porucznik | Komandor podporucznik | Kapitan marynarki | Porucznik marynarki | Podporucznik marynarki | |
| Portugal | Capitão-de-mar-e-guerra | Capitão-de-fragat | Capitão-tenente | Primeiro-tenente | Segundo-tenente | Guarda-marinha ou Subtenente | |
| Russia | Kapitan pervogo ranga | Kapitan vtorogo ranga | Kapitan tret'yego ranga | Kapitan-leytenant | Starshiy leytenant | Leytenant | Mladshiy leytenant |
| Singapore | Colonel | Lieutenant Colonel | Major | Captain | Lieutenant | Second Lieutenant | |
| South Africa | Captain
Kaptein | Commander
Kommandeur | Lieutenant Commander
Luitenant-Kommandeur | Lieutenant
Luitenant | Sub-Lieutenant
Onderluitenant | Ensign
Vaandrig | |
| Soviet Union | Kapitan pervogo ranga | Kapitan vtorogo ranga | Kapitan tret'yego ranga | Kapitan-leytenant | Starshiy leytenant | Leytenant | Mladshiy leytenant |
| Spain | Capitán de navío | Capitán de fragata | Capitán de corbeta | Teniente de navío | Alférez de navío | Alférez de fragata | |
| Sweden | Kommendör 1.gr
Kommendör | Kommendörkapten | Örlogskapten | Kapten | Löjtnant | Fänrik | |
| Turkey | Albay | Yarbay | Binbaşı | Yüzbaşı | Üsteğmen | Teğmen | Asteğmen |
| United Kingdom | Captain | Commander | Lieutenant-Commander | Lieutenant | Sub-Lieutenant | Acting Sub-Lieutenant | Midshipman |
| United States | Captain | Commander | Lieutenant Commander | Lieutenant | Lieutenant, junior grade | Ensign | |
*
Air force officer ranks*
Army officer ranks*
Comparative military ranks
