Commodore is a
military
rank used in many
navies for officers whose
position exceeds that of a navy
captain, but is less than that of a
rear admiral. Non English-speaking nations
often use the rank
Counter Admiral
instead.
It is
often regarded as a 1 star rank with a
NATO
code of OF-6, but is not
always regarded as a flag
rank.
It is sometimes abbreviated as
Cdre,
CDRE or
COMO.
History
The rank of Commodore derives from the
French commandeur, which was one of
the highest ranks in orders of
knighthood,
and in military orders the title of the knight in charge of a
commenda (a local part of the order's territorial
possessions).
The
Royal Netherlands Navy
also used the rank of
commandeur
from the end of the 16th century for a variety of temporary
positions, until it became a conventional permanent rank in
1955.The
Royal Netherlands
Air Force has adopted the English spelling of
Commodore for an equivalent rank.
The rank of Commodore was at first a position created as a
temporary title to be bestowed upon Captains who commanded
squadrons of more than one vessel. In many navies,
the rank of Commodore was merely viewed as a
Senior Captain position, whereas other naval
services bestowed upon the rank of Commodore the prestige of
flag officer status - Commodore is the
highest rank in the
Irish Naval
Service, for example, and is held by only one person. In the
Royal Navy, the position was introduced to combat the cost of
appointing more Admirals - a costly business with a fleet as large
as the Royal Navy's at that time.
In 1899 the substantive rank of Commodore was discontinued in the
United States Navy, but revived
during World War II. It was discontinued as a rank in these
services during the postwar period, but as an appointment, the
title "Commodore" was then used to identify senior U.S. Navy
Captain who commanded squadrons
of more than one vessel or functional air wings or air groups that
were not part of a carrier air wing or air group. Concurrently,
until the early 1980s,
U.S. Navy and
U.S.
Coast Guard Captains selected for
promotion to the rank of
Rear Admiral
(Lower Half), would wear the same insignia as Rear Admiral (Upper
Half), i.e., two silver stars for collar insignia or sleeve braid
of one wide and one narrow gold stripe, even though they were
actually only equivalent to one star officers. To correct this
inequity, the rank of Commodore as a single star Flag Officer was
reinstated by both services in the early 1980s. This immediately
caused confusion with those senior U.S. Navy Captains commanding
destroyer squadrons, submarine squadrons, functional air wings and
air groups, etc., who held the temporary "title" of Commodore. As a
result of this confusion, the services soon renamed the new one
star rank as Commodore Admiral (CADM) within the first six months
following the rank's reintroduction. This was considered an awkward
title and the rank was renamed a few months later to its current
title of Rear Admiral (Lower Half), or RDML. The "title" of
Commodore continues to be used in the U.S. Navy for those senior
Captains in command of organizations consisting of groups of ships
or submarines organized into squadrons, air wings or air groups of
aviation squadrons other than carrier air wings, special warfare
(
SEAL) groups, and construction battalion
(
SeaBee) regiments. Although not Flag
Officers, modern day Commodores in the U.S. Navy rate a blue and
white command pennant that is normally flown at their headquarters
facilities ashore or from ships they are embarked aboard.
Naval rank
The following articles deal with the rank of Commodore (or its
equivalent) as it is employed in various countries.
Image:RAN-CDRE-shoulder.gif|Australian shoulder boardsFile:Navy
shoulder board Cmdre.png|Canadian shoulder
boardsImage:UK-Navy-OF6.svg|U.K. sleeve
laceImage:USNewCommo.gif|
U.S. CommodoreImage:SP Contra
Almirante.gif|Contraalmirante (
Rear
Admiral) of the
Armada
Española (
Spanish Navy)
Air force ranks
Commodore, in Spanish
Comodoro, is a rank in the
Argentine Air Force. This rank is the
equivalent of a
Colonel in the
Argentine Army, and a Colonel or
Group Captain in other air forces of the
world. The Argentine rank below Commodore is the rank of
Vice-Commodore, in Spanish
Vicecomodoro, equivalent to a
Lieutenant-Colonel in the
Argentine Army, and a Lieutenant-Colonel or
Wing Commander in other air
forces.
Commodore is a rank in the
Royal Netherlands Air Force. It
is a
1 star rank and has essentially the
same rank insignia as the British
Air
Commodore.
Many air forces, use the rank of
Air
Commodore. This rank was first used by the
Royal Air Force and is now used in many
countries such as India, Australia, New Zealand, Greece, Thailand,
Zimbabwe, Pakistan and Nigeria. It is the equivalent rank to the
navy rank of "commodore", and the army ranks of
brigadier and
brigadier general.
The German air force used the concept of a unit Commodore, although
this was a unit command appointment rather than a rank.
Merchant and boating rank
Commodore is also a title held by the senior captain within a
shipping company and by the senior officer of many yacht clubs and
boating associations.
Convoy commodore
During wartime, a shipping
convoy will have a
ranking officer -- sometimes an active-duty naval
officer, at other times a
civilian master or
retired naval officer -- designated as the
convoy
commodore. This title is not related to the individual s
military rank (if any), but instead is the title of the senior
individual responsible for the overall operation of the
merchant ships and
naval auxiliary ships that make up the
convoy. The convoy commodore does not command the convoy escort
forces (if any), which are commanded by a naval officer who serves
as escort commander.
Other uses
In the
United States
Coast Guard Auxiliary, the senior elected officer of the
organization is the National Commodore, while there are Commodores
elected for the Atlantic and Pacific regions.
Vanderbilt
University
's intercollegiate athletics teams are nicknamed the
Commodores, a reference to Cornelius Vanderbilt's self-appointed
title (he was the master of a large shipping fleet).
In the U.S.
Sea
Scouting program (which is part of the
Boy Scouts of America), all National,
Regional, Area, and Council committee chairs are titled as
Commodore, while senior committee members are addressed as Vice
Commodore. Ship Committee chairs do not hold this
recognition.
References and notes
See also
)
)
)
)
) (historic name: Commandeur)
)
) (see also: Rear
Admiral )
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