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 that officer exercises command.
26-415: Rear admiral is a flag officer rank used by English-speaking navies . In most European navies, the equivalent rank is called counter admiral . Rear admiral is usually immediately senior to commodore and immediately below vice admiral . It is usually equivalent to the rank of major general in armies. In the U.S. Navy and some other navies, there are two rear admiral ranks . The term originated in
52-434: A "flag officer" and an "officer of flag rank". Formerly, all officers promoted to flag rank were considered to be "flag officers". 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 . Of
78-674: 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). Non-naval officers usually fly their flags from their headquarters, vessels, or vehicles, typically only for the most senior officer present. In the United States all flag and general officers must be nominated by
104-471: Is a junior officer , called a flag lieutenant or flag adjutant , attached as a personal adjutant or aide-de-camp . 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
130-564: 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
156-501: 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. 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
182-540: 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), equivalent to general officers of an 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. As
208-678: Is the Crown of St. Edward above a crossed sword and baton, above two silver stars, above the word "Australia". Like the Royal Navy version, the sword is a traditional naval cutlass . The stars have eight points, unlike the four pointed Order of the Bath stars used by the army (which are often referred to as "pips"). Prior to 1995, the RAN shoulder board was identical to the Royal Navy shoulder board. The Royal Navy shoulder board changed again in 2001 and
234-463: Is the Navy rank equivalent to major-general of the Army and Air Force . A rear-admiral is a flag officer , the naval equivalent of a general officer . A rear-admiral is senior to a commodore and brigadier-general , and junior to a vice-admiral and lieutenant-general . The rank insignia for a rear-admiral is two silver maple leaves beneath a silver crossed sword and baton, all surmounted by St Edward's Crown , worn on gold shoulder boards on
260-617: The New Zealand Defence Force . The post has existed under its present name since 1991. From 1963 to 1991 the head of the New Zealand Defence Force was known as the Chief of Defence Staff . All the incumbents have held three-star rank . The current Chief of Defence Force is Air Marshal Tony Davies. The CDF is the professional head of the defence forces and serves as the principal military advisor to
286-528: 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 . Chief of Defence Force (New Zealand) The Chief of Defence Force ( CDF ) is the appointment held by the professional head of
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#1732783247957312-469: 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
338-608: 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) . In the United Kingdom, the term is only used for the Royal Navy , with there being a more specific distinction being between
364-731: The Australian and UK shoulder boards are now identical except for the word "Australia". Rear Admiral Robyn Walker AM , RAN became the first female admiral in the Royal Australian Navy when she was appointed Surgeon-General of the Australian Defence Force on 16 December 2011. In the Royal Canadian Navy , the rank of rear-admiral (RAdm) ( contre-amiral or CAm in French )
390-601: The Royal Navy lists most admirals who were "flag officers". A flag officer's junior officer is often known as "Flags". Flag Officers in the Royal Navy are considered as Rear-Admirals and above. 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. Captain
416-709: The United Kingdom . In the United States, there have been two ranks with the title of rear admiral since 1985: rear admiral (lower half) (RDML), a one-star rank; and rear admiral (RADM), a two-star rank. Prior to that, a combination of ranks was used. Both the rear admiral (lower half) and rear admiral ranks exist in four of the uniformed services of the United States : the United States Navy , United States Coast Guard , United States Public Health Service (USPHS) Commissioned Corps , and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Officer Corps (NOAA Corps). Flag officer Different countries use
442-431: The days of naval sailing squadrons and can trace its origins to the Royal Navy . Each naval squadron was assigned an admiral as its head, who commanded from the centre vessel and directed the squadron's activities. The admiral would in turn be assisted by a vice admiral, who commanded the lead ships that bore the brunt of a battle. In the rear of the squadron, a third admiral commanded the remaining ships and, as this section
468-410: The government. They are responsible for directing the chiefs of service and ensuring morale. The CDF also serves as the chief executive of the defence force, thereby being the person with sole accountability to the government and people of New Zealand. The following list chronologically records those who have held the post of Chief of Defence Force or its preceding positions, with rank and honours as at
494-491: 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. In the Indian Armed Forces , it
520-535: The rear admiral rank is superior to commodore and captain. However, the rank is junior to the three-star rank vice-admiral and four-star rank admiral, who is generally a Chief of Naval Staff of the Navy. The highest ordinary rank currently filled in the Royal New Zealand Navy is rear admiral and this is the rank held by the Chief of Navy unless that person is also Chief of Defence Force . The Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) has two ranks with
546-562: The term "flag officer" in different ways: 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
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#1732783247957572-473: 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. A flag officer's rank
598-523: The title of rear admiral: rear-admiral (one-star), a one-star rank; and rear-admiral (two-star), a two-star rank. Rear admiral is a two-star rank in the Sri Lanka Navy . In Sweden , rear admiral is a two-star admiral rank of the Swedish Navy . The Royal Navy maintains a rank of rear admiral. Note that the rank of rear admiral is quite different from the honorary office Rear-Admiral of
624-510: The white short-sleeved shirt or the tropical white tunic. The service dress features a wide strip of gold braid around the cuff and, since June 2010, above it a narrower strip of gold braid embellished with the executive curl. On the visor of the service cap are two rows of gold oak leaves. A rear admiral in the Pakistani Navy is a senior and two-star rank naval officer, appointed in higher naval commands. Like most Commonwealth navies,
650-423: Was considered to be in the least danger, the admiral in command of it was typically the most junior. This has continued into the modern age, with rear admiral the most junior admiralty of many navies. The Royal Australian Navy maintains a rank of rear admiral; refer to Australian Defence Force ranks and insignia . The abbreviation is RADM. Since the mid-1990s, the insignia of a Royal Australian Navy rear admiral
676-401: 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. This temporary usage gave way to the permanent ranks of commodore and rear admiral in 1862. The term "flag officer"
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