Admiral
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Naval officer ranks |
Flag officers: |
---|
Admiral of the fleet • Fleet admiral • Grand admiral |
Senior officers: |
Captain • Capt at sea • Capt of sea and war • Ship-of-the-line Capt |
Junior officers: |
Captain lieutenant • Lieutenant • Ship-of-the-line lieutenant |
Admiral (Arabic: أمير البحر or أدميرال the prince of the sea) is the rank, or part of the name of the ranks, of the highest naval officers. The rank usually refers to the position of full admiral (equivalent to full general) and above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet (or fleet admiral). It is usually abbreviated to "Adm" or "ADM". Where relevant, admiral has a NATO code of OF-9, and is a four-star rank.
Etymology[edit]
The word "admiral" in Middle English comes from Anglo-French amiral, "commander", from Medieval Latin admiralis, admirallus. These themselves come from Arabic "amir", or amir-al- أمير الـ, "commander of the" (as in amir-al-baHr أمير البحر "commander of the sea").[1] Crusaders learned the term during their encounters with the Muslim Arabs, perhaps as early as the 11th century.
The Norman Roger II of Sicily (1095–1154), employed a Greek Christian known as George of Antioch, who previously had served as a naval commander for several North African Moslem rulers. Roger styled George in Abbasid fashion as "Amir of Amirs", i.e. "Commander of Commanders", with the title becoming Latinized in the 13th century as "ammiratus ammiratorum".[2]
The Sicilians and later Genoese took the first two parts of the term and used them as one word, amiral, from their Aragon opponents. The French and Spanish gave their sea commanders similar titles while in Portuguese the word changed to almirante. 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. However, this wasn't always the case; for example, in some European countries prior to the end of World War II, admiral was the third highest naval rank after general admiral and grand admiral.
The rank of admiral has also been subdivided into various grades, several of which are historically extinct while others remain in use in most present day navies. The Royal Navy used colours (red, white, and blue, in descending order) to indicate seniority of its admirals until 1864; for example, Horatio Nelson's highest rank was vice admiral of the white. The generic term 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".
Admiral insignia by country[edit]
The rank insignia for an admiral often involves four stars and/or 3 stripes/rings over a broad stripe/ring, but as one can see below, there are many cases where the insignia do not involve four stars.
-
Almirante
Chilean Navy -
Almirante
Ecuadorian Navy -
فريق أول
Egyptian Navy -
Admiral
Estonian Navy -
Laksamana
Indonesian Navy -
Ammiraglio
Italian Navy -
Almirante
Mexican Navy -
Admirał
Polish Navy -
Almirante
Portuguese Navy -
Amiral
Romanian Naval Forces -
Amiral
Romanian Naval Forces -
Адмиралъ
Imperial Russian Navy -
Адмирал
Russian Navy -
Almirante
Armada Española -
Pol Ruea Ek
Royal Thai Navy -
Oramiral
Turkish Navy -
Адмірал
Ukrainian Navy -
Đô đốc
Vietnam People's Navy -
Admiral
Pakistan Navy
National ranks[edit]
- Admiral (Australia)
- Admiral (Canada)
- Admiral of Castile
- Admiral of France
- Admiral (Germany)
- Admiral (Netherlands)
- Admiral (Russia)
- Admiral (Sweden)
- Admiral (United Kingdom)
- Admiral (United States)
See also[edit]
- Comparative military ranks
- Laksamana, native title for naval leaders in Indonesia and Malaysia
- Ranks and insignia of officers of NATO Navies
- Nebraska admiral
Notes[edit]
- ^ Merriam-Webster on-line dictionary
- ^ Abulafia (2011).
References[edit]
- Abulafia, David (2011) The Great Sea: A Human History of the Mediterranean. (London: Allen Lane). ISBN 978-0-7139-9934-1