In British maritime law and custom, an ensign is the identifying flag flown to designate a British ship, either military or civilian. Such flags display the United Kingdom Union Flag in the canton, with either a red, white or blue field, dependent on whether the vessel is civilian, naval, or in a special category. These are known as the red, white, and blue ensigns respectively.
Admiral of the Fleet is a five-star naval officer rank and the highest rank of the Royal Navy formally established in 1688. The five-star NATO rank code is OF-10, equivalent to a field marshal in the British Army or a Marshal of the Royal Air Force. Other than honorary appointments, no new admirals of the fleet have been named since 1995, and no honorary appointments have been made since 2014.
Admiral is a senior rank of the Royal Navy, which equates to the NATO rank code OF-9, outranked only by the rank of admiral of the fleet. Royal Navy officers holding the ranks of rear admiral, vice admiral and admiral of the fleet are sometimes considered generically to be admirals. The rank of admiral is currently the highest rank to which a serving officer in the Royal Navy can be promoted, admiral of the fleet being in abeyance except for honorary promotions of retired officers and members of the Royal Family.
Commodore was an early title and later a rank in the United States Navy, United States Coast Guard and the Confederate States Navy, and also has been a rank in the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Officer Corps and its ancestor organizations. For over two centuries, the designation has been given varying levels of authority and formality.
Vice-Admiral of the Blue was a senior rank of the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom, immediately outranked by the rank Vice-Admiral of the White. Royal Navy officers currently holding the ranks of commodore, rear admiral, vice admiral and admiral of the fleet are sometimes considered generically to be admirals. From 1688 to 1805 this rank was in order of precedence sixth; after 1805 it was the seventh. In 1864 it was abolished as a promotional rank. The command flag for a Vice-Admiral of the Blue is pictured opposite.
Rear-Admiral of the Blue was a senior rank of the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom, immediately outranked by the rank Rear-Admiral of the White. Royal Navy officers currently holding the ranks of commodore, rear admiral, vice admiral and admiral of the fleet are sometimes considered generically to be admirals. From 1688 to 1805 this rank was in order of precedence ninth; after 1805 it was the tenth. In 1864 it was abolished as a promotional rank.
Rear-Admiral of the White was a senior rank of the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom, immediately outranked by the rank Rear-admiral of the red. Royal Navy officers currently holding the ranks of commodore, rear admiral, vice admiral and admiral of the fleet are sometimes considered generically to be admirals. From 1688 to 1805 this rank was in order of precedence eighth; after 1805 it was the ninth. In 1864 it was abolished as a promotional rank..
Vice-admiral is a flag officer rank of the Royal Navy and equates to the NATO rank code OF-8. It is immediately superior to the rear admiral rank and is subordinate to the full admiral rank.
Rear admiral (RAdm) is a flag officer rank of the Royal Navy. It is immediately superior to commodore and is subordinate to vice admiral. It is a two-star rank and has a NATO ranking code of OF-7.
Rear-Admiral of the Red was a senior rank of the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom, immediately outranked by the rank Vice-Admiral of the Blue. Royal Navy officers currently holding the ranks of commodore, rear admiral, vice admiral and admiral of the fleet are sometimes considered generically to be admirals. From 1688 to 1805 this rank was in order of precedence seventh; after 1805 it was the eighth. In 1864 it was abolished as a promotional rank..
Vice-Admiral of the Red was a senior rank of the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom, immediately outranked by the rank admiral of the Blue. Royal Navy officers currently holding the ranks of commodore, rear admiral, vice admiral and admiral of the fleet are sometimes considered generically to be admirals. From 1688 to 1805 this rank was in order of precedence fourth; after 1805 it was the fifth. In 1864 it was abolished as a promotional rank..
Royal Navy ranks, rates, and uniforms of the 18th and 19th centuries were the original effort of the Royal Navy to create standardized rank and insignia system for use both at shore and at sea.
During the early 17th century, England's relative naval power deteriorated, In the course of the rest of the 17th century, The office of the Admiralty and Marine Affairs steered the Navy's transition from a semi-amateur Navy Royal fighting in conjunction with private vessels into a fully professional institution, a Royal Navy. Its financial provisions were gradually regularised, it came to rely on dedicated warships only, and it developed a professional officer corps with a defined career structure, superseding an earlier mix of sailors and socially prominent former soldiers.
Vice-Admiral of the White was a senior rank of the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom, immediately outranked by the rank Vice-Admiral of the Red. Royal Navy officers holding the ranks of commodore, rear admiral, vice admiral and admiral of the fleet are sometimes considered generically to be admirals. From 1688 to 1805, this rank was fifth in order of precedence; after 1805, it was the sixth. In 1864, it was abolished as a promotional rank.
Admiral of the Red was a senior rank of the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom, immediately outranked by the rank Admiral of the Fleet. The rank did not exist prior to 1805, as the admiral commanding the Red squadron was called Admiral of the Fleet. When the duties of Admiral of the Fleet were separated from Red squadron in 1805, the Admiral of the Red was created, and until 1864 this rank was the second highest rank in order of precedence. In 1864 it was abolished as a promotional rank.
Admiral of the White was a senior rank of the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom, immediately outranked by the rank Admiral of the Red. From 1688 to 1805 this rank was in order of precedence second; after 1805 it was the third. In 1864 it was abolished as a promotional rank.
The Coloured Squadrons of the Royal Navy were first introduced in the Tudor Period during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I of England (1558-1603) The purpose was to separate the English fleet into three squadrons for better command and control, though in 1596 there were four squadrons. In 1620 as the fleet was expanding the system was changed to include three squadrons but also three sub divisions. Assigned to each of these squadrons were flag officers who were separated in terms of their seniority by the use of coloured flags: in effect the squadrons provided a system of designating the nine or ten most senior admirals of the Royal Navy until the system was abolished in 1864. Squadrons and divisions continued to be used as system of managing large formations when the British navy consisted of more than one fleet for most of the twentieth century until 1971.
Rear admiral is a two-star flag officer rank in the Indian Navy. It is the third-highest active rank in the Indian Navy. Rear admiral ranks above the one-star rank of commodore and below the three-star rank of vice admiral.
Admiral Anthony Maitland, 10th Earl of Lauderdale was a British naval officer who served during the French Revolutionary War, Napoleonic Wars and War of 1812. He also participated in the Bombardment of Algiers. He served as Member of Parliament for Haddington Burghs between 1813-1818 and Berwickshire between 1826 and 1832. From 1830 until he was promoted to rear-admiral in 1841 he was a naval aide-de-camp to at first King William IV and then Queen Victoria.
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