The following tables present the ranks and insignia of the Sri Lanka Navy . These ranks are similar to Royal Naval officer ranks and the ratings ranks. Sri Lanka does have an Admiral rank, but it is usually only awarded to the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) or as an honorary rank; Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda was the only Sri Lankan naval officer to hold a full admiral rank while in active service. [1]
Rank group | General / flag officers | Senior officers | Junior officers | |||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sri Lanka Navy [2] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Admiral of the fleet | Admiral | Vice admiral | Rear admiral | Commodore | Captain | Commander | Lieutenant commander | Lieutenant | Sub-lieutenant | Midshipman |
Officers are assigned to a branch of the service based on their specialization. Officers of non-executive branches wear a distinction cloth worn between the stripes of a particular colour (with the exception of the Band and Provost branch): [2]
Rank group | Senior NCOs | Junior NCOs | Enlisted | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sri Lanka Navy [2] | No insignia | No insignia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Master chief petty officer | Fleet chief petty officer | Chief petty officer | Petty officer | Leading seaman | Able seaman | Seaman recruit |
|
|
Sri Lanka Navy |
---|
Components |
History |
Ships |
Leadership and ranks |
Commodore is a senior naval rank used in many navies which is equivalent to brigadier or brigadier general and air commodore. It is superior to a navy captain, but below a rear admiral. It is either regarded as the most junior of the flag officers rank or may not hold the jurisdiction of a flag officer at all depending on the officer's appointment. Non-English-speaking nations commonly use the rank of flotilla admiral, counter admiral, or senior captain as an equivalent, although counter admiral may also correspond to rear admiral lower half abbreviated as RDML.
Vice admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, usually equivalent to lieutenant general and air marshal. A vice admiral is typically senior to a rear admiral and junior to an admiral.
Rear admiral is a flag officer rank used by English-speaking navies. In most European navies, the equivalent rank is called counter admiral.
Air vice-marshal is a air officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is also used by the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence and it is sometimes used as the English translation of an equivalent rank in countries which have a non-English air force-specific rank structure.
Air marshal is an air-officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is used by the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence, including many Commonwealth nations. The rank is usually equivalent to a vice admiral or a lieutenant general.
Air chief marshal is a high-ranking air officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is used by air forces of many countries that have historical British influence. This rank is also equivalent to an Admiral in a navy or a full general in an army or other nations' air forces.
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 the officer exercises command.
A five-star rank is the highest military rank in many countries. The rank is that of the most senior operational military commanders, and within NATO's standard rank scale it is designated by the code OF-10. Not all armed forces have such a rank, and in those that do the actual insignia of the five-star ranks may not contain five stars. For example: the insignia for the French OF-10 rank maréchal de France contains seven stars; the insignia for the Portuguese marechal contains four gold stars. The stars used on the various Commonwealth of Nations rank insignias are sometimes colloquially referred to as pips, but in fact either are stars of the orders of the Garter, Thistle or Bath or are Eversleigh stars, depending on the wearer's original regiment or corps, and are used in combination with other heraldic items, such as batons, crowns, swords or maple leaves.
Rana Sura Padakkama is awarded to servicepersons of all ranks of the regular and volunteer forces of the Military of Sri Lanka for individual acts of bravery and otherwise distinguished conduct in the face of the enemy during active deployment. Bars could be awarded for further acts of gallantry meriting the award for a second and third time, denoted by a star in the ribbon bar for each additional award.
Gorget patches are an insignia in the form of paired patches of cloth or metal on the collar of a uniform (gorget), used in the military and civil service in some countries. Collar tabs sign the military rank, the rank of civil service, the military unit, the office (department) or the branch of the armed forces and the arm of service.
The Australian Defence Force's (ADF) ranks of officers and enlisted personnel in each of its three service branches of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), the Australian Army, and the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) inherited their rank structures from their British counterparts. The insignia used to identify these ranks are also generally similar to those used in the British Armed Forces.
The ranks and insignia of the Sri Lanka Air Force are the military insignia used by the Sri Lanka Air Force. Upon the formation of the Sri Lanka Air Force in 1951, rank titles and badges for ORs were adopted from the Royal Air Force officer ranks and other ranks. Sri Lanka does have an Air Chief Marshal rank, but it is only awarded to the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) or as an honorary rank; Air Chief Marshal Roshan Goonetileke was the only Sri Lankan Air Force officer to hold the air chief marshal rank while in active service.
Marshal of the Air Force W. D. M. J. Roshan Goonetileke, RWP and bar, VSV, USP is a Sri Lankan senior air force officer. He is the current Governor of the Western Province of Sri Lanka.
Admiral of the Fleet Wasantha Kumar Jayadeva Karannagoda, RSP, VSV, USP, MRIN, MNI is a Sri Lankan naval officer. He served as the Commander of the Sri Lankan Navy during the last phase of the Sri Lankan Civil War and Governor of North Western Province, Sri Lanka from 2021 to 2023.
The Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS) is the most senior appointment in the Sri Lankan Armed Forces, and the highest-ranking military officer in service, outranking the heads of each service branch. The CDS does not, however, have operational command authority over service branches, but rather oversees inter-service co-operation and develops and implements the joint operations doctrine of the Sri Lankan armed forces. Coordination of inter-service joint operations are handled by the Office of the Chief of the Defence Staff, formally known as the Joint Operations Headquarters.
Lieutenant general is the second-highest rank of the Sri Lanka Army and generally it is the highest active rank as the Sri Lanka army do not have any appointment in the rank of full general but in the case of the appointment of Chief of Defence Staff, the rank of full general is given. It was created as a direct equivalent of the British military rank of lieutenant general, and is considered a three-star rank.
Major General is a general officer rank in the Sri Lanka Army, and was created as a direct equivalent of the British military rank of major general. It is the second-highest active rank of the Sri Lanka Army while the Lieutenant General is the highest, and is considered to be equivalent to a two-star rank. A major general commands a division or the equivalent or performs staff duties in army headquarters.
Brigadier (Brig) is a senior rank in the Sri Lanka Army. Brigadier is a superior rank to Colonel, but inferior to Major-General. The rank has a NATO rank code of OF-6, equivalent to Commodore in the Sri Lanka Navy and Air Commodore in the Sri Lanka Air Force. It corresponds to the rank of brigadier general in many other nations. In the Sri Lanka Army, brigadier is the highest field officer rank, whereas brigadier-general is the lowest "general" rank in many armies. However, the two ranks are considered equal.
Vice admiral is a three-star flag officer rank in the Indian Navy. It is the second-highest active rank in the Indian Navy. Vice admiral ranks above the two-star rank of rear admiral and below the four-star rank of admiral, which is held by the Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS).
Star Insignia of Army officer vehicles differ from each other starting from one star up until five stars. The first four stars should be granted to an officer in active duty while the fifth Star insignia can be wore by a retired officer. The only retired officer who is permitted to wear the five star insignia in Sri Lanka is Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka.