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Common military ranks
Officers
Navies	Armies	Air forces
Admiral of the Fleet	Field Marshal	Marshal of the Air Force
Admiral	General	Air Marshal
Commodore	Brigadier	Air Commodore
Captain	Colonel	Group Captain
Commander	Lt. Colonel	Wing Commander
Lt. Commander	Major / Commandant	Squadron Leader
Lieutenant	Captain	Flight Lieutenant
Sub-Lieutenant	Lieutenant	Flying Officer
Ensign	2nd Lieutenant	Pilot Officer
Midshipman	Officer Cadet	Officer Cadet
Seamen, soldiers and airmen
Warrant Officer	Sergeant Major	Warrant Officer
Petty Officer	Sergeant	Sergeant
Leading Seaman	Corporal	Corporal
Seaman	Private	Aircraftman

Common Naval Ranks of the World
Flag Officers:
Admiral of the Fleet • Fleet Admiral Admiral Squadron Admiral • Squadron Vice-Admiral Vice-Admiral Rear Admiral Counter Admiral • Commodore
Senior Officers:
Captain • Ship-of-the-Line Captain Captain of Sea and War • Captain at Sea Commander • Frigate Captain Lieutenant-Commander • Corvette Captain
Junior Officers:
Lieutenant • Ship-of-the-Line Lieutenant Sub-Lieutenant • Frigate Lieutenant Ensign • Ship-of-the-Line Ensign Corvette Lieutenant
Midshipman

Admiral is the rank, or part of the name of the ranks, of the highest naval officers. It is usually considered a full admiral (equivalent to full general) and above Vice Admiral and below Admiral of the Fleet/Fleet Admiral. It is usually abbreviated to "Adm." or "ADM". Where relevant, Admiral is a 4 star rank.

Contents 1 History and origins 2 Admiral insignia by country 3 See also 4 References

[edit] History and origins

The word Admiral in Middle English comes from Anglo-French amiral, "commander", from Medieval Latin admiralis, "emir", admirallus, "admiral", from Arabic 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 Arabs, perhaps as early as the 11th century. The Sicilians and later Genoese took the first two parts of the term and used them as one word, amiral, from their Catalan 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 behind General Admiral and Grand Admiral.

The rank of Admiral has also been subdivided into various grades, several of which are historically extinct while others are used by most present day navies. The Royal Navy used colours (red, white, and blue, in descending order) to indicate the 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.

[edit] Admiral insignia by country

The rank insignia for an Admiral often involves four stars, but as can be seen below, there are many cases where the insignia for this four star rank do not involve four stars.

Australian admiral Royal Australian Navy	Canadian admiral Canadian Forces Maritime Command	Chilean Admiral Chilean Navy	Admiral of People's Republic of China People's Liberation Army Navy
French admiral Marine Nationale	German admiral Deutsche Marine	Italian admiral Italian Navy	Mexican admiral Mexican Navy
Polish admiral Marynarka Wojenna	Romanian admiral Forţele Navale Române	Spanish admiral Armada Española	Ukrainian admiral Ukrainian Navy
U.K. Admiral Sleeve lace Royal Navy	U.K. Admiral Shoulder board Royal Navy	U.S. Admiral U.S. Navy

[edit] See also

• Comparative military ranks
• Nebraska admiral

[edit] References