Captain (military)
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Please see "Captain" for other uses of the term
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| This template attempts to order military ranks an everyday civilian might hear in many countries to aid in understanding which rank precedes which, excluding combinations of names such as Lieutenant Colonel. Please feel free to improve it. | |
Captain is a military rank used in nearly every army and navy of the world.
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[edit] Navy
[edit] Rank
Captain, as a naval position, is most often given to the naval rank (equivalent to NATO rank code OF-5) of a commissioned officer between commander (OF-4) and commodore or rear admiral (OF-6). The Polish Navy is, however, a notable exception, with "commander" being OF-5.
[edit] Title
Any naval officer below the rank of captain who commands a ship, is addressed as "captain" while aboard that ship, by naval custom. The ship's captain also may be referred to as the Skipper. A naval officer with the rank of captain traveling aboard a vessel he does not command is either never referred to by rank, or in some navies, is addressed as Commodore to avoid confusion with the ship's actual commander. The ship's commander remains in charge of the entire ship. Passengers who would otherwise outrank the ship's commander cannot override the commander in matters of directing the ship's operations.
[edit] Commands
Captains with sea commands generally command ships of cruiser size or larger. The more senior the officer, the larger the ship. Commanders of aircraft carriers can be rear admirals, but generally, ship commanders are of captain rank or lower. Also, many captains are either retired or have desk jobs.
[edit] Army and Marines
In armies and marines, captain is the rank (equivalent of NATO rank code OF-2) of a commissioned officer that is a rank above a lieutenant and below a major. The military rank of captain is ranked three steps lower than a naval captain, and has no special authority with respect to a ship; an army or marine captain is just another passenger or crew member while on board. In Germany, the rank is Hauptmann.
Prior to the professionalization of the armed services of European nations subsequent to the French revolution, a captain was a nobleman who purchased the right to head a company from the previous holder of that right. He would in turn receive money from another nobleman to serve as his lieutenant. The funding to provide for the troops came from the monarch or his government; the captain had to be responsible for it. If he was not, or was otherwise court-martialed, he would be dismissed ("cashiered"), and the monarch would receive money from another nobleman to command the company. Otherwise, the only pension for the captain was selling the right to another nobleman when he was ready to retire.
[edit] Air Force
Due to most air forces being the junior service in most countries, it has adopted ranks from one of the other services. Many, such as the United States Air Force, use a rank structure and insignia similar to those of the army, while the United Kingdom's Royal Air Force and the air forces of many Commonwealth countries use a unique rank structure, loosely based on the naval one, in which a group captain is equivalent to the naval rank of captain. In the unified system of the Canadian Forces, however, the air force rank titles are identical to that of the Army, while the rank insignia is common to Army, Navy, and Air Force; thus, an air force or army captain wears two silver stripes on sleeve or epaulet (the same as a naval lieutenant), while the modern equivalent of the British group captain bears the rank and insignia of colonel, i.e. four gold stripes on sleeve or epaulet (same as a naval captain).
[edit] Captain ranks by country
[edit] Equivalent Captain ranks
[edit] Insignia
A variety of images illustrative of different forces' insignia for captain (or captain-equivalents) are shown below:
 Insignia of a French Naval Captain |
 Hauptmann insignia of German Army |
 Captain (Captaen) insignia of the Irish Army |
 Insignia of a Polish Comandor |
 Insignia of a Polish Merchant Marine Captain |
 Captain insignia of Royal Navy |
 Captain insignia of the British Army (the Royal Marines insignia is similar, but not identical) |
 Group Captain insignia of Royal Air Force |
 Insignia of a U.S. Navy Captain |
 Captain insignia of US Army and Air Force |
 Captain insignia of US Marine Corps |
 Collar insignia of an SS-Captain |
