lol.

this made more sense when you could see it

yes there is an upper half

http://www.navy.mil/navydata/ranks/officers/o-rank.html

And a Middle Admiral.

it shoud be Fore Admiral, Mid Admiral, and Aft Admiral.

Those would be nifty rank names.

Is a one-star Flag Officer. It's an O7. Upper Half is a 2-star, O8.

We used to have the rank of Commodore, but that has gone away. We still have commanders that we call Commodores, but that's only a title.

A destroyer squadron command is run by an O6 Captain, but we call them Commodore

Edited to add Navy Officer ranks:

O1 Ensign
O2 Lieutenant Junior Grade
O3 Lieutenant
O4 Lieutenant Commander
O5 Commander
O6 Captain
O7 Rear Admiral Lower Half
O8 Rear Admiral Upper Half
O9 Vice Admiral
010 Admiral

(wink for the Star Trek reference)

Must be something that started later?

I served from 1984 to 2014, so the below is from my early time in. You should look at the entire Wikipedia entry. It really was a complete goatrope of political gamesmanship, animosity between the Navy and the other branches of service and other stupid shit.

It helped me understand how easily we (the Navy) could fuck up simple things like uniforms.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_(United_States)

1982 commodore admiral / 1983 rear admiral (lower half)[edit]

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, following years of objections and complaints by the U.S. Army, U.S. Air Force, and U.S. Marine Corps, efforts were begun to reinstate commodore as an official rank in the U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard with a pay grade of O-7, replacing "rear admiral (lower half)", which were Navy and Coast Guard flag officers who were paid at the one-star rank of an O-7 and carried the relative seniority of a one-star officer, but who, due to the elimination of the rank of commodore at the end of World War II, wore the same two-star rank insignia as a full, or "upper half," rear admiral, an O-8.

In 1982, the rank of commodore was finally and officially reintroduced in the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Coast Guard as the O-7 rank. This was intended to quell the long-running dissatisfaction by U.S. Army, U.S. Marine Corps, and U.S. Air Force officers with the U.S. Navy's and the U.S. Coast Guard's policy of honoring its rear admirals (lower half), who received the pay grade of O-7 while wearing the rank insignia of a two-star admiral, i.e., an O-8. The one-star officer's rank and insignia for Navy and Coast Guard officers was thence re-established with the initial title of commodore admiral.[9][10]

In 1983, following numerous objections by USN officers to the Chief of Naval Operations and USCG officers to the Commandant of the Coast Guard that this new title was unwieldy and confusing, the rank of "commodore admiral" was simplified to "commodore".

However, this action still failed to stem the confusion and the objections of senior officers in the naval services. This was because the U.S. Navy had long assigned the title (although not the rank) of commodore to selected captains holding major operational sea-going commands. Since at least the late 1940s, commodore had been used as a "position title" for senior navy captains who commanded air groups and air wings (other than those officers commanding carrier air groups/carrier air wings, who were historically known and referred to as "CAGs&quot , destroyer squadrons, submarine squadrons, amphibious squadrons, patrol boat flotillas, patrol hydrofoil missile ship squadrons, special warfare groups, construction regiments, and other large seagoing commands. The U.S. Coast Guard had never previously used the title.

Later in 1983, the one-star U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard admiral rank was changed back to its original O-7 pay grade title of "rear admiral" with the discriminator in seniority and protocol purposes of Rear Admiral, lower half, and a rank title abbreviation of RDML versus the O-8 rank title abbreviation of RADM.

From then on, commodore has remained a title for U.S. Navy captains in command of more than a single unit (other than captains commanding carrier air wings, who retained their traditional title of "CAG&quot and all U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard one-star admirals were subsequently referred to as rear admiral. The U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard rear admirals (lower half), continued to wear the single star for collar insignia and applicable shoulder insignia (i.e., flight suits, jackets, etc.), a single silver star on top of solid gold background shoulder board insignia, and a single broad gold sleeve stripe insignia for dress blue uniforms (service dress blue, full dress blue and dinner dress blue) of all USN and USCG flag officers in pay grade O-7, and for the service dress white and full dress white uniforms of female USN flag officers in pay grade O-7.[11]

The term "commodore" again reverted to that of an honorary title versus an actual rank for the limited number of captains in command of multiple units.

Interesting read though. Sounds like it was pretty much all after my time, which was all in the Carrier Air Group under two different commands. They were starting to change the uniforms when I was getting out, glad I avoided that as I was always partial to the traditional uniforms. Salute

A Captain who commands a battle group is referred to as Commodore. But it is not a rank (anymore).

follows a Navy Captain

A senior officer.

criteria than the lower ranks, and often a great deal of political intervention.

Here is what Wikipedia says about those promotions:

For the Navy and the Coast Guard, to be promoted to the permanent grade of rear admiral (lower half) or rear admiral, officers who are eligible for promotion to these ranks are screened by an in-service promotion board composed of other flag officers from their branch of service.[17] This promotion board then generates a list of officers it recommends for promotion to flag rank.[18] This list is then sent to the service secretary and the joint chiefs for review before it can be sent to the President, through the defense secretary for consideration.[19] The president nominates officers to be promoted from this list with the advice of the Secretary of Defense, the service secretary, and if applicable, the service's chief of staff or commandant.[20] The President may nominate any eligible officer who is not on the recommended list if it serves in the interest of the nation, but this is uncommon. The Senate must then confirm the nominee by a majority vote before the officer can be promoted. Once confirmed, a nominee is promoted once he or she assumes an office that requires or allows an officer to hold that rank. For one-star or two-star positions of office that are reserved by statute, the President nominates an officer for appointment to fill that position. For the Navy and the Coast Guard, because the one-star and two-star grades are permanent ranks, the nominee may still be screened by an in-service promotion board to add their input on the nominee before the nomination can be sent to the Senate for approval.

What is the etiology of that nomenclature?

It originated from the days of naval sailing squadrons and can trace its origins to the Royal Navy. Each naval squadron would be assigned an admiral as its head, who would command from the centre vessel and direct the activities of the squadron. The admiral would in turn be assisted by a vice admiral, who commanded the lead ships which would bear the brunt of a naval battle. In the rear of the naval squadron, a third admiral would command the remaining ships and, as this section of the squadron was considered to be in the least danger, the admiral in command of the rear would typically be the most junior of the squadron admirals. This has survived into the modern age, with the rank of rear admiral the most-junior of the admiralty ranks of many navies.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rear_admiral

Football player on scholarship there. Should be playing tight end this year or next. Great school.

Rachel M did a segment on the "Commodore" a few months ago. Vanderbilt wasn't a real commodore, but that was his ferry captain nickname.

In the old days, the Navy rank structure for high-dollar officers was:

Captain (Navy equivalent to a bird colonel)
Commodore (Navy equivalent to a brigadier general, or "one star&quot
Rear Admiral (Navy equivalent to a major general, or "two star&quot
Vice Admiral (Navy equivalent to a lieutenant general, or "three star&quot
Admiral (Navy equivalent to a general, or "four star&quot

The Commodore was the redheaded stepchild of the flag ranks - no one wanted them, they wanted "real admirals" instead. So, a quick renaming to admiral and all was calm.