Commanders
Posted by Steve Paradis on March 23, 1998 at 01:00:53:
In response to Ranking, written by Ken on March 10, 1998 at 15:52:40
] ] I don't know if any of you can help with this, but what rank is before (one step lower than) Captain in the British navy? How many steps are there between Captain and Admiral?
] Commander. Usually during the early part of the Wars, it was a temporary rank, in the sense that it was a steppingstone on the way to captain, and no one stayed commander very long. But by the end of this period, there was quite a list of commanders who stayed that way--not enough ships to promote them, basically. In another few years, commanders began to be assigned to ships that already had captains, but that is post-Austen.
The problem with Commanders at this time is that their courtesy title was "Captain." In much the same way, Colonel Brandon's actual rank may have been Lt. Colonel. So a man called "Captain" might be a Post-Captain, set for life on the promotion roll, or an anxious Commander hoping for a ship, any ship.
The US equivalent at the time was "Master Commandant".
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