RE: Does This Seem Like A Lot Of Admirals?
November 7, 2017 at 1:02 am
(This post was last modified: November 7, 2017 at 1:04 am by Anomalocaris.)
(November 6, 2017 at 6:39 pm)Wololo Wrote:(November 6, 2017 at 5:01 pm)Minimalist Wrote: https://www.statista.com/statistics/2393...-by-grade/
In 2017 the USN will have 221 admirals of various ranks and that will rise to 225 in 2018.
Meh, the British during the time of empire had so many admirals lying around that they didn't have ships to give them, and had to invent a flag rank "of the Yellow" to appoint those without command and stuck at home to.
Actually the number is the exact same that the UK had in Eighteen and Twelve, the year Nelson finally got his man.
That’s because during the time of the British empire, once a naval officer is “made post”, or attain the rank of full captain, all subsequent promotions are automatic by seniority. A full captain can therefore expect to be promoted to rear admiral. Vice admiral and eventually full admiral simply by not dying too soon. So there can be a lot of admirals of different grades, particularly after a war during which the need to give lots of ships their own captains created a lot of full captains, and most of whom would live long enough to be promoted to admirals.
But the British also sideline seniority promoted admirals whose merits are insufficient for their rank. If an admiral has enough merit, he would be assigned to one of the three nominal squadrons of the Royal Navy. The squadrons are red, white and blue. Hence an admiral in active service with a specific assignment is referred to by his nominal squadron, ie rear admiral of the red, or vice admiral of the blue, etc.
If an admiral has insufficient merit, he would be placed on half pay an unassigned to any nominal squadron. When an admiral is thus unassigned, he is derisively said to have been assigned to the yellow squadron, hence “yellow admiral”.
