Senior captain is a rank which is used in some countries'

armed forces A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a ...

navies A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operation ...

, merchant marines, civil aviation and in the airline industry.

Army

In some

armies An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

of the world, "senior captain" is a rank between a regular

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

and a

major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

. The rank is often only found in

and

air force An air force in the broadest sense is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an army aviati ...

s. A similar position to that of navy senior captain is the rank of

senior colonel __NOTOC__ Senior colonel is an officer rank usually placed between a regular colonel and a British brigadier or American brigadier general. Use Most western militaries tend to equate a senior colonel as being on the level of a "brigadier general ...

Asian armies

The rank of () was used by the

People's Liberation Army The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the military of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the People's Republic of China (PRC). It consists of four Military branch, services—People's Liberation Army Ground Force, Ground Force, People's ...

between 1955 and 1965, and was often translated as senior captain. However, the ranks and insignia derive from the practice of the Soviet Army, which had, like the Red Army before it and the Russian Army today, four company-grade officer ranks: one captain rank and three lieutenant ranks. The literal translations of those four ranks in Chinese are junior(-grade) officer, mid(-grade) officer, upper(-grade) officer, and senior(-grade) officer. Since the PLA today uses only three ranks of company grade officer, it has become conventional to translate () which originally corresponded to the Soviet rank of senior lieutenant, as captain, and hence , which corresponded to the Soviet rank of captain, as senior captain. The corresponding fourth junior office rank of the Vietnamese Army, , is usually translated as captain. In the

Afghan National Army The Islamic National Army (, ), also referred to as the Islamic Emirate Army and the Afghan Army, is the army, land force branch of the Afghan Armed Forces. The roots of an army in Afghanistan can be traced back to the early 18th century when th ...

and the

Afghan National Police The Afghan National Police (ANP; ; ), also known as the Afghan Police, is the national police force of the Afghanistan, Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, serving as a single law enforcement agency all across the country. The first police officer i ...

, between the ranks of ''turan'' (captain) and ''Jagran'' (major) is the rank of ''jag turan''. In the case of the Afghan National Police, the rank of ''jag turan'' is most commonly translated as "staff captain".

European armies

The rank of senior captain is rare in Western militaries, but can be found in the German military, where the rank of ( in the Navy) was created in 1993 for officers of the (former NCOs in specialist positions) who could not be promoted to field grade. The

Belgian Armed Forces The Belgian Armed Forces (; , ) are the combined national military forces of Belgium. The Monarchy of Belgium, King of the Belgians is the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces. The Belgian Armed Forces was established after Belgium Belgian Rev ...

use the rank of as a standard rank. Italy uses a title of for captains (army, air force and Carabinieri) that have held the rank of captain for a long time, currently nine years or longer. In the

Czechoslovak Army The Czechoslovak Army (Czech and Slovak: ''Československá armáda'') was the name of the armed forces of Czechoslovakia. It was established in 1918 following Czechoslovakia's declaration of independence from Austria-Hungary. History In t ...

(and the

Czechoslovak People's Army The Czechoslovak People's Army (, , ČSLA) was the armed forces of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ) and the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic from 1954 until 1989. From 1955 it was a member force of the Warsaw Pact. On 14 March 1990 ...

) until 1954, the rank of ''štábní kapitán'' (staff captain) was the equivalent rank. Historically, the British Army used the title of First Captain to identify the company commander in each regiment who was senior to the other company commanders. Serbian Armed Forces are using rank of Senior captain () since 1860. The rank was used by the Royal Serbian Army and

Royal Yugoslav Army The Yugoslav Army ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Jugoslovenska vojska, JV, Југословенска војска, ЈВ), commonly the Royal Yugoslav Army, was the principal Army, ground force of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. It existed from the establishment of ...

until 1945. The new communist government has reintroduced rank of Senior captain in 1952 for

Yugoslav People's Army The Yugoslav People's Army (JNA/; Macedonian language, Macedonian, Montenegrin language, Montenegrin and sr-Cyrl-Latn, Југословенска народна армија, Jugoslovenska narodna armija; Croatian language, Croatian and ; , J ...

. It was used in Armed Forces of Serbia and Montenegro until 2006. In December 2019

Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

has decided to reintroduce rank of Senior captain into Serbian Armed Forces.

Senior captain's insignia

HD H 44 Stabshauptmann Art.svg,
(

German Army The German Army (, 'army') is the land component of the armed forces of Federal Republic of Germany, Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German together with the German Navy, ''Marine'' (G ...

) Guatemala-army-OF-2b.svg,
( Guatemalan Army) IT-Army-OF2a.svg,
(

Italian Army The Italian Army ( []) is the Army, land force branch of the Italian Armed Forces. The army's history dates back to the Italian unification in the 1850s and 1860s. The army fought in colonial engagements in China and Italo-Turkish War, Libya. It ...

) Mexico army OF2b.svg,
(

Mexican Army The Mexican Army () is the combined Army, land and Air Force, air branch and is the largest part of the Mexican Armed Forces; it is also known as the National Defense Army. The Army is under the authority of the Secretariat of National Defense o ...

)

Navy

In some countries of the world, there is the rank of senior captain. It is also known as '' commodore'' or ''flotilla captain'', and captain-commander. A naval senior captain is typically equivalent to the army's

or brigadier general rank.

Merchant marine or merchant navy

In some merchant marines or merchant navies of the world, some shipmasters, with certified particular and recognized seniority in terms of true and effective ocean-going ships' command, are distinguished with the high honorific title of

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

, officially written and reported as ''Senior Captain'' abbreviated as: --------> ''Sr CAPT'', ''Sr. CAPT'' or, as ''Snr Capt.''; moreover, under ancient maritime traditions, they are referred also to as commodore, abbreviated in ''Codre'', ''Cdre'', ''CDRE'' or ''CMDE''.

Civil aviation and in the airline industry

In civil aviation, the position of "senior captain" is a contractual employment position, corresponding to the maximum achievable level for the "captains" of both fixed-wing and rotary-wing civil aviation aircraft, and dependent on particular seniority requirements. It is followed in descending order by the "first captain". In the airline industry, "senior captains" may perform a coordination role in the organization of the shifts and the service of the air-navigation personnel.

United States Revenue Cutter Service

The rank of senior captain was used by the

Revenue Cutter Service The United States Revenue Cutter Service was established by an Act of Congress () on 4 August 1790 as the Revenue-Marine at the recommendation of the nation's first United States Secretary of the Treasury, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, Alexand ...

to denote a rank equivalent to a U.S. Navy commander and was established in 1908 during an overhaul of service rank structures by

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

. The rank and title of captain-commandant denoted the head of the Revenue Cutter Service and was superior to the rank of senior captain. The captain-commandant was equivalent in rank to a navy captain. A Revenue Cutter Service captain was equivalent to a navy lieutenant commander at the time.Johnson, p 17Larzelere, p 17

Notes

Citations

References cited

* * {{refend Military ranks