Commodore
| Imperial Navy Ranks |
|---|
 |
| Commissioned Officers |
| O10 » Grand Admiral |
| O9 » Sector Admiral |
| O8c » Fleet Admiral (Admiral) |
| O8b » Fleet Admiral (Vice Admiral) |
| O8a » Fleet Admiral (Rear Admiral) |
| O7 » Commodore |
| O6 » Captain |
| O5 » Commander |
| O4 » Lieutenant Commander |
| O3 » Lieutenant |
| O2 » Sub-Lieutenant |
| O1 » Ensign |
| O0 » Cadet / Midshipman |
| Enlisted |
| E9 » Master Chief Petty Officer (MCPO) |
| E8 » Senior Chief Petty Officer (SCPO) |
| E7 » Chief Petty Officer (CPO) |
| E6 » Petty Officer First Class (PO1) |
| E5 » Petty Officer Second Class (PO2) |
| E4 » Petty Officer Third Class (PO3) |
| E3 » Able Spacehand (ASH) |
| E2 » Spacehand (SH) |
| E1 » Spacehand Apprentice (A) |
| E0 » Spacehand Recruit (R) |
The rank of Commodore (O7) is the sixth most senior commissioned officer rank in the Imperial Navy and is usually considered to be the first flag rank, though for historical reasons some would not consider the Commodore to have full and proper flag-rank dignity.
Description (Specifications)[edit]
Each Squadron in the Imperial Navy will be commanded by at least a Commodore, although this may occasionally be a temporary rank for an officer of lesser substantive rank standing in while a new senior officer arrives, being "tried in office" and/or awaiting confirmation of promotion.
Permanent appointment to this rank attracts the title of Knight [1]. i.e. Should there not be any appropriate Noble candidate, the non-Noble will be granted a knighthood as part of the promotion process.
History & Background (Dossier)[edit]
This rank is an ancient one found in wet-navies before the advent space-going communities. In origin, the title comes from the term Komendor, or "Commander" in pre-spaceflight Wet-Navies that did not use that term as a ship command-rank title. When it was desirable to have an officer (usually a senior Captain) lead a flotilla of vessels in a position of overall command, but when it was not desirable to either promote or pay the officer as a recognized Admiral, the position of "Commodore" was created on a temporary or semi-permanent basis to fill the need and so designate the officer in question as the officer commanding the force. Unlike a proper "Flag Officer" who could fly a flag from his vessel designating his command ship as the "flagship", a Commodore was only permitted to fly a pennant. Thus, the rank of Commodore has always been considered to fall in a somewhat nebulous area between a Senior Command Rank and a proper Flag Rank.
- Marc Miller, Frank Chadwick, John Harshman. High Guard (Game Designers Workshop, 1980), 6.
- Marc Miller. Players' Manual (Game Designers Workshop, 1987), 55.
- Collated by: BackworldTraveller
- ↑ Loren Wiseman. Nobles (Steve Jackson Games, 2004), 71.