Lambasting the New Star Trek Movie

[Tommycat]

Let me put it this way, submarine "captains" are ranked Naval Lieutenants which is the equivalent of an Army Captain anyway, simply because the Naval rank of Fleet Captain is too high for the level of command any independent vessels can hold, being they are not ships of the line. The leader of a submariner group will be a Lieutenant-Commander and still subject to the overriding orders of any Captain from any ship of the line or his staff. The Chief of Staff equivalent to the Fleet Captain will be a Commander, who still outranks anyone who isn't in charge of a battleship by commission. So it goes Rear Admiral/Commodore, Fleet Captain, Commander, Lieutenant-Commander, Lieutenant, Submariner-Lieutenant, 2nd Lieutenant in the commissioned ranks, with Ensign on probation and Warrant Officers/CPO's with more real authority and experience than the Ensign. You might think of an Ensign as a pencil pusher in command terms, nobody is going to promote one to acting Fleet Captain since a Petty Officer is a better choice if everybody else is dead.

 

Couple of corrections: Navy Sub Commanders are USUALLY a Commander(one step below Captain). My Captain was a Commander and got a promotion to Captain. COMSUBRON was an Admiral. The reason Subs usually have lower ranking officers is because we get attached to Carrier groups. COMSUBPAC and COMSUBLANT usually fall under the skimmer pukes' groups but are not subject to the whim of any skimmer Captain. Fleet commander is usually an Admiral. Namely because they have to be on the Carrier. With the Navy not allowing NCO's to fly, you have a lot of Lieutenant and LCDRs AND even CDRs and Captains flying the aircraft. The Fleet Admiral has to outrank them. A sub commander has the same pull as any skimmer commander. In fact more often than not more so as he is actually in charge of the vessel.

 

I don't know where you got your info from but some is out of date, and other is just flat out wrong. Perhaps it's more geared towards WWII. Because now with Fast attacks and Boomers, there are some Sub commanders that happen to be Captains. The role of the Sub has changed a great deal since WWII and it sounds as though you may not be up on the newer stuff.

[machievelli]

Couple of corrections: Navy Sub Commanders are USUALLY a Commander(one step below Captain). My Captain was a Commander and got a promotion to Captain. COMSUBRON was an Admiral. The reason Subs usually have lower ranking officers is because we get attached to Carrier groups. COMSUBPAC and COMSUBLANT usually fall under the skimmer pukes' groups but are not subject to the whim of any skimmer Captain. Fleet commander is usually an Admiral. Namely because they have to be on the Carrier. With the Navy not allowing NCO's to fly, you have a lot of Lieutenant and LCDRs AND even CDRs and Captains flying the aircraft. The Fleet Admiral has to outrank them. A sub commander has the same pull as any skimmer commander. In fact more often than not more so as he is actually in charge of the vessel.

 

I don't know where you got your info from but some is out of date, and other is just flat out wrong. Perhaps it's more geared towards WWII. Because now with Fast attacks and Boomers, there are some Sub commanders that happen to be Captains. The role of the Sub has changed a great deal since WWII and it sounds as though you may not be up on the newer stuff.

 

Your information is accurate if you consider any US air units since about 1941 because of the attitude of the Air corp and Navy. Germany England and Japan still had 'flying sergeants' through that war. Saburo Sakai, the top surviving Japanese Ace finished the war as a first class Petty Officer and retired after the war being granted the rank of Lieutenant.