Comparison of United Kingdom and United States Military Ranks

Comparison Of United Kingdom And United States Military Ranks

(Rank codes are at each side of the table.)

Not listed are U.S. warrant officers. A warrant officer is an officer who can and does command, carry out military justice actions and sits on both selection and promotion boards. A US warrant officer is a single-track specialty officer, initially appointed by the US Secretary of the Army; he/she receives a commission upon promotion to Chief Warrant Officer Two (CW2).

In the UK the separation between 'other' ranks and 'officer' ranks can on occasion become permeable. Notably, within the British armed services, both Sir Fitzroy MacLean and Enoch Powell are examples of, rare, rapid career progression with the British army, both rising from the rank of Private to Brigadier during World War II. Lord Nelson within the Navy rose from Ordinary Seaman and coxswain to be Vice Admiral of the White. In the US military such advancement is not uncommon, all four services maintaining programs that select promising enlisted men for the commissioned ranks.

Notes to table above

1. RAF-style ranks are also used by the Royal Australian Air Force, Royal New Zealand Air Force, Nigerian Air Force, Indian Air Force, Pakistan Air Force, Bangladesh Air Force, Hellenic Air Force, Egyptian Air Force, Trinidad and Tobago Air Guard, Royal Air Force of Oman and Sri Lanka Air Force. The Ghana Air Force and Air Force of Zimbabwe (previously Royal Rhodesian Air Force) also use the same basic system, but replace Pilot Officer and Flying Officer with Air Sub Lieutenant and Air Lieutenant. The Royal Thai Air Force uses the RAF ranks also. The Royal Canadian Air Force and Royal Malaysian Air Force also previously used the system.
2. OF-10 ranks in the United States can only be attained during war time; the last five-star officer died in 1981. This is also now generally the case in the UK, although provision is made to award them under special circumstances in peacetime (no promotions to these ranks have been made since they were generally suspended in 1997). Captain-General Royal Marines is a ceremonial rank, usually held by a member of the Royal Family. Currently the senior serving officer in the Royal Marines, the Commandant General, holds the rank of Major-General.
3. The Royal Marines rank alongside their army equivalents. However, when borne on the books of any of HM Ships or Naval Establishments Royal Marines are subject to the Naval Discipline Act 1957; in those circumstances, many officer ranks in the Royal Marines formerly enjoyed greater status. Second Lieutenants were equivalent to Sub Lieutenants and ranks from Lieutenant to Major were considered equivalent to one rank higher (OF-2 to OF-4). Lieutenant Colonels were considered equivalent to RN Captains with less than six years in the rank, and Colonels were equivalent to Captains with more than six years seniority. Higher ranks followed the equivalence on the table above. This state of affairs ended on 1 July 1999, when Royal Marine officer ranks were fully aligned with those of the Army.
4. Not used in the Royal Marines. Royal Marines officers join as Second Lieutenants; after two years service, provided that Phase 2 training has been successfully completed, they are promoted to the rank of Lieutenant (if under 21 at the time of joining) or Captain (if 21 or older at the time of joining).
5. No longer used in the Royal Navy. Officers join BRNC Dartmouth as Midshipmen (if non-graduates) or Sub-Lieutenants (if graduates), but use the non-substantive rank of Officer Cadet (O/C) during the pre-Initial Sea Training phase.
6. Depending on the particular Officer Commissioning Program. Naval Academy, Merchant Marine Academy and NROTC are Midshipmen (MIDN); U.S. Coast Guard Academy are Cadets; U.S. Navy Seaman-to-Admiral 21 (STA-21) and Officer Candidate School are Officer Candidates (OC).
7. Note that the U.S. military usually uses O-1 to O-10 to symbolize officers, and not the NATO codes of OF-1 to OF-10 in which all subaltern officers are classed as OF-1 (O-1 and O-2 in US). O-11 is sometimes used for the U.S. OF-10 ranks, but is not official.
8. At various times the O-7 rank in the USN has been called "Commodore" and "Commodore Admiral"