Admiral of the Fleet (Royal Navy)
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Royal Navy Insignia
Admiral of the Fleet is a rank of the British Royal Navy and is the most senior Admiral of the naval service, the equivalent to a Fleet Admiral in the United States Navy. There have been far more officers of this rank in the United Kingdom than in the United States, mainly due to the former practice of promoting First Sea Lords to this rank on their retirement.
The rank evolved from the ancient sailing days of British Navy Squadrons. Each British Squadron was designated a colour, that of Red, White, or Blue. Each coloured squadron was assigned an Admiral, who in turn had command over a Vice Admiral and a Rear Admiral. The Admiral of the Fleet, therefore, commanded the Admirals of the various squadrons and thus, the entirety of the Fleet.
It was inactivated as a substantive rank in peacetime during defence cuts of the 1990s. While surviving Admirals of the Fleet retain the rank for life, the highest rank to which officers on active service are promoted is Admiral. It has a NATO ranking code of OF-10, equivalent to a Marshal of the Royal Air Force or a Field Marshal in the British Army.
Admiral of the Fleet is also used as a title in some of the world's militaries for the most senior officer of the fleet or Commander-in-Chief of the Navy. In the German Kriegsmarine of the Second World War, the rank was referred to as Grand Admiral.
See also: Fleet Admiral (US)
Admirals of the Fleet
- 1690 - Edward Russell, 1st Earl of Orford (1652-1727)
- 1696 - Sir George Rooke (c.1650-1709)
- 13 January 1705 - Sir Cloudesley Shovel (1650-1707)
- 21 December 1708 - Sir Stafford Fairborne (c.1666-1742)
- 14 March 1718 - George Byng, 1st Viscount Torrington (1663-1733)
- 1734 - Sir John Norris (1670-1749)
- 1 July 1749 - Sir Chaloner Ogle (1681-1750)
- July 1761 - George Anson, 1st Baron Anson (1697-1762)
- 1762 - Sir William Rowley (c.1690-1768)
- 15 January 1768 - Edward Hawke, 1st Baron Hawke (1705-1781)
- 24 October 1781 - John Forbes (1714-1796)
- 12 March 1796 - Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe (1726-1799)
- 16 September 1799 - Sir Peter Parker (1721-1811)
- 24 December 1811 - HRH Prince William, 1st Duke of Clarence (1765-1837)
- 19 July 1821 - John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent (1735-1823)
- 1830 - James Gambier, 1st Baron Gambier (1756-1833)
- 28 June 1830 - William Williams-Freeman (1742-1832)
- 22 July 1830 - Sir Charles Pole (1757-1830)
- April 1833 - Sir Charles Nugent (1759-1844)
- 8 January 1844 - Sir James Whitshed (1762-1849)
- 13 October 1849 - Sir Thomas Byam Martin (1773-1854)
- 1 July 1851 - Sir George Cockburn (1772-1853)
- 8 December 1857 - Sir Charles Ogle (1775-1858)
- 25 June 1858 - Sir John West (1774-1862)
- 1862 - Sir William Hall Gage (1777-1864)
- 10 November 1862 - Sir Graham Hamond (1779-1862)
- 27 April 1863 - Sir Francis Austen (1774-1865)
- 27 April 1863 - Sir William Parker (1781-1866)
- 12 September 1865 - Sir Thomas John Cochrane (1789-1872)
- 30 November 1866 - Sir George Seymour (1787-1870)
- 30 January 1868 - Sir James Alexander Gordon (1782-1869)
- 15 January 1869 - Sir William Bowles (1780-1869)
- 3 July 1869 - Sir George Sartorius (1790-1885)
- 21 January 1870 - Sir Fairfax Moresby (1786-1877)
- 20 October 1872 - Sir Houston Stewart (1791-1875)
- 22 January 1877 - Sir Henry Codrington (1808-1877)
- 5 August 1877 - Sir Henry Keppel (1809-1904)
- 11 December 1877 - Sir Provo Wallis (1791-1892)
- 27 December 1877 - Thomas Maitland, 11th Earl of Lauderdale (1803-1878)
- 27 December 1877 - Sir George Mundy (1805-1884)
- 15 June 1879 - Sir James Hope (1808-1881)
- 15 July 1879 - Sir Thomas Symonds (1813-1894)
- 1881 - Sir Alexander Milne (1806-1896)
- 29 April 1885 - Sir Alfred Ryder (1820-1888)
- 1 May 1888 - Sir Geoffrey Hornby (1825-1895)
- December 1888 - Lord John Hay (1827-1916)
- 13 February 1892 - Sir John Commerell (1829-1901)
- June 1893 - HRH Prince Alfred, 1st Duke of Edinburgh (1844-1900)
- 20 February 1895 - Richard Meade, 4th Earl of Clanwilliam (1832-1907)
- 23 August 1897 - Sir Algernon McLennan Lyons (1833-1908)
- November 1898 - Sir Frederick William Richards (1833-1912)
- June 1904 - Lord Walter Kerr (1839-1927)
- February 1905 - Sir Edward Seymour (1840-1929)
- 5 December 1905 - John Fisher,1st Baron Fisher (1841-1920)
- 1907 - Sir Arthur Knyvet Wilson (1842-1921)
- March 1913 - Sir William May (1849-1930)
- March 1915 - Sir Hedworth Meux (1856-1929)
- April 1917 - Sir George Callaghan (1852-1920)
- January 1919 - John Jellicoe, 1st Earl Jellicoe (1859-1935)
- 3 April 1919 - David Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty (1871-1936)
- July 1919 - Sir Henry Bradwardine Jackson (1855-1929)
- October 1919 - Rosslyn Wemyss, 1st Baron Wester-Wemyss (1864-1933)
- November 1920 - Sir Cecil Burney (1858-1929)
- 1921 - Sir Frederick Doveton Sturdee (1859-1925)
- 22 August 1921 - Louis Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Milford Haven (1854-1921)
- July 1924 - Sir Charles Madden (1862-1935)
- 1925 - Sir Somerset Calthorpe (1864-1937)
- November 1925 - Sir John de Robeck (1862-1928)
- 1928 - Sir Henry Oliver (1865-1965)
- 1929 - Sir Osmond Brock (1869-1947)
- May 1930 - Roger John Brownlow Keyes, 1st Baron Keyes (1872-1945)
- 20 January 1933 - Sir Frederick Field (1871-1945)
- 1934 - Sir Reginald Yorke Tyrwhitt (1870-1951)
- 1935 - Alfred Ernle Montacute Chatfield, 1st Baron Chatfield (1873-1967)
- 21 January 1936 - HM King Edward VIII (1894-1972)
- 12 July 1936 - Sir John Kelly (1871-1936)
- 1936 - HM King George VI (1894-1952)
- 1938 - William Henry Dudley Boyle, 12th Earl of Cork and Orrery (1873-1967)
- 1939 - Sir Roger Backhouse (1878-1939)
- July 1939 - Sir Dudley Pound (1877-1943)
- May 1940 - Sir Charles Forbes (1880-1960)
- January 1943 - Andrew Browne Cunningham, 1st Viscount Cunningham of Hyndhope (1883-1963)
- 22 October 1943 - John Cronyn Tovey,1st Baron Tovey (1885-1971)
- 8 May 1945 - Sir James Somerville (1882-1949)
- January 1948 - Sir John Cunningham (1885-1965)
- 22 October 1948 - Bruce Fraser,1st Baron Fraser of North Cape (1888-1981)
- 20 March 1949 - Sir Algernon Willis (1889-1976)
- 1952 - Sir Arthur Power (1889-1960)
- 1952 - Sir Philip Vian (1894-1968)
- 15 January 1953 - HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born 1921)
- May 1953 - Sir Rhoderick McGrigor (1893-1959)
- 22 April 1955 - Sir George Creasy (1895-1972)
- 22 October 1956 - Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (1900-1979)
- 1960 - Sir Charles Lambe (1900-1960)
- 23 May 1962 - Sir Caspar John (1903-1984)
- 12 August 1968 - Sir Varyl Begg (1908-1995)
- 1970 - Sir Michael LeFanu (1913-1970)
- 12 March 1971 - Peter Hill-Norton, Baron Hill-Norton (1915-2004)
- 1 March 1974 - Sir Michael Pollock (born 1916)
- 9 February 1977 - Sir Edward Ashmore (born 1919)
- 6 July 1979 - Terence Lewin, Baron Lewin (1920-1999)
- 1 December 1982 - Sir Henry Leach (born 1923)
- 2 August 1985 - John Fieldhouse, Baron Fieldhouse (1928-1992)
- 25 May 1989 - Sir William Staveley (1928-1997)
- 1993 - Sir Julian Oswald (born 1933)
- 1995 - Sir Benjamin Bathurst (born 1936)
- The practice of ordinarily promoting retiring First Sea Lords or Admirals becoming Chief of the Defence Staff to the rank of Admiral of the Fleet was then halted.