Admiral (United States) - History

History

The United States Navy did not have any admirals until 1862 because many people felt the title too reminiscent of royalty, such as the British Royal Navy, to be used in the country's navy. Others saw the need for ranks above Captain, among them John Paul Jones, who pointed out that the Navy had to have officers who "ranked" with Army generals. He also felt there must be ranks above captain to avoid disputes among senior captains. The various secretaries of the Navy repeatedly recommended to Congress that admiral ranks be created because the other navies of the world used them and American senior officers were "often subjected to serious difficulties and embarrassments in the interchange of civilities with those of other nations." Congress finally authorized nine rear admirals on July 16, 1862, although that was probably more for the needs of the rapidly expanding Navy during the American Civil War than any international considerations. Two years later Congress authorized the appointment of a vice admiral from among the nine rear admirals: David Farragut. Another bill allowed the President of the United States to appoint Farragut to admiral on July 25, 1866, and David Dixon Porter to vice admiral. When Farragut died in 1870, Porter became admiral and Stephen C. Rowan was promoted to vice admiral. Even after they died, Congress did not allow the promotion of any of the rear admirals to succeed them, so there were no more admirals or vice admirals by promotion until 1915 when Congress authorized an admiral and a vice admiral each for the Atlantic, Pacific and Asiatic fleets.

There was one admiral in the interim, however. In 1899, Congress recognized George Dewey's accomplishments during the Spanish-American War by authorizing the President to appoint him Admiral of the Navy. He held that rank until he died in 1917. Nobody has since held that title. In 1944, Congress approved the five-star grade of Fleet Admiral. The first to hold it were William D. Leahy, Ernest J. King, and Chester W. Nimitz. The Senate confirmed their appointments December 15, 1944. The fourth Fleet Admiral, William F. Halsey, got his fifth star in December 1945. None has been appointed since.

The sleeve stripes now used by admirals and vice admirals in the United States date from March 11, 1869, when the Secretary of the Navy's General Order Number 90 specified that for their "undress" uniforms admirals would wear a two-inch stripe with three half-inch stripes above it and vice admirals the two-inch stripe with two half-inch stripes above it. The rear admiral got his two-inch stripe and one half-inch stripe in 1866.

The sleeve stripes had been more elaborate. When the rear admiral rank started in 1862 the sleeve arrangement was three stripes of three-quarter-inch lace alternating with three stripes of quarter-inch lace. It was some ten inches from top to bottom. The vice admiral, of course, had even more stripes and when Farragut became admiral in 1866, he had so many stripes they reached from his cuffs almost to his elbow. On their dress uniforms the admirals wore bands of gold embroidery of live oak leaves and acorns.

The admirals of the 1860s wore the same number of stars on their shoulders as admirals of corresponding grades do today. In 1899, the Navy's one admiral (Dewey) and 18 rear admirals put on the new shoulder marks, as did the other officers when wearing their white uniforms, but kept their stars instead of repeating the sleeve cuff stripes.

During the 20th century, the ranks of the modern U.S. Admiralty were firmly established. An oddity that did exist was that the Navy did not have a one-star rank except briefly during the Second World War when Congress established a temporary war rank of commodore. The one-star rank was later established permanently in 1986.