Senior Captain

Senior Captain is a rare military rank which is used in some countries armed forces.

Army

In some armies of the world, the "senior captain" is a rank between a regular Captain and a Major. The rank is often only found in armies and air forces. A similar position to that of Senior Captain is the rank of Senior Colonel.

Most prominent examples of Senior Captain rank is militaries of North Korea (where the rank is known as "Daewi") and also of China (between 1955 and 1965). Claims that this rank was adopted from the Soviet Union's army are unfounded, as Red/Soviet Army never had it since the introduction of the rank system in 1935. It was, though, present in Imperial Russian Army, where it was called "Shtabs-Kapitan" ("Staff-Captain"), obviously a rank of German origin.

The rank of Senior Captain is rare in Western militaries, but can be found in the German military, where the rank of "Stabshauptmann" ("Stabskapitänleutnant" in the Navy) was created in 1993 for officers of the "Militärfachlicher Dienst" (former NCOs in specialist positions) who could not be promoted to field grade. The Belgian Army knows the rank of Captain-Commandant.

Navy

In some navies of the world, there is the notion of a "senior captain". This is sometimes called "Commodore" or "Fleet Captain". It is interesting to note that when similar rank existed in Imperial Russian Navy it was called not Commodore, but rather Captain-Commander. A naval "Senior Captain" is similar to the army's Senior Colonel rank.