Captain (land)

Captain (land)

The army rank of Captain is an officer rank historically correponding to command of a company of soldiers. The rank is also used by some air forces and marine forces. Today a captain is typically the commander, or second in command, of a company or squadron (NB: in the US a squadron is a larger, battalion-equivalent, unit).

Captain is one rank above a lieutenant (or first lieutenant) and one below a major (or commandant).

The rank of captain should not be confused with the naval rank of captain or with the commonwealth air force rank of Group Captain, both of which are more senior.

History

Prior to the professionalization of the armed services of European nations subsequent to the French revolution, a captain was a nobleman who purchased the right to head a company from the previous holder of that right. He would in turn receive money from another nobleman to serve as his lieutenant. The funding to provide for the troops came from the monarch or his government; the captain had to be responsible for it. If he was not, or was otherwise court-martialed, he would be dismissed ("cashiered"), and the monarch would receive money from another nobleman to command the company. Otherwise, the only pension for the captain was selling the right to another nobleman when he was ready to retire.

Air forces

In most countries the air force is the junior service and so air force ranks have been adopted or modified from one of the other services. Many, such as the United States Air Force, use a rank structure and insignia similar to those of the army.

However, the United Kingdom's Royal Air Force and the air forces of many Commonwealth countries use a rank structure in which Flight Lieutenant is OF-2. A Group Captain is OF-5 and was derived from the naval rank of captain.

In the unified system of the Canadian Forces, however, the air force rank titles are identical to that of the Army, while the rank insignia is common to Army, Navy, and Air Force; thus, an air force or army captain wears two gold stripes on sleeve or epaulet (the same as a naval lieutenant), while the modern equivalent of the British group captain bears the rank and insignia of colonel, i.e. four gold stripes on sleeve or epaulet (same as a naval captain).

Equivalent Captain ranks

* "Taewi" (South Korea)
* "Hauptmann" (Germany)
* "Hauptsturmführer" (Nazi SS)
*"Lokhagos" (Greece)
* "Yüzbaşı" (Turkey)
* "Jeg-tooran" (جګتورن) (Afghanistan)
* "Đại Úy" (Vietnam)
* "Kapten" (Sweden)

Insignia

A variety of images illustrative of different forces' insignia for captain (or captain-equivalents) are shown below:

References and notes

ee also

*Captain (United Kingdom)
*Captain (United States)


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать реферат

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Captain Eo — Localisation Parc : EPCOT Zone : Future World Lieu : Orlando (Floride) …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Captain Kangaroo — (Bob Keeshan) with comedian Nipsey Russell, 1976. Format Children s Television Created by Bob Keeshan …   Wikipedia

  • Captain America — ist eine US amerikanische Comicfigur, ein Superheld, der ein Kostüm in den Farben der Flagge der Vereinigten Staaten trägt. Geschaffen wurde sie von Jack Kirby und Joe Simon für den Verlag Timely Comics, einem Vorgänger des heutigen Verlags… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Captain Amerika — Captain America ist ein US amerikanischer Comic Superheld, der ein Kostüm in den Farben der Flagge der Vereinigten Staaten trägt. Geschaffen wurde er von Jack Kirby und Joe Simon für den Verlag Timely Comics, einen Vorgänger des heutigen Verlags… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Captain EO — ou Captain EO était une attraction des parc Disney présentant un film futuriste en 3D avec en vedette Michael Jackson. Elle a débuté en 1986 à EPCOT, en Floride, et a été reproduite dans trois autres parcs. Elle a été fermée dans tous les parcs… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Captain Hook — is also a nickname for former baseball manager Sparky Anderson. : Captain Hook is also a nickname for the Islamic preacher Abu Hamza al Masri. Captain James Hook [http://www.freewebs.com/kingjas] is the villain of J. M. Barrie s play and novel… …   Wikipedia

  • Captain Nemo — is a fictional character featured in Jules Verne s novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1870) and The Mysterious Island (1874). Nemo is Latin for no one , and also Greek for give what is due (see Nemesis). Nemo, one of the most famous… …   Wikipedia

  • Captain Pipe — (1725 ? 1818 ?), also called Hopocan, was an 18th Century chief of the Lenape ( Delaware ) Indians, and a member of the Wolf Clan. The Lenape were reluctant to tell their real names, and the use of nicknames was very common. The real name of… …   Wikipedia

  • Captain Noah and his Floating Zoo — (1970) is a cantata by Joseph Horovitz composed in a popular style for unison or two part voices and piano, with optional bass and drums. The libretto, provided by Michael Flanders, is an adaptation of the Biblical tale of Noah found in Genesis… …   Wikipedia

  • Captain America's shield — is a fictional item, the primary defensive and offensive piece of equipment used by the Marvel Comics superhero Captain America, and he is seldom seen without it. Over the years, Captain America has had the use of several different shields of… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”