Admiral of the Red
rank of the Royal Navy
Admiral of the Red was a senior rank of the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom, immediately outranked by the rank Admiral of the Fleet (see order of precedence below). The rank did not exist prior to 1805, as the admiral commanding the Red squadron was called Admiral of the Fleet. When the duties of Admiral of the Fleet were separated from Red squadron in 1805, the Admiral of the Red was created, and until 1864 this rank was the second highest rank in order of precedence. In 1864 it was abolished as a promotional rank (pictured opposite is the command flag for an Admiral of the Red).
History
The Royal Navy inaugurated squadron colours during the reign of Elizabeth I (1558-1603) to subdivide the English fleet into three squadrons. There were three classes of admirals and differentiated by using coloured flags. In 1620 the official Flag ranks of Admiral, Vice Admiral, and Rear Admiral were legally established that arose directly out of the organisation of the fleet into three parts. The rank of Admiral of the Fleet was formally enacted in 1688.
The Admiral of the Red was a senior rank of the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom, immediately outranked by the rank Admiral of the Fleet (see order of precedence below). From 1805 to 1864 this rank was the second highest rank.
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This entry incorporates text from “Admiral of the Red” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.