Please see “Rear Admiral

Rear Admiral

Rear admiral is a naval commissioned officer rank above that of a commodore and captain, and below that of a vice admiral. It is generally regarded as the lowest of the "admiral" ranks, which are also sometimes referred to as "flag officers" or "flag ranks"...

” for other nations which use this rank.

Rear Admiral (RAdm) is a flag officer

Flag Officer

A flag officer is a commissioned officer in a nation's armed forces senior enough to be entitled to fly a flag to mark where the officer exercises command. The term usually refers to the senior officers in an English-speaking nation's navy, specifically those who hold any of the admiral ranks; in...

 rank of the British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

. It is immediately superior to Commodore

Commodore (Royal Navy)

Commodore is a rank of the Royal Navy above Captain and below Rear Admiral. It has a NATO ranking code of OF-6. The rank is equivalent to Brigadier in the British Army and Royal Marines and to Air Commodore in the Royal Air Force.-Insignia:...

 and is subordinate to Vice Admiral

Vice Admiral (Royal Navy)

Vice admiral is a flag officer rank of the British Royal Navy. It equates to the NATO rank code OF-8 and is immediately superior to rear admiral and is subordinate to the full admiral rank.The Royal Navy has had vice admirals since at least the 16th century...

. It is a two-star rank and has a NATO ranking code of OF-7.

The rank orginated in the days of naval sailing squadrons and each naval squadron would be assigned an admiral as its head. He would command from the centre vessel and direct the activities of the squadron. The admiral would in turn be assisted by a vice admiral, who commanded the lead ships which would bear the brunt of a naval battle. In the rear of the Naval Squadron, a third admiral would command the remaining ships and, as this section of the squadron was considered to be in the least danger, the admiral in command of the rear would typically be the most junior of the squadron admirals. This has survived into the modern age, with the rank of rear admiral the most-junior of the admiralty ranks of many navies.

The Royal Navy rank of Rear Admiral should be distinguished from the office of Rear-Admiral of the United Kingdom

Rear-Admiral of the United Kingdom

The Rear-Admiral of the United Kingdom is a now honorary office generally held by a senior Royal Navy admiral. Despite the title, the Rear-Admiral of the United Kingdom is usually a full admiral...

, which is an Admiralty position usually held by a senior (and possibly retired) "full" Admiral.