This is the title of a Captain who is given command of a squadron of ship, submarines, or aircraft. Prior to 1984 this was also the name given to the rank of O7, the lowest admiral. Confusion with in the military as to if a Commodore was a flag officer helped push the change of the title of an O7 to Rear Admiral Lower Half.

The rank of Commodore derives from the French commandeur, which was one of the highest ranks in orders of knighthood, and in military orders the title of the knight in charge of a commenda,a local part of the order's territorial possessions.

The practice was not reserved to captains in the earlier days. Captain Isaac Hull, upset at not being able to progress further in rank, wrote in 1814 that, if no admirals were to be authorized, something should be done to prevent "every midshipman that has command of a gunboat on a separate station taking upon himself the name of Commodore."

Eventually the title of commodore was defined more strictly, and was reserved for captains so designated by the Navy Department, although the practice of retaining the title for life added some confusion. In 1857, Congress established the grade of Flag Officer. This generic title was intended "to promote the efficiency of the Navy," but differed little from the previous practice. Like the courtesy-title commodores, "flag officers" reverted to captain once their squadron command assignment was completed.

Because of the urgent need for officers at the beginning of the American Civil War, naval tradition was ignored and commodore became for the first time a permanent commissioned rank. Eighteen were authorized on July 16, 1862. The rank title also lost its "line command" status when, in 1863, the chiefs of the Bureaus of Medicine and Surgery, Provisions and Clothing, Steam Engineering, and Construction and Repair were given the rank of commodore.


During my time we had a Commodore for DESRON 10 and also one while we were in the Red Sea stopping ships headed up the Gulf of Aqaba. During the time in the Red Sea the commodore was onboard Scott since we were the senior ship on station. Ships are ranked one of two ways, by type and by captain.