Lieutenant commander

Common anglophone military ranks
Navies	Armies	Air forces
Officers
Admiral of the fleet	Marshal / field marshal	Marshal of the Air Force
Admiral	General	Air marshal
Commodore	Brigadier	Air commodore
Captain	Colonel	Group captain
Commander	Lieutenant colonel	Wing commander
Lieutenant commander	Major / commandant	Squadron leader
Lieutenant	Captain	Flight lieutenant
Sub-lieutenant	Lieutenant	Flying officer
Ensign	2nd lieutenant	Pilot officer
Midshipman	Officer cadet	Officer cadet
Seamen, soldiers and airmen
Warrant officer	Sergeant major / Warrant officer	Warrant officer
Petty officer	Sergeant	Sergeant
Leading seaman	Corporal	Corporal
Seaman	Private	Aircraftman
Seaman recruit	Army recruit

Hierarchy of naval officer ranks
Flag officers:
Admiral of the navy Admiral of the fleet • Fleet admiral General admiral • Grand admiral • Admiral Squadron admiral • Flotilla admiral Vice admiral • Lieutenant admiral Rear admiral • Counter admiral Commodore admiral • Schout-bij-nacht Port admiral
Senior officers:
Commodore • Fleet captain Post captain • Captain Captain of sea and war • Ship-of-the-line captain Captain at sea • Corvette captain Frigate captain • Commander
Junior officers:
Lieutenant commander • Captain lieutenant Flag lieutenant • Lieutenant Ship-of-the-line lieutenant • Corvette lieutenant Frigate lieutenant • Lieutenant (junior grade) Sub-lieutenant • Ensign
Training officers:
Passed midshipman • Midshipman Naval cadet

Lieutenant commander (also hyphenated lieutenant-commander and abbreviated Lt Cdr, LtCdr. or LCDR) is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. The rank is superior to a lieutenant and subordinate to a commander. The corresponding rank in most armies (armed services) and air forces is major, and in the Royal Air Force and other Commonwealth air forces is squadron leader. The NATO rank code is mostly OF-3.

A lieutenant commander is a senior department officer on a large ship/shore installation or commanding officer or executive officer (second-in-command) of a smaller ship/installation.

Etymology

Most Commonwealth and other navies address lieutenant commanders by their full rank or the position they occupy (captain if in command of a vessel). The United States Navy however usually addresses officers using the higher grade of the rank; as an example, a lieutenant junior grade is addressed simply as "Lieutenant", and a lieutenant commander is addressed as "Commander".

Origins

Lieutenants were commonly put in command of smaller vessels not warranting a commander or captain: such a lieutenant was called a "lieutenant commanding" or "lieutenant commandant" in the United States Navy, and a "lieutenant in command", "lieutenant and commander", or "senior lieutenant" in the Royal Navy. The USN settled on "lieutenant commander" in 1862, and made it a distinct rank; the RN followed suit in March 1914.

United Kingdom

Royal Navy

The insignia worn by a Royal Navy lieutenant commander is two medium gold braid stripes with one thin gold stripe running in between, placed upon a navy blue/black background. The top stripe has the ubiquitous loop used in all RN officer rank insignia. The RAF follows this pattern with its equivalent rank of squadron leader.

Having fewer officer ranks than the army, the RN previously split some of its ranks by seniority (time in rank) to provide equivalence: hence a lieutenant with fewer than eight years seniority wore two stripes, and ranked with an army captain; a lieutenant of eight years or more wore two stripes with a thinner one in between, and ranked with a major. This distinction was abolished when the rank of lieutenant commander was introduced.

Royal Observer Corps

Throughout much of its existence, the British Royal Observer Corps (ROC) maintained a rank of observer lieutenant commander. The ROC wore a Royal Air Force uniform and their rank insignia appeared similar to that of an RAF squadron leader except that the stripes were shown entirely in black. Prior to the renaming, the rank had been known as observer lieutenant (first class).

Canada

Main article: lieutenant-commander (Canada)

In the Royal Canadian Navy, the rank is the naval rank equal to Major in the army or air force and is the first rank of senior officer. Lieutenant-Commanders are senior to Lieutenants (N) and to army and air force Captains, and are junior to Commanders and Lieutenant-Colonels.

United States

Main article: Lieutenant commander (United States)

A lieutenant commander's sleeve/shoulder insignia

There are two insignia used by US lieutenant commanders. On service khakis and all working uniforms, lieutenant commanders wear a gold oak leaf collar device, similar to the ones worn by a majors in the USAF and Army, and identical to that worn by majors in the Marine Corps. In all dress uniforms, they wear sleeve braid or shoulder boards bearing a single gold quarter-inch stripe between two gold half-inch strips (nominal size). Above or inboard of the stripes, they wear their speciality insignia (i.e., a star for officers of the line, crossed oak leaves for Civil Engineer Corps, etc.).

Ireland

The rank of lieutenant commander is also used in the Irish Naval Service, having a similar implication to the RN rank. It should noted that the majority of vessel commanders in the Irish Naval Service hold the rank of lieutenant commander, with a commander being a senior, shore-based position.

Other countries

A French capitaine de corvette maneuvering.

The corresponding rank in the German Navy, Italian Navy, Brazilian Navy, French Navy, Spanish Navy and most other French and Spanish-speaking countries is corvette captain. The corresponding rank in the Estonian Navy, Finnish Navy and Portuguese Navy is captain lieutenant, in the Russian Navy it is "captain of the third rank" (капитан 3-го ранга), and in the Polish Navy it is komandor podporucznik.