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Table of Officer Rank Equivalents

For the most part, the ranks of the characters in With Honour in Battle are given in German. Since most of these ranks are unfamiliar to American and British readers, this table is provided to keep the equivalents straight. I should note that there are differences of opinion as to the correct equivalents of German officer ranks. For example, some authorities hold that the rank of Fregattenkapitän is the equivalent of the British/U.S. rank of Commander, while others argue that a Korvettenkapitän is the equivalent of a Commander, and a Fregattenkapitän has no direct equivalent, but should be considered a Captain, Junior Grade. Here, we're going with the opinion that the rank immediately below Captain is Commander, since it seems to have the most general support. (Using this, the number of ranks from Leutnant zur See to Kapitän zur See are exactly the same as between Ensign and Captain in the U.S. Navy; the British Navy has one less officer grade.)

It should be noted that the illustrations do not include branch insignia, or the loop on the uppermost stripe on British sleeve rank insignia. During World War II, the British distinguished between Regular, Reserve, and Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve officers by the design of the stripes themselves. Regulars had straight stripes. Reserve officers' stripes were straight, but made up of two interlaced stripes instead of solid lace, with the top loop forming a 6-pointed star. RNVR officers' stripes were "wavy" instead of straight, and the upper loop was squared off at the top.

In both the U.S. and German Navies, officers wore branch insignia above the top stripe on the sleeve. The three branch insignia shown here are German. Line officers are those whose career path leads to command of a vessel. The German and British Navies had a separate Engineer branch; in the U.S. Navy engineer officers are line officers.

Line Officer

Engineer Branch

Surgeon

In the Royal Navy, an officer's branch was indicated by a colored stripe between the rank stripes. Surgeons wore red, dentists orange, ordnance officers black, engineers purple, electrical engineers dark green, and instructors sky blue. Line officers wore no distinguishing colors. Air branch officers wore a capital letter "A" inside the loop on the upper stripe if they entered the Navy directly into the Air Branch, but omitted the "A" if they transferred from another branch. Pilots and Air Observers wore wings above the loop on the left sleeve on blue uniforms, and on the left breast of white and khaki uniforms.

GERMAN	BRITISH	UNITED STATES
Leutnant zur See	Sub Lieutenant	Ensign
Oberleutnant zur See	The rank of Sub Lieutenant is roughly equivalent to both lower officer grades in the other services.	Lieutenant Junior Grade
Kapitänleutnant	Lieutenant	Lieutenant
Korvettenkapitän	Lieutenant Commander	Lieutenant Commander
Fregattenkapitän	Commander	Commander
Kapitän zur See	Captain	Captain
Kommodore	Commodore	Commodore
Konteradmiral	Rear Admiral	Rear Admiral
Vizeadmiral	Vice Admiral	Vice Admiral
Generaladmiral	Admiral	Admiral
Grossadmiral	Admiral of the Fleet	Fleet Admiral