Jane Austen discussion

Please post comments here regarding terms in the novel - either ask what they are or define them for us.

Thanks for this, Megan!

Anne, who is keeping track of these things, says that Admiral Croft is a Rear Admiral of the White. So where does Admiral Croft rank in the Royal Navy hierarchy?

Squadronal Colours of the Royal Navy
THE RED, THE WHITE AND THE BLUE

As fleets grew in size during the seventeenth century, the squadrons became too large for one admiral to control the movements of his squadron efficiently and effectively. This led to three admirals being assigned to each squadron: a full Admiral in command, a Vice-Admiral as his second, and a Rear-Admiral as his third in command. Thus there was now an Admiral of the Blue, Vice-Admiral of the Blue and Rear-Admiral of the Blue, and so forth. The squadrons ranked in the order Red (as senior), White, Blue, and Admirals took rank according to the colour of their squadron.

Promotion of admirals also took place in this order - a Rear-Admiral of the Blue on promotion became a Rear-Admiral of the White as his first flag promotion. Once he had reached Rear-Admiral of the Red, he would then become a Vice-Admiral of the Blue on promotion and so until he finally became an Admiral of the White. It was only in the Red squadron that the hierarchy was not followed. There was no Admiral of the Red since this would be deemed as being in overall command of the whole fleet. However, this was the province of the Admiral of the Fleet and until 1862, there could only be one holder of this rank and it was an appointment held for life.

copied from: www.royalnavalmuseum.org

That's awesome Birdie. Thanks for posting!!

I wondered about that too, when Anne explained who Croft was. Thanks.

Glad to be of service!

Fascinating info! Thanks, Birdie!