General Admiral

From Free net encyclopedia

General Admiral was a German and Russian naval rank.

Third Reich

In the German Kriegsmarine, of the Second World War, General Admiral (in German: Generaladmiral) was a rank senior to an Admiral, but junior to a Grand Admiral. General Admiral was a four-star Admiral rank, as in the traditional German ranking system until WWII an Admiral is equivalent to a British or American Vice Admiral.

The sleeve insignia for a General Admiral was the same as that of a regular Admiral, being a thick rank stripe below three regular stripes. General Admirals wore a third pip on their shoulder boards to differentiate them from regular Admirals. The German Army and Air Force equivalent of Generaladmiral was the rank Colonel General (Generaloberst).

Image:GenAdSleeve.gif

In 1943, a directive was issued that should the Oberbefehlshaber der Kriegsmarine (Commander of the Navy) hold the rank of General Admiral, he would wear the sleeve insignia of a Grand Admiral, but the shoulder boards of a General Admiral.

A similar practice was used in the German Army, allowing Colonel Generals to wear four pips on the shoulder board when engaged in duties befitting a Field Marshal.

The rank of General Admiral was first given to the future Grand Admiral Erich Raeder on 20 April 1936.

Other holders of the rank were:

•	Conrad Albrecht,	1 April 1939,
•	Alfred Saalwächter,	1 January 1940,
•	Rolf Carls,	19 July 1940,
•	Hermann Boehm,	1 April 1941,
•	Karl Witzell,	1 April 1941,
•	Otto Schultze,	31 August 1942,
•	Wilhelm Marschall,	1 February 1943,
•	Otto Schniewind,	1 March 1944,
•	Walter Warzecha,	1 March 1944,
•	Oskar Kummetz,	16 September 1944,
•	Hans-Georg von Friedeburg,	1 May 1945.

It it interesting to note that Karl Dönitz was made Grand Admiral without becoming a General Admiral first.

[edit]

Russian Empire

General-admiral (Template:Lang-ru) was the highest rank of the Russian Navy as established by the Table of Ranks and equivalent to Field Marshal. This was purely honorific rank and for the most time of its existence, it was awarded to the only person in active duty, typically a descendant of Romanov Royal family.

There were only six holders of this rank: