Imperial Navy Hierarchy

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Imperial Navy

Imperial Navy Officer

The Imperial Navy has a rigid command structure, seemingly unified across the whole organisation unlike the Imperial Guard which has no standard organization.

Admiralty Ranks

Lord High Admiral of the Imperial Navy

The Lord High Admiral of the Imperial Navy is the highest rank of the Imperial Navy. Most often selected from the Lord High Admiral of Segmentum Solar, the Lord High Admiral of the Navy oversees his forces interests on the Senatorum Imperialis and Terra while the five Segmentum Lord High Admirals manage fleet affairs.^[18]^[8]

Known Lord High Admirals of the Imperial Navy

Lord High Admiral

Lord High Admiral (also referred to as Lord Militant Commander or Lord Commander) is the highest command rank in the Imperial Navy. There are five Lord High Admirals, each one controlling a fleet of the five Segmentae Majoris. Although all five are ranked equally, command of the Segmentum Solar is considered the most prestigious office.^[8]

Known Lord High Admirals:

Drang — Segmentum Obscurus, Current Lord High Admiral.^[14a]
Invisticone — Segmentum Pacificus, sometime in M41.^[14b]
Jaxon — Segmentum Solar, sometime in M41.
Udin Macht Udo - Eventually became Lord Commander of the Imperium
Hal Orpheus — Segmentum Tempestus, mid-M36.
Zaccarius Rath — Segmentum Tempestus, circa 745.M41.
Thaddeon Trassq — commanded Battlefleet Solar-Rimward in the later stages of the War of the Beast
Hiram Wyman.^[35]

Lord Admirals

Lord Admiral Kranswar

A Lord Admiral commands a Battlefleet^[3], and is in charge of all naval forces in a particular sector.

Solar Admiral is a prospective sector commander, awaiting assignment to take command of a particular Battlefleet.^[10a]

Known Lord Admirals:

Anastasia Arkelius — Commander of Battlegroup Cerberus in the Orpheus Salient of the Achilus Crusade.^[16]
Bastille the Seventh — Former Naval officer and current Rogue Trader, although it is unlikely he reached this rank within the Imperial Navy.^[11]
Corus
Crziel Acharya
Dostov
Galtaire - Led the reconquest of Rynn's World^[23]
Gordus — Imperial Commander of the Diamor System
Vortigern Hanroth
Hawke
Khorlu — also Rogue Trader
Napier
Orson Kranswar — Commander of Battlefleet Demeter during the Pandorax Campaign
Price
Cornelius von Ravensburg — Commander of Battlefleet Gothic during the 12th Black Crusade^[7]
Androvast Strophes — Former commander of Battlefleet Calixis.^[10f]
Vargaz — Commander of Battlefleet Calixis in 507.M41.^[10f]
Quirin Prisca - Major commander in the Nachmund Rift War.
Rowlan Abery Wolston XIV

Admirals

Admiral Parol

A High Admiral commands a Crusade or collection of Battlegroups.^[17]

Known High Admirals:

Yaakkon — High Admiral in the Angevin Crusade, lost to the Warp^[17]

An Admiral sees command of a Battlegroup, which is an assigned grouping of ships to handle certain situations.^[3]

Known Admirals:

Main article: List of Admirals

Arteres^[2]
D'Armitage
Groesson
Jallaque
Kisher
Archibalda Tansk^[28]
Kotto
Treheskon
Lumaresq
Kaspar Marius Todoric Marran - Commands Battlegroup Kallides in Indomitus Crusade Fleet Primus
Kright^[31]
Nathaniel Horne — Commander of 'Battlefleet Koronus', or Passage Watch 27 Est, the Imperial Navy in the Koronus sector.^[10e]
Parol — Admiral Parol is the Commander of the Imperial Navy Fleet in the Armageddon Sector.
Pator Antias
Quarren — Admiral who defended the Cadian Sector's space lane during the 13th Black Crusade.^[1]
Sartus
Sehalla
Spire
Trajan — commanded the starship Fire of Heaven during the beginning of the Third War for Armageddon. Presumably lost.
Trankar — Led Imperial forces in the Battle of Bloodstar.
Usurs — Influential Admiral who was sent on a one-way exploratory mission by the High Lords of Terra in M33.^[9]
Veniston^[31]
Venesca Catallia — Engaged the Vengeful Spirit during the 13th Black Crusade.
V'dag - Served in the Indomitus Crusade
Ashenzar Kinra^[27]

Vice-Admiral is traditionally in charge of a vanguard, and as such is usually placed in command of scouting forces of light cruisers and destroyers^[10b].

Known Vice Admirals:

Alber Vander Trake — Commander during the Sabbat Worlds Crusade
Chanke — Fought in the 13th Black Crusade

Rear-Admiral is usually an administrative post, based around logistics and planning.^[10b]

Known Rear Admirals:

Dho Gan Mey — Served in Indomitus Crusade Fleet Primus^[29]
Zoila Kusch — Commander of Port Wrath^[33]

Battlefleet Ranks

Senior Officers

Commodore or Commodore-Captain is a rank held by personnel such as the adjutant to an Admiral or the commander of a battle-squadron.^[7]

Known Commodores:

Hentzmann - Arch-Commodore
Vensatoria - Arch-Commodore
Teodor Naremmus — Commander of Patrol Group 686, part of Battlefleet Calixis.^[12]
Hubert Visiter — Retired, assumed command of Perlian System Defence Force during the 13th Black Crusade. ^{[Needs Citation]}
Thalion Vycorious^[24]
Stefan Hemelschot^[25]
Tregorran
Eloise Athagey
Shaloong

Lord High Captain ranks between a Lord Captain and a Commodore.^[20]

Lord-Captain or Flag-Captain is the rank given to the Captain of a vessel on detached duty.^[10b]

Known Lord-Captains:

Sylvia Locke — Captain of the Dauntless Class Light Cruiser Aegis, on extended long range patrol in the Koronus Expanse.^[15]
Rafal Kulik

Captain: in the Imperial Navy the rank of captain implies that the bearer has command of a ship. On board his ship, his word is law, above that of any other, save the Emperor's own. An Imperial Navy captain receives orders from a Rear-Admiral. He would then interpret these orders, and have them carried out by delegating tasks to his command staff.^{[Needs Citation]}

Known Captains

Commander is a senior officer rank within the Imperial Navy held, for example, by the First Officer of an Imperial Cruiser or the captain of an escort vessel.^[4]

Known Commanders:

Larius Sans — Commander of Port Warder.^[13]

Lieutenant Commander is a senior officer rank within the Imperial Navy.^[4]

Lieutenant-Heraldus^[30]

Known Lieutenant Heraldus:

Lihua Sheradane

Junior Officers

The bulk of officers on a ship are the Lieutenants. In the early days of the Navy, these were were ranked in accordance with seniority going as far as Twelfth Lieutenant and possibly beyond.^[19] The modern Navy uses numbered Lieutenants as three distinct ranks.^[10c]

Flag-Lieutenant or Lord-Lieutenant is the highest Lieutenant rank in the Navy, and may be the second in command of a ship.^[10c]
First Lieutenant^[10c]
Second Lieutenant^[10c]
Third Lieutenant^[10c]
Sub-Lieutenant or Ensign is the most junior Lieutenant rank.^[10c]
Midshipman is the rank given to 'trainee' officers, who have to pass extensive examinations before becoming a Lieutenant.^[10c]

Non-Commissioned Officers

Non-commissioned ranks within the Imperial Navy include:

Warrant Officer^[5]
Master Chief Petty Officer^[4]
Senior Chief Petty Officer is a senior NCO rank, denoted by a gold-fringed red rank sash.^[7]
Chief Petty Officer^[4]
Sergeant-at-Arms^[10c] or Senior Armsman is often in charge of squad of armsmen.^[4]
Crewboss is often in charge of a shift on convicts.^[4]

Ratings

A Voidsman-at-Arms, or Armsman is tasked with maintaining security, boarding enemy vessels and repelling boarders.^[6]
- Voidmaster — Commanders of Voidsmen squads.
A Trusted Crewman, Voidsman or Shipman (archaic)^[10d] is a rank held by the skilled crew of the vessel^[4]

Attack Craft Ranks

The ranks of personnel assigned to Attack Craft differ from regular Naval ranks:

Wing Commander — The commander of all attack craft on board a carrier ship.^[10b]
Wing Captain — The commander of a long-range patrol attack craft such as a Faustus Class Interceptor.^[5]
Squadron Commander — The commander of a squadron consisting of attack craft such as a Starhawk Bomber.^[6]
Squadron Sergeant — A pilot who has demonstrated skill and tactical leadership.^[20]

Naval Security Ranks

Naval Security also have ranks differing from regular Naval ranks:

Lord Procurator - Senior rank.^[22a]
Procurator — Senior rank, equal to Commodore.^[22a]
Major — Officer rank.^[22b]
Corporal — Junior rank.^[22c]

Indomitus Crusade Ranks

Fleetmaster

Main article: Fleetmaster

A high-level rank which commands Indomitus Crusade Battlefleets.^[26]

Groupmaster

A rank below Fleetmaster^[26], Groupmasters command the self-sufficient Battlegroups that are formed from the Indomitus Crusade battlefleets. They also have the ability to requisition what they need to recover any losses the Battlegroups have suffered. Such is their power, that Groupmasters are only answerable to their battlefleet's Fleetmaster and Lord Commander Roboute Guilliman, who has assigned each Indomitus Crusade battlefleet with a grand strategic mission.^[32]

Great Crusade Ranks

Grand Admiral

During the Great Crusade in the Imperialis Armada there was a rank named Grand Admiral. At least one of the Grand Admirals is known: Constansa Suati-Falkan.^[21]