Fleet admiral

MikeyB

Sergeant
Joined
Sep 13, 2018
The army had the GiC position, did the Navy have an official fleet admiral who oversaw the entire collective Navy and devised a unified strategy and resource allocation? Or was this left to Gideon Welles?

If not, who was, on paper the highest ranking flag officer during the war? And was his responsibility limited to his individual squadron and naval theater?

mike
 
The President, through the Secretary of the Navy, really commanded the Navy. The concept of a general staff overseen by a serving officer did not come about for a few more decades. High-ranking officers, even admirals, were something like "the first among equals," respected due to their rank and accomplishments, but they had formal control only over their own commands.

Many historians have pointed to Gustavus V. Fox, the Assistant Secretary of the Navy, as the de facto CNO (Chief of Naval Operations), though this is of course projecting a modern role back onto a historical situation. It's unquestionably true that Welles depended significantly on Fox's experience as a serving naval officer, whereas his own experience was more along the lines of departmental administration (at which he was superb).

Technically speaking, the ranking admiral of the Navy was Charles Stewart, who had commanded the USS Constitution in the War of 1812, but I am not aware that it was anything more than a formality in his case. He held the real rank (on the Retired List) but I don't think he served in any real capacity during the Civil War.
 
It's probably worth mentioning that the US Navy lacked any flag officers at all until the admiral ranks were created in 1862. Prior to that, the highest permanent rank in the Navy was captain, with seniority the only real distinction. If I remember correctly, David Farragut was the very first.
 
Farragut was the first/highest ranking on active duty... when the rank of rear admiral was created, the position of rear admiral on the retired list was also created, and Stewart headed that list. Farragut was merely first among the active-duty rear admirals.

(However, he was unquestionably the first to be promoted to vice admiral and to full admiral, so speaking of him as the U.S. Navy's first admiral is correct.)
 
It's probably worth mentioning that the US Navy lacked any flag officers at all until the admiral ranks were created in 1862. Prior to that, the highest permanent rank in the Navy was captain, with seniority the only real distinction. If I remember correctly, David Farragut was the very first.

I'm still in 1862, and they're referring to guys like Farragut and Foote as Flag Officers. I guess the rank of admiral wasn't yet instituted.
Was Flag Officer an actual rank? Or was your rank captain, and you were a flag officer because you commanded a fleet?

How come we didn't have admirals until 1862? It was just a bunch of captains making fleet decisions pre-1862?
 
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