Schout-bij-nacht is a Dutch Naval rank, equivalent to Rear Admiral in the US Navy and Royal Navy. It is the second most junior Admiral position of the Dutch Navy, ranking above Commandeur (Commodore) and below a Vice-admiraal (Vice Admiral).
The rank of Schout-bij-nacht originated between the 15th and 16th century. Translated as Watch-at-night, the Schout-bij-Nacht was the officer who supervised the ship when the Captain was asleep.
In later times the Schout-bij-nacht was also the officer who supervised an entire Navy squadron, in the absence of a senior Admiral, and by the 17th century Schout-bij-nacht was the common rank held by the naval commander of a battle fleet's rear squadron.
In the 17th century the navies of Sweden and Denmark-Norway adopted the rank as schoutbynacht and the early Imperial Russian Navy as shautbenakht (шаутбенахт). In 1724 the Russians, followed in 1771 by both the Swedish navy and the Dano-Norwegian navy changed the name of the rank to Counter Admiral (kontr-admiral in Russian, konteramiral in Swedish, kontreadmiral in Danish and Norwegian).