Port admiral

Port admiral is an honorific rank in the United States Navy, and a former rank in the British Royal Navy.

Royal Navy

Port admiral was a positional rank, now apparently defunct, in the British Royal Navy.

A port admiral was not an actual admiral, but typically a veteran captain who served as the shore commander of a British naval port and was in charge of supplying, refitting, and maintaining the ships docked at harbour. As the port admiral technically had control of a fleet of ships, albeit mostly in drydock and layup, the position was granted the status of a navy admiral.

United States Navy

Port admiral is an honorific rank in the United States Navy, for the senior officer of the ships in a naval dockyard. Examples include Samuel Livingston Breese from 1869 to 1870 in Philadelphia. The port admiral usually has a flagship, examples of which include USS Roanoke for the New York port admiral from 1865 to 1874.

Use of the title in science fiction

The rank of port admiral appears in futuristic military organisations in science fiction.

In the Lensman novels, the rank of port admiral appeared as the most senior naval officer of the Galactic Patrol, with de facto supreme command over its forces. Three specific port admirals were mentioned by name: Roderick K. Kinnison, the first port admiral and ancestor of series protagonist Kimball Kinnison; Port Admiral Haynes, who commanded the patrol during Kimball Kinnison's early career and was a mentor and father figure to him; and Raoul Laforge, an academy classmate and friend of Kinnison's who had replaced the retired Haynes by the time of the last novel.

In the Starfire universe, a fleet admiral (five-star admiral) holds the position of port admiral, presiding over The Yard, the Terran Federation's largest and most important naval base and shipyard.

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