Talk:Master commandant
 | This article is rated Start-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale. It is of interest to the following WikiProjects: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
.jpg)
Officers promoted straight from Lieutenant to Captain...
editThe article notes that Stephen Decatur was promoted directly from Lieutenant to Captain, without ever serving as a Master Commandant.
While officers usually served first as a Lieutenant, and then Master Commandant, prior to promotion to Captain, but I don't believe he was the only USN officer to be honored by by this kind of promotion.
Some officers get promoted because they had excellent records, and their was a need for someone to be promoted. Other officers got promoted for something exceptional, like an exceptional act of bravery, or leadership. A really exceptional act might earn an officer a jump directly to Captain.
Historian C. Northcote Parkinson wrote a novel The Fireship, which describes the Battle of Camperdown, and its aftermath, where the First Lieutenant of every ship was promoted to Commander, except the First Lieutenant of the Flagship was promoted directly to Captain. So, it was a Royal Navy practice, as well.
My point? If Decatur wasn't the only officer to be honored in this way, maybe the other officers should be mentioned, or the Decatur comment should be dropped... Geo Swan (talk) 23:50, 22 December 2019 (UTC)