Tag: flag officer

A flag officer is a member of the upper echelons of a military force, ranking above all other members and directly above senior officers.

For tagging purposes, a flag officer holds any of the following five ranks, or their equivalents:

• Imperial Japanese 准将 (junshou), no Japanese SDF equivalent, North Atlantic Treaty Organization code OF-6.
• Imperial Japanese 少将 (shoushou), Japanese SDF 将補 (shouho), North Atlantic Treaty Organization code OF-7.
• Imperial Japanese 中将 (chuujou), Japanese SDF 将 (shou), North Atlantic Treaty Organization code OF-8.
• Imperial Japanese 大将 (taishou), no Japanese SDF equivalent, North Atlantic Treaty Organization code OF-9.
• Imperial Japanese 元帥 (gensui), no Japanese SDF equivalent, North Atlantic Treaty Organization code OF-10.

Other terms that may be used include 提督 (teitoku) and 将軍 (shougun), which may be equivalent to any of those ranks for the navy and army respectively.

Their English-language equivalents include:

• junshou: commodore or rear admiral (navy), brigadier or brigadier general or brigade general (army), brigadier general or air commodore (air force).
• shoushou/shouho: rear admiral (navy), brigadier general or brigade general or major general (army), major general or air vice-marshal (air force).
• chuujou/shou: vice admiral (navy), lieutenant general or divisional general (army), lieutenant general or air marshal (air force).
• taishou: admiral (navy), general or army general (army), general or air chief marshal (air force).
• gensui: fleet admiral or admiral of the fleet (navy), field marshal or general of the army (army), general of the air force or marshal of the air force (air force).

Please note that, due to overlap in meanings for the names of certain ranks in English (such as different forces using the same names for different ranks, or the words also holding meanings that are unrelated to the ranks themselves), foreign dubs and subs are generally not considered valid sources on military ranks; please refer to the original audio instead.