Military Ranks (RDM)

This rank structure for the re-imagined series is derived from the original series ranks as mentioned in Ronald D. Moore's blog.

Rank equivalencies

These ranks have been speculatively expanded into the following table in order to provide a rough rank equivalency with the United States Navy. Many aspects of the following table, including the addition of Vice and Rear Admiral ranks are speculative.
Rank equivalencies in real life are usually established only when two organizations with differing rank structures have to work together and establish who outranks whom. As this obviously isn't happening between Colonial Fleet and the United States military, the following table exists mainly to improve understanding of Colonial ranks for those familiar with the US military.

	BSG Military Rankings	Navy Equivalent	BSG Examples
FLAG OFFICERS
[O-11]	Fleet Admiral	Fleet Admiral	Nagala ^[1]
[O-10]	Admiral	Admiral	Nagala ^[1]
[O-9]	Vice Admiral	Vice Admiral
[O-8]	Rear Admiral	Rear Admiral(Upper Half)	Helena Cain, William Adama ^[2]
[O-7]	Commander	Rear Admiral(Lower Half) (formerly Commodore)	Lee Adama, Barry Garner ^[3]
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS
[O-6]	Colonel	Captain	Saul Tigh, Jack Fisk ^[4]
[O-5]	Major	Commander	Doctor Cottle
[O-4]	Captain	Lieutenant Commander	Kara Thrace, Aaron Kelly, Cole Taylor
[O-3]	Lieutenant	Lieutenant	Karl Agathon ^[5]
[O-2]	Lieutenant Junior Grade	Lieutenant Junior Grade	Sharon Valerii, Felix Gaeta, Louanne Katraine
[O-1]	Ensign	Ensign	Davis
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS
[E-9]	Master Chief Petty Officer (Fleet); Sergeant Major (Marines)	Master Chief Petty Officer
[E-8]	Senior Chief Petty Officer (Fleet); First Sergeant (Marines)	Senior Chief Petty Officer
[E-7]	Chief Petty Officer (Fleet); Gunnery Sergeant (Marines)	Chief Petty Officer	Galen Tyrol
[E-6]	Petty Officer 1st Class (Fleet); Staff Sergeant (Marines)	Petty Officer 1st Class	Sergeant Hadrian ^[6]
[E-5]	Petty Officer 2nd Class (Fleet); Sergeant (Marines)	Petty Officer 2nd Class	Anastasia Dualla (Season 1-2)
[E-4]	Petty Officer 3rd Class (Fleet); Corporal (Marines)	Petty Officer 3rd Class	Venner (CMC)
ENLISTED PERSONNEL
[E-3]	Crewman Specialist (Fleet); Private 1st Class (Marines)	Seaman	Cally Henderson, Socinus, Prosna, Scott Kelso (CMC)
[E-2]	Deckhand (Fleet); Private 2nd Class (Marines)	Seaman Apprentice
[E-1]	Recruit (Fleet); Private Recruit (Marines)	Seaman Recruit

Insignia

Senior Officers

Colonel	Commander	Rear Admiral


Junior Officers

Lieutenant, Junior Grade	Lieutenant	Captain	Major


Non-Commissioned Officers

Petty Officer, 2nd Class	Petty Officer, 1st Class ^[6]	Chief Petty Officer


Enlisted Personnel

	Crewman Specialist

These pictures were created by Jim Stevenson a.k.a. "137th Gebirg". Insignia for the other ranks have yet to be shown on screen and thus aren't listed here.

Senior Officers' ranks can also be identified by the color of the piping on their uniforms.

Notes

In a blog entry on February 19, 2005 Ronald Moore gave a little insight into the rank structure of Battlestar Galactica:

"What is the rank structure? It doesn't seem consistant with the Navy."
"The rank structure is derived from the original series. I didn't want to change Commander Adama to Captain Adama or Colonel Tigh to Commander Tigh, so I elected to simply embrace the co-mingled nature of the original rank structure. For our internal purposes, we've decided that the ranks are indeed a mixture of naval and army nomenclature and are basically as follows:
Officers:

Admiral

Commander

Colonel

Major

Captain

Lieutenant

Lieutenant (junior grade)

Ensign

Enlisted:

Master Chief Petty Officer

Chief Petty Officer

Petty Officer (1st, 2nd Class)

Specialist

Deck Hand

Recruit
Just to complicate matters further, there are also Marines aboard Galactica which conform more closely to the traditional enlisted Marine ranks, with Sergeants, Sergeant-Majors, etc. Unresolved is the question of whether the Marine officers would also adhere to the mixed rank structure (which sounds odd) or if they are strictly army equivalents (which makes no sense given that the "Navy" ranks seem oblivious to there being any such distinction). Aren't you glad you asked?"

References

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 Admiral: It is assumed that Nagala's given rank of Admiral (Miniseries) equates to that of Admiral in the US Navy. However, when he took personal command of the Colonial Fleet following the Cylon Attack (Miniseries), it is assumed he adopted the (war time) role of Fleet Admiral.
↑
Rear Admiral:
- In the Extended Version of the episode "Pegasus", Adama states "Fleet promoted her to Rear Admiral over half of the Commanders on the list." This could also indicate that Commander is not a flag rank in the BSG universe.
- A screen capture of Galactica's Dradis shows two stars next to Pegasus. It is speculated that this denotes Cain as a two-star Admiral.
- When Adama is promoted to Admiral in "Resurrection Ship, Part II" his new rank insignia are identical to Cain's. They also have two gold bars on the sides, which could be equivalent to today's two stars of a Rear Admiral, Upper Half.
↑
Commander: The rank of Commander is somwhat unclear, and may in fact cover several rank positions within the Colonial Fleet.
- Given William Adama's apparent seniority (his ability to assume full command of the fleet on hearing of the death of Nagala) it could be argued has been equated to that of Vice-Admiral - thus making him senior enough to take over the role of Fleet Admiral without objection from other battlestar commanders.
- However, given he is the commanding officer of a vessel, it could also be argued that Adama's rank equates to that of a U.S. Navy Captain.
- Equally, Adama's rank could easily equate to that of Commodore on the grounds that he was potentially the commander of the 75th Battlestar Group (assuming Galactica was the flag ship for BSG 75). For the purposes of this rank table, therefore, it is assumed that "Commander" encompasses both the flag and commanding officer roles, giving Adama an equivalent rank of Rear Admiral (Lower Half).
- An in-universe explanation for Adama easily taking command of the fleet, could be that he assumed Galactica was the only remaining fully functional battlestar after he received reports that the others fell victim to electronic malfunctions.
↑ Colonel: The equivalence of the rank of Colonel is highly speculative. Colonel Tigh is referred to as Galactica's Executive officer - which would nominally place him on a par with the US Navy rank of Commander. However, if Commander is equal to the USN rank of Rear Admiral (lower) then Colonel would equate with a US Navy Captain or a US Army Colonel.
↑ Helo states his rank as "Lieutenant, Junior Grade" in "33", but he consistantly wears the rank insignia of a full Lieutenant.
↑ ^6.0 ^6.1 In "Litmus" Sergeant Hadrian wears insignia listed here as "Petty Officer, 1st Class". While she is a Marine it is possible that some rank insignia are used in both services and thus conclude that her assumed rank of "Staff Sergeant" equates to "Petty Officer, 1st Class". Placing her one rank lower would create a conflict with the established insignia of "Petty Officer, 2nd Class"

[fa-1] 1.0 ^1.1 Admiral: It is assumed that Nagala's given rank of Admiral (Miniseries) equates to that of Admiral in the US Navy. However, when he took personal command of the Colonial Fleet following the Cylon Attack (Miniseries), it is assumed he adopted the (war time) role of Fleet Admiral.

[ra-2] Rear Admiral:
In the Extended Version of the episode "Pegasus", Adama states "Fleet promoted her to Rear Admiral over half of the Commanders on the list." This could also indicate that Commander is not a flag rank in the BSG universe.

A screen capture of Galactica's Dradis shows two stars next to Pegasus. It is speculated that this denotes Cain as a two-star Admiral.

When Adama is promoted to Admiral in "Resurrection Ship, Part II" his new rank insignia are identical to Cain's. They also have two gold bars on the sides, which could be equivalent to today's two stars of a Rear Admiral, Upper Half.

[3] In the Extended Version of the episode "Pegasus", Adama states "Fleet promoted her to Rear Admiral over half of the Commanders on the list." This could also indicate that Commander is not a flag rank in the BSG universe.

[4] A screen capture of Galactica's Dradis shows two stars next to Pegasus. It is speculated that this denotes Cain as a two-star Admiral.

[5] When Adama is promoted to Admiral in "Resurrection Ship, Part II" his new rank insignia are identical to Cain's. They also have two gold bars on the sides, which could be equivalent to today's two stars of a Rear Admiral, Upper Half.

[commander-3] Commander: The rank of Commander is somwhat unclear, and may in fact cover several rank positions within the Colonial Fleet.
Given William Adama's apparent seniority (his ability to assume full command of the fleet on hearing of the death of Nagala) it could be argued has been equated to that of Vice-Admiral - thus making him senior enough to take over the role of Fleet Admiral without objection from other battlestar commanders.

However, given he is the commanding officer of a vessel, it could also be argued that Adama's rank equates to that of a U.S. Navy Captain.

Equally, Adama's rank could easily equate to that of Commodore on the grounds that he was potentially the commander of the 75th Battlestar Group (assuming Galactica was the flag ship for BSG 75). For the purposes of this rank table, therefore, it is assumed that "Commander" encompasses both the flag and commanding officer roles, giving Adama an equivalent rank of Rear Admiral (Lower Half).

An in-universe explanation for Adama easily taking command of the fleet, could be that he assumed Galactica was the only remaining fully functional battlestar after he received reports that the others fell victim to electronic malfunctions.

[7] Given William Adama's apparent seniority (his ability to assume full command of the fleet on hearing of the death of Nagala) it could be argued has been equated to that of Vice-Admiral - thus making him senior enough to take over the role of Fleet Admiral without objection from other battlestar commanders.

[8] However, given he is the commanding officer of a vessel, it could also be argued that Adama's rank equates to that of a U.S. Navy Captain.

[9] Equally, Adama's rank could easily equate to that of Commodore on the grounds that he was potentially the commander of the 75th Battlestar Group (assuming Galactica was the flag ship for BSG 75). For the purposes of this rank table, therefore, it is assumed that "Commander" encompasses both the flag and commanding officer roles, giving Adama an equivalent rank of Rear Admiral (Lower Half).

[10] An in-universe explanation for Adama easily taking command of the fleet, could be that he assumed Galactica was the only remaining fully functional battlestar after he received reports that the others fell victim to electronic malfunctions.

[colonel-4] Colonel: The equivalence of the rank of Colonel is highly speculative. Colonel Tigh is referred to as Galactica's Executive officer - which would nominally place him on a par with the US Navy rank of Commander. However, if Commander is equal to the USN rank of Rear Admiral (lower) then Colonel would equate with a US Navy Captain or a US Army Colonel.

[helo-5] Helo states his rank as "Lieutenant, Junior Grade" in "33", but he consistantly wears the rank insignia of a full Lieutenant.

[hadrian-6] 6.0 ^6.1 In "Litmus" Sergeant Hadrian wears insignia listed here as "Petty Officer, 1st Class". While she is a Marine it is possible that some rank insignia are used in both services and thus conclude that her assumed rank of "Staff Sergeant" equates to "Petty Officer, 1st Class". Placing her one rank lower would create a conflict with the established insignia of "Petty Officer, 2nd Class"

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

Rank equivalencies

Insignia

Notes

See Also

References