RCN Officer's Insignia ( con't)

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Up until the Integration period of the Canadian Forces in 1968-1970, the RCN Officer's Insignia was identical to that of the RN.
That is to say, the same lace designating rank was worn on both the sleeves of the uniform & mess dress tunics, & on the shoulder boards which were worn on the white & khaki uniform tunics & the greatcoat.

The buttons on the shoulder boards should read CANADA, altho some officers worn the RN buttons at times.

So I will illustrate below the various shoulder board ranks & also their accompanying collar insignia:

A brief bit about RCN collar insignia -- Collar insignia appeared in the RCN when the post war Khaki uniforms were introduced in 1947. In addition to wearing shoulder boards, the officer wore, on the collars of his khaki shirt, brass rank insignia, they were attached by "clutch" fasteners.
Officers could also wear the collar insignia on the blue working shirt sometimes worn on board ship.

The first Commissioned rank for the Midshipman was Acting Sub Lieut, this being equivalent to Second Lieut in the Army & Sub Lieut being equivalent to 1st Lieut in the Army.

Acting Sub Lieut & Sub Lieut insignia were the same & are shown below, with the corresponding collar badge:

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Next rank up was Lieutenant, equivalent to Army Captain: Lieut was probably the most common officer rank in the RCN.

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Next rank up was Lieutenant Commander, equivalent to Army Major:

A Lieut was promoted to Lieut Commander normally after attaining 8 years seniority as a Lieut.

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Next rank up was Commander, equivalent to Army Lieut Colonel:

The ranks of Commander & Captain were considered senior officers in the RCN & they usually held senior staff positions or appointments of command.

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Captain was next up, equivalent to an Army Colonel.

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The next rank up was Commodore, equivalent to an Army Brigade General.

This was a senior appointment in the RCN. A Commodore would command the Naval Dockyard & Naval Barracks on one of the coasts (ie: Commodore in Command of Halifax Dockyard & Royal Naval Barracks Stadacona), or hold a very senior HQ Appointment, or command of one of the RCN's aircraft carriers (ie: HMS Magnificent or Bonaventure)

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When a Commodore achieved Flag rank he became a Rear Admiral, equivalent to an Army Major general.

The post war RCN was fairly small, not nearly as small as the RCN of the interwar period, but much reduced from wartime strength. There were 3 or 4 Rear Admirals in the post war RCN until the rapid expansion of the RCN in the early & mid 50's.

A Rear Admiral would command one of the coasts, ie: Flag Officer Atlantic, or Flag Officer Pacific, & another at HQ as Assistant Chief of Naval Staff. The Naval Comptroller was the other Flag rank.

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& finally the top of the ladder for our Officer - his final promotion to Vice Admiral, equivalent to Army Lieut General.

There was only one Vice Admiral in the RCN & this was the CNS (Chief of Naval Staff) - the "boss" of the Navy.

Only one exception to this was made in the RCN - in 1944 Vice Admiral Percy Nelles (CNS at the time) was specially promoted to Admiral & posted to Canadian Naval Mission overseas at HMS Niobe in UK. When he retired in 1946 the appointment was never renewed.

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A few shots of an RCN Officer's uniform of the 1950 -1960's period.

The uniform of Commander G.J. Giroux, CD, RCN.

Commander Giroux served in the RCN from 1949. He ws originally an Ordnance branch officer. He was Ordnance Officer on HMCS Athabaskan during the Korean war & was MiD.

Bryan

[RCN]

A close up of Commander Giroux sleeve lace & medal ribbons: