Everything about Lieutenant totally explained
Lieutenant is a
military,
naval,
paramilitary,
fire service or
police officer rank.
Lieutenant may also appear as part of a title used in various other organizations with a codified command structure. It often designates someone who is "second-in-command," and as such, may precede the name of the rank directly above it. For example, a "Lieutenant Master" is likely to be second-in-command to the "Master" in an organization utilizing both such ranks. Notable uses include
Lieutenant Governor in various governments, and
Quebec lieutenant in Canadian politics.
Etymology
The word
lieutenant derives from
French; the
lieu meaning "place" as in a position; and
tenant meaning "holding" as in "holding a position"; thus a "lieutenant" is somebody who holds a position in the absence of his or her superior (compare the cognate Latin
locum tenens). The
Arabic word for lieutenant,
mulāzim, also means "holding a place".
The
British monarch's representatives in the counties of the
United Kingdom are called
Lords Lieutenant. The
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland performed the function of
viceroy in
Ireland. In
French history, "lieutenant du roi" was a title borne by the officer sent with military powers to represent the king in certain provinces. It is in the sense of a deputy that it has entered into the titles of more senior officers,
Lieutenant General and
Lieutenant Colonel.
In the nineteenth century those British writers who either considered this word an imposition on the English language or difficult for common soldiers and sailors argued for it to be replaced by the
calque "steadholder" but failed and the French word is still used as well as its
Lieutenant-Colonel variation in both the Old and the
New World.
Pronunciation
In contemporary
American English, the word is usually .. In 1791,
English lexicographer John Walker lamented that the "regular sound" – /lju'tɛnənt/ – wasn't in general employ, giving the pronunciation current at the time as
/lɛv'tɛnənt/ or /lɪv'tɛnənt/.
and
New Yorker Richard Grant White, born in 1822, claimed never to have heard the /lju-/ form in his youth, the /lɛv-/ or /lɛf-/ form was by 1893 considered old-fashioned.
The earlier history of the pronunciation is unclear;
Middle English spellings included both forms like
lutenand and
lyeutenaunt suggesting the /lju-/ pronunciation and those like
leeftenant and
luftenand suggesting /lɛf-/.
Armies, Marines and Air Forces
Conventionally,
armies and other services or branches which use army-style rank titles (for example
air forces,
marine corps etc.) have two grades of Lieutenant. Some countries, however, use three. The
Royal Air Force and some other
Commonwealth air forces use a different rank system. Some Marine Corps use naval ranks.
Lieutenant/First Lieutenant
The senior grade of Lieutenant is known as First Lieutenant in the
United States, and as Lieutenant in the
United Kingdom and the rest of the
English-speaking world. In countries which don't speak English, the rank title usually translates as "Lieutenant", but may also translate as "First Lieutenant" or "Senior Lieutenant".
The Lieutenant was once the second officer in an
infantry company or
cavalry troop. The
Captain was the company or troop commander and the third officer had a variety of titles, hence the difference in modern day rank titles. Some countries used First Lieutenant and Second Lieutenant for the two junior officers; some used Lieutenant and Senior Lieutenant; some used Lieutenant and Sub-Lieutenant; some (such as Britain) used Lieutenant and
Ensign (infantry) or
Cornet (cavalry). When the latter ranks were changed to Second Lieutenant, the senior rank remained as Lieutenant.
Some parts of the
British Army, including the
Royal Artillery,
Royal Engineers, and
fusilier regiments, used First Lieutenant as well as Second Lieutenant until the end of the 19th century.
A Lieutenant usually commands a
platoon or similar unit.
In the Royal Air Force and some other Commonwealth air forces, the equivalent rank is
Flying Officer. From
1 April 1918 to
31 July 1919, the Royal Air Force maintained the rank of lieutenant. It was superseded by the rank of flying officer on the following day.
In the East-European countries the equivalent is
Senior Lieutenant.
Second Lieutenant
Second Lieutenant is usually the most junior grade of commissioned officer. In most cases, newly commissioned officers don't remain at the rank for long before being promoted. Officers commissioned from the ranks may miss out the rank altogether. The rank is used throughout the English-speaking world. In non-English-speaking countries, the equivalent rank title may translate as "Second Lieutenant", "Lieutenant", "Sub-Lieutenant", "Junior Lieutenant", "Alférez" (Spanish Army and Air Force), "Alférez de Fragata" (Spanish Armada), "Fenrik" (Norwegian Army), "Ensign", or "Leutnant" (German Army).
A Second Lieutenant usually also commands a platoon.
In the Royal Air Force and some other Commonwealth air forces, the equivalent rank is
Pilot Officer.
Third Lieutenant
Most countries don't maintain a third rank of Lieutenant. Those that do are all non-English-speaking, so the term "Third Lieutenant" isn't actually used. The rank title may actually translate as "Second Lieutenant", "Junior Lieutenant", "Sub-Lieutenant" or "Ensign".
The
Soviet Union used three ranks of Lieutenant, and so all
Warsaw Pact countries also standardised their ranking system with three ranks. Some of the former Soviet and Warsaw Pact nations have now discarded the third rank, however.
Countries with Third Lieutenant equivalent ranks include:
Throughout the 19th century, the
United States Army sometimes referred to
Brevet Second Lieutenants as "Third Lieutenants." These were typically newly commissioned officers for which no authorized Second Lieutenant position existed. Additionally, the
Confederate States Army also used Third Lieutenants, typically as the lowest ranking commissioned officer in an infantry company.
Circa 1981, United States Army ROTC cadets (officers in training) were, and may still be, considered as "Third Lieutenants" when visiting or training at a regular Army post. This rank being signified by a circle on the uniform and the cadets are treated as officers when on the post.
In the US Air Force, the Third Lieutenant Program refers specifically to a training program at active duty bases for cadets of the Air Force Academy and Air Force ROTC the summer before their fourth and final year before graduation and commissioning.
The designation 'third lieutenant' was used in the fictional armed forces in the novel
Starship Troopers. This designation was given to officers in training at a certain stage. Third officers were officers, but they were the very bottom of the
chain of command and didn't carry any real authority unless the absence or death of the commissioned officer required them to take charge. This status allows the officers-in-training to follow and study 'real' officers while maintaining the military staff structure.
Sub-Lieutenant
Police Lieutenant
Used in some police forces in the United States. It is normally roughly equivalent to the British Police
Inspector.
Rank insignia
The insignia of a Lieutenant in many navies, including the Royal Navy, consists of two medium
gold braid stripes (top stripe with loop) on a 'navy blue'/black background. This pattern was copied by the United States Navy and various Air Forces for their equivalent ranks grades (see
Flight Lieutenant).
Unlike the United States Navy, which uses different insignia to distinguish specialists, the Royal Navy and other Commonwealth navies differentiated between line and specialist officers by placing coloured bands (known as 'lights') between the braids. These were abolished in the RN in 1955 (with other navies following suit), except for scarlet for medical officers (introduced in 1863) and orange for dental officers (introduced in 1924), which are still used. The former colours were: light blue for navigating officers (1863–1867 only), and in the 20th century for instructor officers; white for paymaster officers (from 1863); purple for engineer officers (from 1863); silver grey for shipwright officers (from 1918); dark green for electrical officers (from 1918); maroon, later replaced by salmon pink, for wardmaster officers (commissioned medical assistants) (from 1918); and dark blue for ordnance officers (from 1918).
Rarely seen these days is the rank insignia worn on formal tail-coats, which comprises a silver anchor and a star on a shoulder-board covered with gold lace.
In armies, marines and other services, there's much greater variation. In most English-speaking and Arabic-speaking countries, as well as a number of European and South American nations, full lieutenants (and equivalents) usually wear two stars and second lieutenants (and equivalents) one. The United States Army, Air Force and Marine Corps are notable exceptions. These services distinguish their lieutenant ranks with one silver bar for First Lieutenant and one gold (brass) bar for Second Lieutenant. Naval lieutenants also wear bars in the same configuration as their equivalents in the other services. In the United States services stars are used for flag- and general-rank insignia. In the
British Army and
Royal Marines a Lieutenant is distinguished by two diamond-shaped "pips" on the rank slide.
Prior to the 1968 unification of the
Canadian Forces, the
Canadian Army and
Royal Canadian Navy followed the British pattern for second lieutenants and lieutenants. After unification, a second lieutenant wore a single gold ring around the cuff of the "CF Green" uniform and on shirt-sleeve epaulettes. A Lieutenant wore a single gold ring with a thinner one above it. On paper, these ranks applied to "army", "navy" and "air force" personnel, but in practise, aboard ship "naval" personnel (the former RCN was a very strong opponent of unification) continued to use the "acting sublieutenant", "sublieutenant" and "lieutenant" titles, until these were recognised by the Canadian Department of National Defence for
Canadian Forces Maritime Command personnel. In the mid-1980s, the "naval" and "air" components reverted to uniforms similar to the former RCN and RCAF. Maritime Command kept their naval ranks but Air Command continued to use "second lieutenant" and "lieutenant" rather than reverting to pre-1968 RCAF ranks.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Lieutenant'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://lieutenant.totallyexplained.com">Lieutenant Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
