Commodore (Royal Navy) Commodore (Royal Navy) Commodore (Cdre) is a rank of the Royal Navy above captain and below rear admiral. It has a NATO ranking code of OF-6. The rank is equivalent to brigadier in the British Army and Royal Marines and to air commodore in the Royal Air Force. The rank of commodore was introduced during the 17th century in November 1674 (though not legally established until 1806). In 1684 the navy introduced two classes of commodore, the first known as a "Commodore Distinction" and the other a "Commodore Ordinary"; these would later evolve into commodores first and second class. In
Royal Scots Navy that of England. The office of Lord High Admiral was subsumed within the office of the Admiral of Great Britain. The three vessels of the small Royal Scottish Navy were transferred to the Royal Navy. A number of Scottish officers eventually left the Royal Navy for service in the fledgling Russian navy of Peter the Great. These included the captain of the "Royal Mary" Thomas Gordon, who became a commodore in 1717 took service and rose to be Admiral and commander-in-chief of the Baltic Fleet. The most accessible work on the Old Scots Navy and Scots naval matters, prior to