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
Future of the Royal Navy although many programmes were reduced in scale. This has led to the replacement of smaller and more numerous units with fewer, but larger, units. The main examples of this are the replacement of twelve Type 42 destroyers with six Type 45s and the replacement of the three 20,000 tonne s with two 70,600 tonne "Queen Elizabeth"-class aircraft carriers. There are, as of November 2018, 13 Royal Navy ships and submarines under construction (A further 5 planned): Four s (boats 4-7), one "Dreadnought"-class ballistic missile submarine (boat 1 of 4), one "Queen Elizabeth"-class aircraft carrier (ship 2 of 2), one Type