Air commodore is never shortened to Commodore, which is a rank in various naval forces. Air commodore is a one-star rank and the most junior air officer rank, being immediately senior to group captain and immediately subordinate to air vice-marshal. It has a NATO ranking code of OF-6 and is equivalent to a commodore in the Royal Navy or a brigadier in the British Army or the Royal Marines. Unlike these two ranks, however, it has always been a substantive rank. Additionally, air commodores have always been considered to be air officers whilst Royal Navy commodores have not since the Napoleonic Wars
The Commodore The date of publication (1945) reveals Forester's preoccupation in "The Commodore"—he parallels the political situation with that in the Second World War. In both cases, Russia was originally allied with a continental dictator (Hitler/Napoleon) but changed sides after being treacherously invaded. In both cases, Sweden remained neutral and traded with both sides. Russia similarly occupied other Baltic territories (Finland, Lithuania etc.) raising doubts about the correct response among the British government. In "The Commodore" (but not in the real Napoleonic period), as in the Second World War, the Royal Navy offered substantial help to Russia: at the siege of Riga,