Member states of NATO members and three former Yugoslav republics) from 12 March 1999 to 5 June 2017. NATO has added new members seven times since its founding in 1949, and since 2017 NATO has had 29 members. Twelve countries were part of the founding of NATO: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In 1952, Greece and Turkey became members of the Alliance, joined later by West Germany (in 1955) and Spain (in 1982). In 1990, with the reunification of Germany, NATO grew to include the former country of East Germany. Between
Admiral (Royal Navy) highest rank an admiral could attain to was Vice-Admiral of Red who then flew the plain red flag. The next promotion step up from that was to Admiral of the Fleet. Post-1805 until 1864 the Vice Admiral of the Red flag changed to a plain red flag with a single white ball in the upper left canton. Admiral (Royal Navy) Admiral is a senior rank of the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom, which equates to the NATO rank code OF-9, outranked only by the rank admiral of the fleet. Royal Navy officers holding the ranks of rear admiral, vice