Fleet admiral
Fleet admiral is a five-star US Navy rank created in the Second World War. The Department of Defense lists it as reserved for wartime only, and nobody holds it today.
How to read it
Congress created the grade on 14 December 1944, according to the Naval History and Heritage Command, and four officers held it: Ernest J. King, William D. Leahy and Chester W. Nimitz from December 1944, and William H. Halsey from December 1945. Each served in the grade until he died. The law included a sunset clause that ended the president’s power to appoint five-star officers six months after the formal end of hostilities, and none have been appointed since. The notes to the law that lists the Navy’s grades say fleet admiral is left out because the law authorising appointments to it was limited. The Department of Defense’s insignia chart shows it as O-11, above Admiral (O-10).
Also searched as: FADM, five-star admiral.
Ranks and insignia as the US Navy’s own uniform regulations and pages set them out. Pay grades are the Department of Defense’s.
Stripes on the sleeve
The Navy’s uniform regulations still describe the fleet admiral’s sleeve insignia: one 5 cm (2 in) gold stripe with four 13 mm (½ in) stripes above it, one more than an admiral.
The Army’s five-star rank
The same 1944 law created five-star ranks for Navy and Army officers. The Army’s is general of the Army, which the Department of Defense also lists as reserved for wartime.
Read next
- Next in Navy ranksSeaman apprentice (E-2)Seaman apprentice is the second enlisted rank in the US Navy, pay grade E-2. Its mark is two short diagonal stripes on the left sleeve.
- In Army ranksGeneral of the ArmyFive stars are the insignia of General of the Army, the US Army’s five-star rank, created in 1944 for the Second World War and held by five officers.
More navy ranks
The same shape elsewhere
Browse symbols drawn with stars.
Sources
- U.S. Military Rank Insignia, Resources: U.S. Military Rank Insignia (enlisted and officer insignia by paygrade), U.S. Department of Defense (defense.gov), Officer insignia, O-11; Officer insignia, O-11
- Navy Uniform Regulations, article 4101: Officer sleeve insignia, United States Navy Uniform Regulations (NAVPERS 15665J), art. 4101, Navy Personnel Command (MyNavy HR), art. 4101.3a(1)
- The Navy’s World War II-era Fleet Admirals, The Navy’s World War II-era Fleet Admirals (extracted from the Naval Historical Foundation’s booklet Fleet Admirals, U.S. Navy), Naval History and Heritage Command, paras. 1–2; para. 1
- Naval Traditions: Names of Rank, “Admiral”, Naval Traditions: Names of Rank, Officer, “Admiral”, Naval History and Heritage Command, para. 4
- 10 U.S.C. § 8111: Navy grades above chief warrant officer, W-5, 10 U.S. Code § 8111, with historical and revision notes, Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School, Historical and Revision Notes
Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed September 29, 2026. How we research
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