Lieutenant commander (O-4)
Lieutenant commander is a US Navy commissioned officer rank, pay grade O-4. On khakis the insignia is a gold oak leaf.
Easily confused with
How to read it
The uniform regulations give a lieutenant commander a gold oak leaf, worn with its stem away from the collar, and on the sleeve two 13 mm (½ in) gold stripes with a 6 mm (¼ in) stripe between them. It sits above Lieutenant (O-3) and below Commander (O-5), whose oak leaf is silver. Navy.com says lieutenant commanders hold senior roles aboard ships, submarines, squadrons and shore commands. The Army equivalent, also O-4, is a major.
Also searched as: LCDR.
Ranks and insignia as the US Navy’s own uniform regulations and pages set them out. Pay grades are the Department of Defense’s.
Gold leaf or silver leaf
Gold is the lower rank here too: a gold oak leaf is O-4, a silver one O-5.
Where the rank came from
The Naval History and Heritage Command says the title grew from “lieutenant commanding”, a senior lieutenant in command of a small warship, and became lieutenant commander in 1862, when the gold oak leaves were first worn.
More navy ranks
Browse symbols drawn with curves and waves.
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; officer introduction
- 37 U.S.C. § 201: Pay grades, 37 U.S. Code § 201, Pay grades: assignment to; general rules, Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School, § 201(a)
- 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
- Navy Uniform Regulations, article 4103: Shoulder insignia, United States Navy Uniform Regulations (NAVPERS 15665J), art. 4103, Navy Personnel Command (MyNavy HR), art. 4103.2c, 4103.4a
- U.S. Navy Ranks & Insignia, U.S. Navy Ranks & Insignia (navy.com), U.S. Navy Recruiting Command (navy.com), Commissioned Officer Ranks
- Naval Traditions: Names of Rank, “Lieutenant Commander”, Naval Traditions: Names of Rank, Officer, “Lieutenant Commander”, Naval History and Heritage Command, paras. 1–2
- Navy Uniform Regulations, article 4104: Collar grade insignia, United States Navy Uniform Regulations (NAVPERS 15665J), art. 4104, Navy Personnel Command (MyNavy HR), art. 4104.2–3
Last reviewed September 29, 2026 by Rory Hansen. How we research