Cain's rank?

[busuan]

Just a quick question: in this new series, what's Cain's rank, Admiral, Vice Admiral or Rear Admiral?
Don't tell me she's a Fleet Admiral

[dosed150]

it doesnt actually say and the ranks are kinda hard to read

[Qasim]

They just said Admiral in the ep

[d3u5]

Just a quick question: in this new series, what's Cain's rank, Admiral, Vice Admiral or Rear Admiral?
Don't tell me she's a Fleet Admiral

Ron Moore said that there is a cut scene where is explained that she was promoted just before cylon attack. So by Colonial Ranks, she's just Rear Admiral. But they are in war and she is senior commanding officer, in-what-has-left-of-the-fleet, so she could be Fleet Admiral:

Fleet Admiral
Admiral
Vice Admiral
Rear Admiral
Commander
Colonel
Major
Captain
Lieutenant
Junior Lieutenant
Ensign
Master Chief Petty Officer
Senior Chief Petty Officer
Chief Petty Officer
Petty Officer 1st Class
Petty Officer 2nd Class
Petty Officer 3rd Class
Crewman
Crewman Apprentice

[923flanigan]

Just a quick question: in this new series, what's Cain's rank, Admiral, Vice Admiral or Rear Admiral?
Don't tell me she's a Fleet Admiral

Well, in Pegasus she says

Spoiler:

welcome back to the colonial fleet

, so you have to assume that she is the Fleet Admiral and is telling them that they are now a part of her fleet again. It could also mean, though, that she is remarking on how long they have been alone.

[Qasim]

As she is the highest ranking officer that they know of in a way she becomes fleet admiral by default

[LordHart]

Don't tell me she's a Fleet Admiral

And what would be so wrong with her being a Fleet Admiral?

[MicaelJ]

And what would be so wrong with her being a Fleet Admiral?

For one that she's much too young to have realistically gotten anywhere near that rank in peace time and she'd have had to promote herself to have gotten it in war time.

You do not get an automatic promotion in rank if your superiors are gone, you do however assume their responsibilities and authority unless regulations specify otherwise. The easiest comparison here is with Adama who for a prolonged period of time has been the highest ranking (known) officer in the fleet but has still retained the rank of Commander.

[Excali5033]

Promotions of senior officers have to be approved by the President and Congress (in this case, the Quorum). I guess even Cain isn't so far gone yet that she'd promote herself.

[creed462]

If they can do that, and I was them I'd promote Adama to a higher rank then her quick

[shipdriver]

If they can do that, and I was them I'd promote Adama to a higher rank then her quick

If there are any parallels to the US military, they are the only ones who can. No standing military allows officers to promote themselves (except when they overthrow the government!), regardless of the circumstances.
Many countries in this world have rather small navies. They are not led by Fleet Admirals. Of course neither is the US Navy for that matter. Command of all available forces does not mean automatic promotion to the highest rank on the books.
Anyways, I have never seen an actual list of available ranks in either the original series or the current one. There may not actually be Rear Admirals, Vice Admirals, etc. etc. She may be simply an admiral and nothing more. What really matters is that Admiral is higher than Commander. The shows' writers seem to pull whatever rank they've heard somewhere and just throw it in. I mean in real life, a Colonel outranks a Commander. Of course, this is leaving aside the very real distinction between the rank of Captain and the position of Captain or the rank of Commander and the position of Commander. Battlestars are the only Colonial warships I have ever heard mentioned, so the fleet is just a collection of battlestars which means the officer structure above the battlestar level probably doesn't have many layers. In fact, if there were say only 12 battlestars, the COs of the battlestars would be a pretty exclusive club in and of themselves ("The Commander Protection Society"). Even if there were 35 battlestars, how many admirals do you need?

[MicaelJ]

If there are any parallels to the US military, they are the only ones who can. No standing military allows officers to promote themselves (except when they overthrow the government!), regardless of the circumstances.
Many countries in this world have rather small navies. They are not led by Fleet Admirals. Of course neither is the US Navy for that matter. Command of all available forces does not mean automatic promotion to the highest rank on the books.
Anyways, I have never seen an actual list of available ranks in either the original series or the current one. There may not actually be Rear Admirals, Vice Admirals, etc. etc. She may be simply an admiral and nothing more. What really matters is that Admiral is higher than Commander. The shows' writers seem to pull whatever rank they've heard somewhere and just throw it in. I mean in real life, a Colonel outranks a Commander. Of course, this is leaving aside the very real distinction between the rank of Captain and the position of Captain or the rank of Commander and the position of Commander. Battlestars are the only Colonial warships I have ever heard mentioned, so the fleet is just a collection of battlestars which means the officer structure above the battlestar level probably doesn't have many layers. In fact, if there were say only 12 battlestars, the COs of the battlestars would be a pretty exclusive club in and of themselves ("The Commander Protection Society"). Even if there were 35 battlestars, how many admirals do you need?

Ron Moore released a list of ranks and rates in his blog, in it he only listed one "admiral" rank however there are alternate suggestions of which one can be viewed here: http://battlestarwiki.org/index.php?...Military_Ranks
I don't entirely agree with all the conslusions reached there but it is an interesting starting point for debate.

There has been mention of other colonial ships, and Ron Moore has also said that he imagines the battlestars to normally have escort ships like real life carriers. Also the number of battlestars were quoted to be 120, and a fleet of that size would need to have a number of admirals, certainly an existance of more than one flag rank is justified.

[Madacapa]

For one that she's much too young to have realistically gotten anywhere near that rank in peace time and she'd have had to promote herself to have gotten it in war time.

You do not get an automatic promotion in rank if your superiors are gone, you do however assume their responsibilities and authority unless regulations specify otherwise. The easiest comparison here is with Adama who for a prolonged period of time has been the highest ranking (known) officer in the fleet but has still retained the rank of Commander.

I predict, with no inside knowledge, that in 2006 President Roslin will promote Commander Adama to Admiral, just so that this won't happen. He really should be an Admiral, and if President Roslin knew what the frak she was doing, then she would have promoted him all ready.

[Bl4de]

I hated how Cain said "welcome back to the Colonial Fleet", screw her, the last surviving humans from the colonies were the fleet.

At any rate, I suspect that the Pegasus and her crew do not do things by the book. They've been isolated for months and months by themselves, with all civilians rescued taking on a military duty. I imagine they went pretty crazy (see cylon "interrogator", the idiot-children viper pilots, CAG with a stick up his ass, Cain doing what Fisk said).

She was probably looking at Roslin so funny because she feared her, she knew she was a Secretary of Education, and that her relationship with Adama might force her to promote Adama in a crisis situation where Adama wanted control back (or in this case his men). Roslin knew it too that's probably why she was so distant in the conversation, she was probably running the idea over in her head of promoting Adama.

[k1037]

Well, in Pegasus she says

Spoiler:

welcome back to the colonial fleet

, so you have to assume that she is the Fleet Admiral and is telling them that they are now a part of her fleet again. It could also mean, though, that she is remarking on how long they have been alone.

She meant it more to show that *she* was in charge, not him. THEY were joining up with her, she wasn't joining up with THEM.