• The Indian Navy ranking system is similar to the British and American.moored naval ships image by Christopher Dodge from Fotolia.com
  
  The Indian Navy is the world's fifth-largest, with more than 67,000 men and women on active duty. It is divided into three area commands, each headed by a flag-ranked officer. Enlisted ranks include sailors, support personnel, marine commandos, aviators and the Sagar Prahari Bal, a coast guard force of 1,000 soldiers. The Indian main fleet consists of more than 155 vessels, including an aircraft carrier and its complement of jet fighters., The Indian Navy follows a rank structure similar to those of the British and American navies.
  
  

Enlisted Personnel

• A naval recruit enters training as seaman II (second class). The enlisted man or woman rises in the ranks through seaman I and leading seaman.
  
  

Junior Commissioned Officers

• The Indian Navy refers to its petty officers as junior commissioned officers (JCO), the equivalent of noncommissioned officers. The petty officer rises to chief petty officer, master chief petty officer (JCO second class) and master chief petty officer (JCO first class).
  
  

Officer Trainees

• People enter officer candidate school with the rank of cadet. They train on a training vessel alongside the men and women they will eventually command. Successful cadets become midshipmen after six months of training and move to front-line fleet vessels, living in junior officers' quarters and continuing their training. When a midshipman completes his training, he becomes a full-fledged officer.
  
  

Officers

• Sublieutenants, the lowest-ranking officers in the Indian Navy, are assistants to lieutenants. They are eligible for promotion to executive sublieutenant, at which point they begin their technical courses and work toward watch-keeping certificates. Once they complete this stage, they are assigned to a ship and begin their service. The next rank is lieutenant, who acts as an aide to the captain. Lieutenants are ranked by position in service and seniority from first lieutenant to second lieutenant on down, depending on how many lieutenants serve on the ship. A first lieutenant may step in to assume the command of the ship if the captain is disabled or killed. A flag lieutenant acts as aide-de-camp to an officer of flag rank. Lieutenants who are given command of smaller vessels are called lieutenant commander and may be promoted to the rank of commander. The commander is often second-in-command of medium-size and large ships. Any officer commanding a ship is referred to as captain. However, the official rank of captain by seniority is a required to command larger or key fleet vessels. Captains with five years of seniority serving on shore are given the honorary title commodore, but they revert to being called captain if they go to sea.
  
  

Flag Rank

• When a captain is promoted to flag rank, he becomes a rear admiral. Next comes vice admiral and admiral. The Indian Navy also has an admiral of the fleet rank, but it is strictly an honorary rank awarded only in wartime; as of 2010, no officer has held this rank in the Indian Navy.