thumb|right|150px|alfred von tirpitz in the uniform of a groÃadmiral groÃadmiral was the most senor regular flag officer rank in the historic naval forces of germany and austria-hungary, comparable to nato rank codes of10, and to the five-star rank in anglophone armed forces. it was equivalent to generalfeldmarschall or feldmarschall of the german army. as sign of the high rank and honor the groÃadmiral wore the "groÃadmiralÂ´s baton" (german groÃadmiralsstab).brockhaus, the encyclopedia in 24 volumes (1796â2001), volume 9: 3-7653-3660-2, page 164; definition: Â«groÃadmiralÂ» ==germany== thumb|right|command post flag groÃadmiral of the imperial german navy in the imperial german navy, the rank groÃadmiral was the equivalent of a british admiral of the fleet or a united states fleet admiral. it was created in 1901, and like field marshals its holders were authorised to carry a baton.the times, 1 january 1901.  ===world war i=== before and during world war i, the following were made grand admirals of the imperial german navy (kaiserliche marine): *emperor wilhelm ii (1901) *king oscar ii of sweden (1901) *hans von koester (28 june 1905) *prince henry of prussia (4 september 1909) *alfred von tirpitz (27 january 1911) *henning von holtzendorff (31 may 1918) ===world war ii===  there were no more grand admirals until 1939. the following were made grand admirals of the german kriegsmarine ("war navy") * erich raeder, then-commander-in-chief of the kriegsmarine, was made a grand admiral on 1 april 1939 * karl dÃ¶nitz, commander of the u-boat fleet and was made a grand admiral on 30 january 1943 upon succeeding raeder as commander-in-chief. {| class="toccolours" border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0.5em auto; clear: both;" |- |width="30%" align="center"|junior rankgeneraladmiral |width="40%" align="center" |[[file:war ensign of
Military_of_Austria Military_of_Austria-Hungary Military_ranks_of_Austria Military_ranks_of_Germany Naval_ranks