Admiral / Legends The title of Admiral signified senior command rank in many navies and starfleets . Admirals , also known generally as flag officers , were typically responsible for a high level military command at battle group or fleet level , and / or for administrative and political duties relating to naval operations . Basic terminology . Most navies made use of various grades of admiral , with the basic hierarchy of Rear Admiral , Vice Admiral and full admiral seemingly almost universal . Below rear - admiral , the position of commodore was often regarded as a junior flag rank , and at least one instance of a Brevet Admiral is known . Some navies also had superior flag ranks above full Admiral , such as the Admiral of the Fleet in the Rebel Alliance and New Republic , and Grand Admirals under the Galactic Empire and the Galactic Alliance . Galactic Republic . A number of Admirals were known to have served the Galactic Republic in the fortieth century BBY , during the Mandalorian Wars and the Jedi Civil War , but the use of the title seems to have been reasonably restricted : in the Great Sith War , the main Republic fleet had been commanded by Captain Orley Vanicus , and captains like Saul Karath continued to serve subsequently as battle group commanders . Little is known about flag ranks in the subsequent millennia of Old Republic history , and during the Clone Wars , captains like Gilad Pellaeon and Sagoro Autem were once again found as squadron and fleet commanders . However , a few admirals were known to have held field commands , such as Arikakon Baraka , a Mon Calamari who commanded the supercruiser " Nexu " , and the Sakiyan Tarnese Bleyd , who commanded at Drongar . Curiously , whereas Pellaeon and Autem commanded significant task forces of capital ships , these admirals apparently had only their own command ships and attached surface units under their authority , but it may be significant that both Bleyd and Baraka seem to have had no Jedi Generals in their chain of command , and were thus the ultimate authority for the clone troopers of their commands . Other flag officers held high positions on Coruscant , a situation that perhaps predated the Clone Wars , and indeed may have continued from before the Ruusan Reformation . An admiral named Jerjerrod is recorded serving at Naval Command , while an Admiral Kiner is named as the Republic ' s last important counter - espionage expert before its security and spying networks were amalgamated into Imperial Intelligence . Ronnan Tyla Vedij may likewise have reached flag rank under the Republic rather than the New Order . Alliance and New Republic . Under the Rebel Alliance , each battle line was commanded by a Line Admiral : the only two officers who can be said to have held a different level of flag rank are Gial Ackbar , styled " Admiral of the Fleet " as the Alliance ' s overall naval commander , and the Quarren Wirriz , who is known to have held the rank of vice admiral . Wirriz ' s rank probably indicates the use of the standard three - tier structure of flag ranks within Alliance forces , but in the absence of further proof , other interpretations remain possible : for instance , the title of Vice Admiral might have been accorded to the naval second - in - command , with all further flag officers being line admirals . Under the New Republic , the ranks of commodore , rear admiral and vice admiral are recorded explicitly , and it is likely that full admirals also existed , although the more ambiguous range of meaning of the simple term " admiral " means that conclusive evidence is lacking . Thus , while it is known that an admiral was graded ' C - 1 ' and regarded as equivalent to a general in the chain of command , it may be that this definition in fact extended to all New Republic flag officers . Strictly speaking , there is only actually evidence for a rank of " Vice Admiral ( retired ) " , held by the veteran Bothan commander Kursk Mal ' ia , after he stood down from active duty . This could have been an honorary appointment granted at the end of a career , and as with the Rebellion , it cannot ultimately be ruled out that all active - duty " admirals " in the New Republic were , in fact , basically rear admirals . At the head of the New Republic fleet hierarchy , the style " Admiral of the Fleet " remained Ackbar ' s unique prerogative , reflecting his decades of service as Supreme Commander . Perhaps in respect of Ackbar ' s reputation , his successor Sien Sovv opted to use the title Fleet Admiral instead , which was awarded to at least one other admiral serving alongside him during the Yuuzhan Vong War , the Bothan Traest Kre ' fey . Imperial Navy . In the Imperial Navy , to cope with the immense expansion in the size of the fleet , a number of additional flag ranks were created within the Sector Group hierarchy . A simple style of admiral denoted the lowest of these grades , indicating command of a squadron of capital ships , and a rank not markedly higher than Captain of the Line . Above this came a hierarchy of Systems Admirals and Fleet Admirals under the High Admiral of the Sector , usually a Moff . In some cases within the context of Imperial Admirals , the term " admiral " can also be used as a general term for various Admirals even if their actual rank was higher than the simple style . An admiral in the Imperial Navy commanded ten times as many forces as an admiral of the same rank did under the Galactic Republic . The Empire also retained a normal hierarchy of rear admirals , vice admirals , and full admirals , but the exact relationship of these ranks to the Sector Group titles is unclear . What is known for sure is that Michael Unther , having previously served as a fleet admiral or even a High Admiral , was subsequently promoted to rear admiral , normally the most junior substantive flag rank . It is possible that many Sector Group Admirals may have been little more than senior captains , in a system perhaps connected with the unusual usage of the title of commander recorded in the Imperial Navy . Although most promotions to Admiral were treated as an honor , admirals who were promoted aboard and assigned to the Star Dreadnought " Executor " were an exception , with many of its junior officers forming betting pools on its admiral ' s life expectancy due to the vessel ' s infamous reputation as the Imperial enforcer Darth Vader ' s flagship and its various admirals suffering from summary execution from failure as a result . In 2 BBY , a rank of Grand Admiral was created , ranking above all other Imperial flag officers , but shortly before the Battle of Endor , Lord Darth Vader was appointed Supreme Commander . Confederation . In the Confederation during the Second Galactic Civil War , the military forces were led by people holding the rank of Admiral . The most notable of these was Wedge Antilles , who briefly commanded the Corellian forces until breaking with the government in the aftermath of their attempted assassination of Tenel Ka Djo . Behind the scenes . The usage of flag ranks in Star Wars is generally based on real - world conventions , but there are exceptions to this , most notably in the Imperial Sector Group hierarchy discussed above . Also , the lack of categorical references to full Admirals in the navies of the Rebel Alliance and New Republic cannot be countermanded by appeal to real - world standards : as the evolution of shows , scenarios are possible in which only part of the usual hierarchy of Admirals ' ranks is used .