The Royal Navy's color-coded flag ranks gave the Admiralty several ways to manage senior officers' careers. Promotion normally moved through rear admiral, vice admiral, and admiral grades in the blue, white, and red squadrons, while especially successful officers could skip intermediate steps. There was no admiral of the red until 1805 because that position had traditionally implied command of the whole fleet beneath the admiral of the fleet. Calder's respectable progress suited a reliable officer who could fill command posts, although that reliability could be exposed when a post demanded independent strategic initiative.
Notable Point · 23:08-32:19
Admiral rank and reliable officers
A rank-system detour explains how the Royal Navy could manage admirals' careers and why Calder looked like a reliable rather than brilliant flag officer.