How blue, white, and red admiral ranks worked

Wartime promotion could skip color grades, as Jervis did, because the substantive hierarchy ran from rear admiral through vice admiral to admiral. Red, white, and blue reflected the historic center, van, and rear squadrons and distinguished seniority among officers of the same rank. A rear admiral of a senior color did not outrank a vice admiral, while commissions and command appointments settled finer questions between officers of equal grade. The color system therefore worked more like seniority subdivisions within a substantive flag rank than a separate ladder that crossed rank boundaries.