Yellow admirals and the limits of promotion by seniority

Did calling an officer a yellow admiral imply cowardice?

No. It meant promotion without seagoing employment, allowing the navy to pass over unsuitable senior officers for command.

A yellow admiral was not being labelled a coward for choosing to avoid sea service. The navy could promote a senior captain while withholding a seagoing command because it did not consider him suitable. Some received shore or dockyard employment, while others received no posting. This allowed promotion by seniority to continue without giving every promoted officer a fleet to command. Appointing commodores provided another way around the formal admiral list; the example describes a major fleet commanded by a commodore with subordinate commodores. A later clarification notes the reduction to half pay when an officer was not employed at sea.