Commodore was then an acting appointment rather than a substantive Royal Navy rank in its own right. A captain might serve as a commodore and later revert to captain, and the appointment offered no automatic path to rear admiral. Michael Clapp supplies the concrete example: after commanding the Falklands amphibious task group as commodore, he returned to his captain's rank and retired on schedule. Major command responsibility and the rank recorded at retirement can therefore appear mismatched.
Notable Point · 15:52-17:57
Why a Royal Navy commodore could retire as a captain
Commodore was then an acting appointment, so holding that responsibility neither changed an officer's substantive rank nor guaranteed promotion to rear admiral.