Commodore appointments could bypass an unsuitable senior captain

A trusted junior captain could receive local authority to command other ships without waiting for the normal promotion sequence. The distinction drawn here is between a commodore's pennant granted by the station or fleet commander and an appointment backed by the Admiralty. The latter offered a way to settle succession when an admiral died overseas and the senior surviving captain was not trusted with the whole station. A replacement admiral could take time to arrive, so an appointment sent from home could give another captain precedence. Temporary command authority let the service select for the immediate job while working within its seniority system.