Royal Navy promotion did not carry every competent officer automatically into flag rank. Selection occurred throughout an officer's career, while age limits, insufficient sea time, and the finite number of appointments provided ways to retire people who would not advance. Michael Clapp's Falklands service shows that even successful wartime command did not guarantee substantive promotion under the peacetime personnel system. Months after his scheduled retirement, the Navy offered him roughly a year of guaranteed service as a rear admiral. He had already found civilian work, moved house, and settled his children in school, which explains why he refused without implying that the Navy no longer valued him.
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Royal Navy promotion was never automatic
The Royal Navy selected and filtered officers throughout their careers, with the step from commander to captain already a major bottleneck.