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Comment by jfoutz | Hacker News Reader

Captain at the time. I believe Commodore was the title at retirement, which would now be called Rear Admiral.

I realize this is fussy. It's fair to say Captain in an old, old article. I think the site requires no editorialization of headlines.

But much like the title President, is retained for life. I've got no problems referring to Admiral Hopper. I was very small when she passed, so all of my information is second hand at best. By all accounts she was an unstoppable force of nature. Purely out of respect for her drive and ability, the title really should be Rear Admiral Grace M. Hopper: The Mother of COBOL.

The nanosecond wire alone should be a compelling argument. Truly a hacker.

(also, the whole magazine is a strange window into the past. the cartoon on the page above is hilarious. providing a reading time for a resume is unthinkable today)

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Commodore still exists. Rear Admiral is one rank below, and that's indeed what Grace Hopper was.

Commodore is (now) a title, not a rank. It was not always that way.

Commodore can refer to a Rear Admiral (Lower Half), which was Grace Hopper's rank (IIRC it was awarded long after her retirement). Commodore can also refer to a group commander -- for instance our Destroyer Squadrons are commanded by a Commodore, who is an O-6. Same with Naval Special Warfare Groups.

Commodore as a title and a rank has a long and storied history all the way back to the days of sail in the British Navy.

She kept getting called back to active duty, but to do that they had to promote her, otherwise she would have exceeded the time-in-grade requirements.

My one big regret in coming to work for what was then the Defense Communications Agency in September of 1989 was that I had missed meeting her wandering the halls of the basement of the Pentagon by just a few months. But I did work with some people who had known her personally.

I really wish I could have met her in person.

I wish I could have as well. Unfortunately she died a couple of years before I joined the Navy. My rate (DS) was heavily influenced by the things she did.

Commodore was effectively “Senior Captain” I believe.

In the UK Brigadier is still similar - “Senior Colonel” and not a general officer.

That is, Commodore is one rank below Rear Admiral where it's in use. In the USN, it has been replaced by Rear Admiral (Lower Half) (RDML). If you compare it to land ranks, a Commodore or Rear Admiral (Lower Half) would be a Brigadier General (one star in the States), and Rear Admiral would be a Major General (two stars).

> The nanosecond wire alone should be a compelling argument.

For those that haven't seen it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eyFDBPk4Yw

(Of course, I expect that most here have, but xkcd 10,000 and all that.)

"Now I hope you all get the nanoseconds. They're absolutely marvelous for explaining to wives and husbands and children and Admirals and Generals and people like that. An Admiral wanted to know why it took so damn long to send a message via satellite. And I had to point out that between here and the satellite there were a very large number of nanoseconds."

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