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Comment by 2mol | Hacker News Reader

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.

Commodore was effectively “Senior Captain” I believe.

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

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.

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 In the USN, it has been replaced by Rear Admiral (Lower Half) (RDML).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).

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