Forms: 7 commandore, 7–8 commador(e, 7– commodore. [In 17th c. (under William III.) commandore, possibly ad. Du. kommandeur (see COMMANDER); some have conjectured a corruption of Sp. comendador; but no contact with Spain appears in the early instances.]
1. Naval. An officer in command, ranking above captain and below rear-admiral.
a. in Brit. and U.S.
In the British navy the rank is a temporary one, given to senior officers in command of detached squadrons. It is of two classes, in the first of which the commodore (with the pay and allowances of a rear-admiral) has a captain under him, while in the second he has not.
In the U.S. navy (since 1862) the commodore may command a naval division or station, or a first-class war-ship.
1695. Lond. Gaz., No. 3124/1. The Commandore joyned them with above 500 Sea-men. Ibid. (1703), No. 3912/2. Captain Gibson in the Bridgwater being Commadore.
1745. Observ. conc. Navy, 36. A Captain of a Man of War distinguished by a broad Pennant, thereby signifying him as a Commadore, has the Degree of Brigadier-General.
1748. Anson’s Voy., I. i. 5. Whatever depended on the Commodore, was so far advanced.
1747. J. Lind, Lett. Navy, i. (1757), 34. A commodore is only an occasional dignity; while any person has that commission, he ranks as brigadier general; but, when the commission ceases, he descends again to the rank of a private captain.
1833. Marryat, P. Simple, xvi. Our own commodore had made the signal of our recall.
b. An officer of like rank (temporary or permanent) in the navies of other countries; app. originally applied to Dutch commanders.
1697. Lond. Gaz., No. 3331/3. Vice-Admiral Nevill, Commadore Mees, and several other English and Dutch Commanders.
1702. W. J., Bruyn’s Voy. Levant, v. 14. At the Intreaty of the Commadore I entred the Shallop.
1755. Magens, Insurances, II. 52. The Commador Don Antonio Serrano.
1864. Burton, Scot Abr., II. 216. He was made commodore of the Russian fleet.
2. As a courtesy-title, applied to: a. ‘the senior captain, when three or more ships of war are cruising in company’; b. a like officer in a fleet of merchantmen; c. a captain of pilots.
1832. Hull Pilotage Act, 17. To their clerk, commodore of pilots, or other officer.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Commodore … a title given by courtesy to the senior captain … also imported into the East India Company’s vessels, the senior being so termed, inter se.
d. The president of a yacht club. Also, his vessel at club-regattas.
1863. Illustr. Lond. News, XLII. 617/3. The Prince of Wales Yacht Club … the first prize was duly presented by the Commodore.
1890. Glasgow Herald, 30 June, 6/2. Mr. John Neill, commodore of the club, was flag officer…. The visitors on board the Commodore included, etc…. Course from commodore round Powder Buoy and Dunoon flag boat.
3. The commodore’s ship. (Cf. ADMIRAL.)
1694. Luttrell, Brief Rel. (1857), III. 374. 12 men of warr to cruize at the Chops of the Channel, and the Hampton Court to be commodore.
1708. Lond. Gaz., No. 4422/7. A Consultation of all the Captains on board the Commodore.
b. (See quots., and 2 d.)
1769. Falconer, Dict. Marine (1789), Commodore is also a name given to some select ship in a fleet of merchantmen, who leads the van in time of war, and carries a light in his top.
1847. Hill, in Gosse, Birds of Jamaica, 435. The egg-gathering is regulated by a custom which recognises the first-coming vessel as commanding for the season. The second vessel in seniority is called the Commodore; the first being … the Admiral.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., s.v.
