Fleet admiral (United States)

Fleet Admiral
Fleet admiral collar device, shoulder board, and sleeve stripes.
Flag of the fleet admiral of the United States Navy.
Country	United States
Service branch	United States Navy
Rank	Five-star
NATO rank	OF-10
Non-NATO rank	O-11
Formation	December 14, 1944
Next higher rank	Admiral of the Navy
Next lower rank	Admiral
Equivalent ranks	General of the Army (US Army) General of the Air Force (USAF)

Fleet Admiral (abbreviated FADM), officially known as "Fleet Admiral of the United States Navy", is a five-star flag officer rank in the United States Navy. Fleet admiral ranks immediately above admiral and is equivalent to General of the Army and General of the Air Force. The last living United States Navy fleet admiral was Chester W. Nimitz, who died in 1966.

The United States Navy did not create admiral ranks until the American Civil War, and then only very hesitantly. David Farragut was the first admiral in the U.S. Navy and wore a variety of elaborate sleeve insignia to denote his rank and position. Farragut was succeeded by David Dixon Porter; after the deaths of these two men the United States Navy had no rank greater than rear admiral. The rank of Admiral of the Navy was then created in 1903 for George Dewey in recognition of his victory in the Battle of Manila Bay during the Spanish–American War.

George Dewey held the authority of a modern-day fleet admiral while three permanent admiral positions also existed in the U.S. Navy for the Atlantic, Pacific, and Asiatic Fleets. Dewey died just prior to the U.S. involvement in World War I (16 January 1917) and, during that conflict, the Navy expanded its admiral billets allowing additional positions up to "four star admiral" which was simply referred to as "admiral". Throughout the 1920s and 30s, the highest rank in the U.S. Navy was that of Admiral, with Dewey's special rank Admiral of the Navy discontinued. In 1944 the Navy Department declared Dewey's rank to be senior to the then newly created five-star rank of fleet admiral.