As well as the Navy rank, it is also a rank in the Metropolitan police; a Commander is immediately superior to a Superintendent.

Curiously the rank does not exist in other UK forces; The Met seem to need more high ranks, presumably because of their size.

P.D. James' fictional detective Adam Dalgleish is a police Commander. It's an unusually high rank for a detective in a novel to have because very senior policemen don't see a lot of crime.

Of course, the Naval version has a much more famous fictional holder; James Bond is a Commander.

Com*mand"er (?), n. [Cf. F. commandeur. Cf. Commodore, Commender.]

1.

A chief; one who has supreme authority; a leader; the chief officer of an army, or of any division of it.

A leader and commander to the people.
Is. lv. 4.

2. Navy

An officer who ranks next below a captain, -- ranking with a lieutenant colonel in the army.

3.

The chief officer of a commandery.

4.

A heavy beetle or wooden mallet, used in paving, in sail lofts, etc.

Commander in chief, the military title of the officer who has supreme command of the land or naval forces or the united forces of a nation or state; a generalissimo. The President is commander in chief of the army and navy of the United States.

Syn. -- See Chief.

 

© Webster 1913.

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