In 1823, the highest rank in the U.S. Navy was Captain, no Rear Admiral and no Commodore Admiral. A captain was equal to the rank of Colonel in the army, below the army grades of Brigadier and Major general. In addition, many foreign nations had Naval ranks higher than captain. The lack of higher grades in the navy, led to issues with equity between the U.S. Navy and the Army, as well as with U.S. Navy and foreign navies that the United States partnered with. The Navy captains would always be subordinate to the army or to foreign vessels they partnered with, no matter the size and power of the vessel. Now in 1823, the stage was set for a major overhaul, President Monroe was working with Congress to create a plan for the Peace Establishment of the navy. Earlier that year, President Monroe shared with the House, a response from Secretary Smith Thompson on a dramatic proposal of personnel reform. At the centerpiece was a draft bill that would fix the number of grades and add new commissioned grades based upon the number and size of vessels currently in service. The draft bill called for one rear admiral, five commodores and twenty-five captains. The new higher grades would provide squadron commanders that removed the doubt about who was in charge of a squadron, and placed the relative ranks of Commodore and Rear Admirals with that of Brigadier General and Major General in the army.
In his State of the Union Address delivered on December 2nd 1823, President James Monroe asked Congress to consider the Navy's plan and add the new grades that would "destroy the inequality between the military and naval services".
"It is a source of great satisfaction that we are always enabled to recur to the conduct of our Navy with price and commendation. As a means of national defense it enjoys the public confidence, and is steadily assuming additional importance. It is submitted whether a more efficient and equally economical organization of it might not in several respects be effected. It is supposed that higher grades than now exist by law would be useful. They would afford well-merited rewards to those who have long and faithfully served their country, present the best incentives to good conduct, and the best means of insuring a proper discipline; destroy the inequality in that respect between military and naval services, and relieve our officers from many inconveniences and mortifications which occur when our vessels meet those of other nations, ours being the only service in which such grades do not exist."In January, following the President's address, the new U.S. Secretary, Samuel L. Southard, former governor of New Jersey issued a formal report outlining in detail the Navy's plan in "fixing the naval establishment". He tied the plan to the number and size of vessels to be built for times of both peace and war. The report outlined the naval stations, depots and squadrons that were required to maintain peace and protect American commerce on the seas. The report addressed the issue of Rank, proposing three new grades above captain. In this letter, Secretary Southard made a very strong argument for the new ranks above Captain.
"We have no rank above that of captain. The proposed organization gives three higher grades. It is not supposed proper to furnish with minuteness in this report the whole argument in favor of this increase, as if it were a new question. It has been frequently presented to the public consideration. The experience of all nations, both in land and naval forces, has led to the same result in relation to it. No one has ever been able to command her armies or her fleets by captains; and our experience does not justify us in believing that our success in such an experience will be greater. Rank is necessary to enforce discipline; the orders of a superior are always more readily obeyed then those of an equal in grade. Rank is equally necessary to ensure the science required to command an extensive force, which differs from, and is of a much higher character than, that which is competent to the command of a single vessel; the desire also to reach the higher rank will create strenuous exertion to acquire the information which is suited to it, and operate extensively on the general character of the whole corps".Further down in the report, Southard also addressed the impact on intercourse with foreign nations.
"The increase of rank will also obviate some causes of irritation, in the intercourse of our officers with those of other nations, the least powerful of whom have higher grades then we have, and they universally claim honors and precedence according to rank"http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29465
Waiting for Dead Men's Shoes: Origins and Development of the U.S. Navy's Officer Personnel System, 1793-1941, Donald Chisholm (Stanford University Press, 2001) pgs 115 - 117
American State Papers: Documents, Legislative and Executive, of the Congress of the United States, Volume 1; Volume 6; Volume 23, United States Congress (Gales and Seaton, 1834) pgs. 907 - 915
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f2/USN_Rear_Admiral_rank_insignia.jpg
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