The Alliance military is primarily an expansion of the armies of the allied human kingdoms. As such, its structure and ranks most closely resemble those one might find in the Stormwind military forces.
Army Ranks
Enlisted Ranks | Duties/Requirements |
---|---|
Private | New recruit who has completed basic training. |
Corporal | 2+ years in service means likely promotion to this rank. Sometimes leads a fire team of 2-4. |
Sergeant | At this rank, promotions start to become competitive. 3 + years in service. May lead a squad of 8-14 or assist a Knight/Knight-Lieutenant at the troop level. |
Master Sergeant | Assists a Knight-Captain or Knight-Champion at company level, or a Lt. Commander at cohort level. |
Sergeant Major | Assists a Commander or higher. |
Officers | Duties/Requirements |
Knight / Knight-Lieutenant | Commands a troop of 15-45. |
Knight-Captain / Knight-Champion | Commands a company, battery (artillery), or squadron (cavalry) of 80-150. |
Lieutenant Commander | Commands a cohort of 300-800. |
Commander | Commands a legion of 1,000-5,500. |
Marshal | Commands a division of 10K-25K. |
Field Marshal | Commands a corps of 30K-50K. |
Grand Marshal | Commands the army. |
Note: The 7th Legion has a slightly different structure and titles.
Navy Ranks
Officers | Duties/Requirements |
---|---|
Grand Admiral1 | Commander of the entire Grand Alliance Navy. |
Admiral | The most senior naval officers, commanding a fleet or managing a major port. |
Vice Admiral | Baby admirals; they command smaller, often regional fleets and, like Admirals, report directly to the Grand Admiral. |
Commodore2 | Admiral understudy; they command a squadron (3 - 10) of ships, and may be made naval commander-in-chief of more remote or minor outposts in the absence of an Admiral or Vice Admiral. |
Post Captain3 | What we usually mean when we say "Captain." See footnote. |
Commander | A kind of junior captain (in the rank sense, not the age sense), usually given command of an unrated (smaller) ship. |
Lieutenant | Officer assistants to (Post) Captains and Commanders. They are further ranked on a ship as First Lieutenant, Second Lieutenant, etc. |
Midshipman | Officer trainees, often quite young. (Technically petty officers, not commissioned.) |
Important Note: Where is "Lord Admiral," you ask? Over in Kul Tiras, is the answer. Lord Admiral is not a naval rank but the actual title of the ruler of Kul Tiras/commander-in-chief of its navy (he who rules the navy rules Kul Tiras, or vice versa), just as "King" is the ruler's title in Stormwind. (The official name of Kul Tiras is "the Admiralty of Kul Tiras." It is an entire nation that considers itself a navy.) If you are not in charge of Kul Tiras, you are not a Lord Admiral. This is why Daelin Proudmoore is sometimes referred to as Lord Admiral Proudmoore and sometimes Grand Admiral Proudmoore; they are not the same thing. He was Lord Admiral as the ruler of Kul Tiras; he was Grand Admiral as commander of the Grand Alliance Navy. One was his political title, the other his naval rank.
Additional Note: There are a number of other ranks on a ship — warrant and petty officers — but with the exception of Midshipmen, who are training for roles as commissioned officers, they are usually technical specialists. Master, Boatswain (bosun), Gunner, etc. were all "officer" ranks aboard a ship, but as we are mostly concerned with traditional, commissioned officers, that's where I've focused.