Horatio Hornblower: Commander? or Captain?

[teknoman]

When I was watching the classic T.V. shows on A&E called Hornblower: Loyalty where Admiral Sir Edward Pellew said "Your promotion to Commander is confirmed, you are now Captain of the Hotspur and must be set sail in 2 days." I thought a Captain is a higher rank than a Commander, the one thing, I don't understand is why is he promoted to Commander? not a Captain?

[Lobo de estepa]

As far as I know the title of Captain in any navy is only given to a man or woman in comand of a ship. Looking at Wikipedia in the US Navy the rank of captain is higher than Commander.

Wiki Captain (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranks_of_the_US_Navy)

Wiki Royal Navy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Navy_officer_rank_insignia)

[dr ochanomizu]

... I thought a Captain is a higher rank than a Commander, the one thing, I don't understand is why is he promoted to Commander? not a Captain?
I was an officer in the US Navy, which gets most of its tradition from the British Navy. We still use the same terminology as earlier times, such as head for bathroom, port and starboard for left and right. Since US Navy gets its tradition from the once mighty glory of British Empire, I presume the precedence is the same, albeit Captain Horatio Hornblower of British Royal Navy is a fictional character in the novel by C. S. Forester.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horatio_Hornblower

^ As Lobo de estepa said the captain is anyone commands a ship even though the rank can be lower than the Captain and on the other hand rank of Captain is above Commander and below Admirals and Commodore (British), (although, in peace time US uses Rear Admiral [Lower Half] is used for commodore)… Do you remember US Commodore Mathew Perry, who forced open Japan for trade?

It’s interesting that US Army has a rank of Captain, which is equivelant of Lieutenan in the US Navy; they are in the category of junior officers' ranks.

TS

[BLACKANGEL32076]

In this case Commnader is his rank yet Captain is his title as a memeber of this ship's crew.