, but often a title held irrespective of rank. Any military officer with a specific commission to command a capital ship might be styled as captain. Within the chain of command, a specific rank of captain was found in most naval forces, although the exact significance of the rank varied.In many naval services, the rank of captain indicated a command-grade officer analogous to an army colonel, above commander but below commodore. Typically, officers holding the rank of captain would hold the command of a single warship, but some captains were responsible for entire squadrons of capital ships, and not all warships were commanded by officers holding the substantive rank of captain.