Captain and commander

So in ESB, Luke's "Commander Skywalker" and Han's "Captain Solo." Did Luke really outrank Han at this point? And what about ROJ when Han becomes "Gen. Solo"?

 

i would imagine luke would outrank han, luke blew up the death star whereas han only cleared the path for him.

 

Remember Han was only Captain of the Falcon, not a real military designation.

 

Han was captain of the Falcon. He was not officially a memeber of the Rebellion until ROTJ.

 

IIRC, EU sources say that Han was made a captain in Special Forces or somesuch after Yavin. If that's the case, Luke, as a (Starfighter Command) Commander, would outrank him. If not, then Han's just a civilian who helps out the cause, so he really wouldn't be obliged to take orders from anyone if he didn't want to.

When Han is made a General he'd outrank Luke, what with Luke taking orders from General Reeikan in ESB.

 

I'm confused by this discussion. Captain outranks Commander.

Ensign
Lieutenant Junior Grade
Lieutenant
Lieutenant Commander
Commander
Captain
Major
Lieutenant Colonel
Colonel
then the five General ranks.

Han, while captain of the Falcon and maybe not formally part of the rebel alliance, was extended the military courtesy of a military officer. Luke did not outrank him until he was a General.

 

SW ranks don't have to match Earth ranks. Commander (yellow) clone troopers outrank Captain (Red) clone troopers.

Therefore, Luke did outrank Han is ESB, but when Han got promoted to General, he outranked Luke.

 

During ESB Han was not an official member of the Alliance. They called him captain because he was the captain of the Millennium Falcon. Him and Chewie were just hiding out with the Rebels. At the beginning of ESB Han and Chewie were getting ready to leave the Rebels and go pay Jabba the Hutt. If he was a member of their military I don't think he could up and leave whenever he wanted to. He doesn't officially join until ROTJ.

 

SW ranks don't have to match Earth ranks. Commander (yellow) clone troopers outrank Captain (Red) clone troopers.

Therefore, Luke did outrank Han is ESB, but when Han got promoted to General, he outranked Luke.

Wrong. Solo, being a captain of a ship is the free lance equivalent of Captain Piett at the start of ESB. In other words, Solo's the subordinate of an admiral (Ackbar) and superior to a commander (Luke)

In the Navy, a captain is totally different to that of an Army captain.

Army:
2nd Lieutenant
1st Lieutenant
Captain
Major
Lt. Colonel
Colonel
Brigadier General
Major General
Lt. General
General
General of the Army

Navy:
Ensign
Lieutenant Jr. Grade
Lieutenant
Lt. Commander
Commander
Captain
Rear Admiral
Rear Admiral
Vice Admiral
Admiral
Fleet Admiral

 

If he was a member of their military I don't think he could up and leave whenever he wanted to.

I have to disagree here. I posted a topic LUKE SHOULD BE COURTMARTIALED based on this very premise. Luke (an official ranking officer of the alliance) up and left for weeks/months when he went to Dagobah, essentially going AWOL. Many felt it was perfectly acceptable for him to do so.

SW ranks don't have to match Earth ranks.

What does that mean, "don't have to?" Either they do or they don't. We certainly know that General and Admiral outrank Captain. Why would other ranks be different?

The only real oddity about SW ranks is that Vader addresses Moff Jerjerrod as "Commander" when he's in charge of the entire DSII. This can't be credible however, since both Jerjerrod and ADMRIAL Piett have the same number of rank squares on their uniform, an error, and a deviation from Piett's uniform in Empire.

 

The only real oddity about SW ranks is that Vader addresses Moff Jerjerrod as "Commander" when he's in charge of the entire DSII. This can't be credible however, since both Jerjerrod and ADMRIAL Piett have the same number of rank squares on their uniform, an error, and a deviation from Piett's uniform in Empire.

Yep, the rank plaque thing is an error, one that I hope will be corrected in the DVDs. Funny, isn't it, how many "commanders" there are in the Empire at the time of ROTJ, because even the army officer who hands Luke over on the platform is referred to as commander as well.