Talk:Belgian military ranks

Translations

I am concerned about the suggested translations for the various ranks. I am a translator and have a professional interest in ensuring that mistaken or incorrect usages do not acquire official or semi-official status. My concern in this particular instance is the use of the phrase "ship of the line" in the translations of the naval ranks. This seems to be suggested as a translation for Dutch "ter zee" or French "de vaisseau". I must quibble with this. "Ship of the line" is a term formerly used in English to describe a ship capable of standing in the line of battle. The actual size and armaments of such ships changed over time. The term "ter zee" means "at sea", while "de vaisseau" means "of a vessel". Here the emphasis seems to be on indicating whether the officer is shore based effectively serving at sea. In the British navy no such distinction is made. I suggest that instead of using the archaic and misleading "ship of the line", comprehension and utility would be better served by the words "sea going":

• Lieutenant sea-going
• Captain sea-going
• Ensign (midshipman) sea-going

Please comment. In event of no comment being made within 30 days I shall edit the rank names to reflect the above. Augusta2 22:09, 11 November 2007 (UTC)

Yes, I was also concerned and unsure about the translation, but I got it from the articles Ship-of-the-Line Captain and Ship-of-the-Line Lieutenant, which suggest that they are proper translations.--Ganchelkas 08:11, 12 November 2007 (UTC)

In ay case, capitaine de vaisseau etc. are ranks, not functions: there are capitaines de vaisseau who never command anything but a desk, as Alain Bombard recounts near the beginning of his book Naufragé volontaire (The Voyage of the Hérétique, I suppose), where a desk-bound capitaine de vaisseau bawled him out about his intention of crossing the Atlantic on a dinghy without provisions, and then just outside this first officer's office, an other one of the same rank, but heading a ship, warmly encouraged him. — Tonymec (talk) 11:01, 2 August 2021 (UTC)

P.S. After reading the lead of Ship-of-the-line lieutenant, I conclude that this is the right translation for lieutenant de vaisseau (and likewise about capitaine): a capitaine de vaisseau outranks a capitaine de frégate who outranks a capitaine de corvette just like a corvette, a frigate and a ship of the line, which they are entitled to command (even if they actually sit at a desk), are successively bigger warships. — Tonymec (talk) 11:10, 2 August 2021 (UTC)

Historic ranks

The following two websites may be of use for creating the historic ranks used by Belgium for its military personnel:

• http://www.bemil.be/PASS-FR.htm
• http://uniforminsignia.org/index.php?option=com_insigniasearch&Itemid=53&search_id=main&state=85&search_id=top

- Cdjp1 (talk) 09:32, 30 August 2018 (UTC)