There is however one counterexample I can think of to the discussion you
outline below. In the first movie, when Yang's ship flies up underneath the
Brunhild in order to stop the fighting, Reinhard gets angry and shouts
"Kircheis! We can't give up this victory just for my life and this ship!
Attack!", Whereupon Steinmetz, captain of the Brunhild, stands up and says
"Excellency, you are in command of the fleet but I am captain of this ship!"
Whereupon Reinhard softens and admits Steinmetz is correct and says he will
never usurp his position again.
This example in my view goes to your naval example more than the army one,
that even an admiral dare not contradict a ship's captain while on board.
While I am on this subject, though, I have to say - after seeing the later
series episodes this particular scene always confused me. Assuming Reinhard
always has in the back of his mind his plan to save Annerose and eliminate the
Emperor and the High Nobles above all else, this action is a little
incongruous. While certainly I don't think Reinhard a coward, in this
situation I would more have expected him to weigh the outcome, "We shouldn't
give up this victory for me, but if I give the order to attack, we'll be
killed and we'll never save my sister. This battle won't decide the war with
the Alliance - we've almost completely defeated them. I have to let them
withdraw for now and fight them another day, after Kircheis and I defeat the
Emperor and Nobles..."
Perhaps the attack order is just Reinhard's general hotheadedness coming to
the fore before thinking? Do you think he considered the outcome as I
outlined above?
> as i said before, whether they use an
> army/navy style ranking system strongly implies their military organization
> and command structure. that was my real interest.
>
> in a navy ranking system, there's really nothing in-between a ship
> captain and an admiral. however, there are lots of ranks below captain
> (everything else, in fact), and a captain's a pretty big-shot in a navy.
> in fact, on his ship, the captain has the powers of a king or god that even
> an admiral dare not contradict while he's aboard. so a captain of his
> ship's company is a big deal.
>
> in an army ranking system, there's a lot of intermediate grades between
> a captain and a general. a captain and his company is simply a cellular
> unit within the battalion, regiment, and brigade. he gets called on the
> carpet all the time by his bosses, who really call a lot of the shots on
> the battlefield. in the army (and the air force, especially), captains and
> company commanders are a dime a dozen.
>
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"Zu jeder Zeit, an jeder (sic) Ort, bleibt das Tun | Walter Amos
der Menschen das gleiche..." - Galactic Heroes II | amos@sedl.org