List of Royal Australian Navy admirals

The following is a list of Australians who have attained admiral rank within the Royal Australian Navy (RAN); that is, officers who have held the rank of admiral (four-star rank), vice admiral (three-star rank) or rear admiral (two-star rank). The Commonwealth Naval Forces were established on 1 March 1901, following the Federation of Australia, as Australia's naval force. The service was reorganised and re-titled as the RAN in 1911. William Creswell, regarded as the "father" of the RAN, was the service's first member to attain flag rank on being promoted to rear admiral in 1911; he later also became the first vice admiral (1922). In 1936, Sir George Hyde became the first officer to be promoted to full admiral, one of only six members of the RAN to attain this rank as of July 2023. A further 29 individuals have reached vice admiral in the RAN and 136 rear admiral. Five officers have additionally retired with the honorary rank of rear admiral.

Admirals

 * A dash (—) in the "Died" column indicates that the person is still living.

The rank of admiral is the most senior rank within the RAN to which, excluding ceremonial appointments, any officer has been promoted. Only the five-star rank of admiral of the fleet is higher, but it has been held in only a ceremonial capacity. As there are currently no appointments in the Australian Defence Force (ADF) at the five-star level, there is no prospect of a RAN officer achieving the rank in a professional (i.e. non-ceremonial) capacity. With the current structure of the ADF, the rank of admiral is held only when an officer of the RAN is appointed as Chief of the Defence Force. There was, however, an exception to this when Michael Hudson was promoted to admiral on the day of his retirement in 1991 by Prime Minister Bob Hawke in recognition of his six years of service as Chief of the Naval Staff.

Admirals of the RAN are as follows:

Vice admirals

 * A dash (—) in the "Died" column indicates that the person is still living.

Vice admiral is the highest permanent rank in the RAN. The rank of vice admiral is always held by the Chief of Navy, though is also held when a RAN officer is appointed as Vice Chief of the Defence Force, Chief of Joint Operations, Chief of Joint Capabilities or an equivalent position.

Vice admirals of the RAN are as follows:

Rear admirals

 * A dash (—) in the "Died" column indicates that the person is still living.

William Creswell was the first officer, on 1 March 1911, to attain the rank of rear admiral in the RAN. Creswell had started his career in the Royal Navy but, after immigrating to the Australian colonies, joined the South Australian Naval Forces in 1885. He transferred to the Commonwealth Naval Forces following the Federation of Australia in 1901 and became the RAN's first Director and, subsequently, First Naval Member; he is widely regarded as the "father" of the RAN. Percival McNeil, however, was the first rear admiral of the RAN (on promotion in 1934) to have been born in Australia and Robyn Walker, promoted in 2011, was the first woman to attain flag rank in the RAN.

Rear admirals of the RAN are as follows: