Lieutenant Colonel (United Kingdom)
Lieutenant Colonel (sometimes written Lieutenant-Colonel) is a British rank of staff officers used in several Commonwealth countries superior to Major and subordinate to Colonel.[1] The comparable naval rank is Commander and the comparable rank in many Commonwealth air forces is Wing Commander.
In the British Army and Royal Marines, as well as those Commonwealth countries which recognise Queen Elizabeth II as Head of State (except Canada), a lieutenant colonel wears a crown above a pip. The crown has varied in the past with different monarchs; the current one being the Crown of St Edward. Most other Commonwealth countries use the same insignia, with the state emblem replacing the crown. The insignia in the Canadian Forces is three horizontal bars or rings of equal width. This stems from the merger of the Canadian armed forces in 1968 and emulates the insignia of the equivalent naval rank of Commander. In modern British forces, a Lieutenant Colonel usually commands a regiment (in the artillery and armoured regiments) or a battalion in the Infantry.
From April 1, 1918 to July 31, 1919, the Royal Air Force maintained the rank of lieutenant colonel. It was superseded by the rank of wing commander on the following day.
