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Lieutenant

Lieutenant was a rank widely used in military, paramilitary or police organizations^[1], normally borne by low-ranking commissioned officers. It was higher than a Second Lieutenant and lower than a Captain.

In space fleets, most Lieutenants were found in command of small vessels, as senior officers aboard medium-sized vessels and as junior and mid-ranking command personnel on large capital ships.

Surface forces often saw Lieutenants holding the lowest level of field commands (such as platoons in the Imperial Army), as aides to more senior officers, or as vehicle operators. Sometimes, clone lieutenants were given command of fleets and ground forces acting as commanders. One such person was Clone trooper lieutenant Trapper he led a platoon of men at the Battle of Malastare.

Starfighter forces placed lieutenants as junior officers, rarely any higher in the command hierarchy than lead plane of a wing-pair. Even a flight of three or four fighters was rarely led by a lieutenant, although exceptions were made when there was a general lack of senior or experienced officers. In the months before the Battle of Yavin, Hamo Blastwell even commanded Red Squadron as a lieutenant.

Somewhat confusingly, in the starfighter forces of both the Imperial military and the New Republic, the title "lieutenant" could be used to address not only Flight Lieutenants, but also the more junior Flight Officers.