In Naval terms, a Lieutenant is the equal of a land forces captain, not a just out of the factory Butterbar…. O3 equivalent in the US system.
In the US forces that may be the case, but in some countries 14 years and still an 03 is normal. The rank pyramid in the officer ranks is pretty steep. You need a lot more 03s than 04s and so on, so you keep a lot around. Additionally, many countries keep their officers a lot longer than the US and some do not have the "up or out" (if you do not get promoted, you get discharged) like the US. Lastly, if you look at the pre-WWII US officer ranks, you'll see the same length of time for officers.
Please note that I am not disagreeing with you, I just don't know enough about the their officer path to make my own opinion.