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A question about Captains...

Not too long ago a US NAVY Aircraft Carrier had one four striper Captain on board, the CO. The rest of the officers (excluding guest flag officers and staff) were 05s and below.

During todays commissioning, I saw that the CO, XO, OO, and Chaplin were all four stripers. I know the CAG is also a four striper.

How many more four stripers would a Super Carrier have as part of the ship's company and air wing?

It seems like there must be a lot of compression going on in the Navy 06 levels. It feels a bit strange.

Speaking of "rank" inflation....fyi..During WW II, when the US military was some 13 million strong..the number of general officers was 50% LESS than the number we have today...and don't forget all their attendant staffs...

BTW..question for ya...a caught a bit of the C-span rebroadcast of the commissioning...I thought I heard Sen Warner say that the Reagan was the only ship named for a living ex-president....fid he forget the SSN Jimmy Carter...or does the Navy hold subs as "not" ships?

Since the advent of the super-CAG, you now have two O-6 line officers on the carrier. The XO of the ship is generally not an O-6 upon arrival, but may make O-6 during his XO tour. The DCAG, similarly, is often an O-5 as well on arrival, but will make O-6 before fleeting up to the CAG job.

There are O-6 staff officers on board occasionally, but even the senior doc, dentist and chaplain are generally O-5's. The embarked admiral staff (Cargru or Crudesgru) will have at least one O-6 as Chief of Staff.

In the old days, the Airwing Commander was an O-5 that reported to the carrier CO as a department head. The super CAG concept puts the CAG and CO on an equal level with a fair amount of load sharing of functional reponsibilities.

IMO, the super CAG concept works better than the previous setup, but it does preclude a super CAG from ever commanding a carrier. It didn't happen often in the past, but it did happen occasionally. Now aviators have to choose which track they want to follow post squadron command.