In Sweden, the admiral's rank first appeared during the reign of
Gustav I, who in 1522 gave it to
Erik Fleming, a
Council of the Realm. During Gustav's reign as king and throughout the latter part of the 16th century, the highest command of a fleet was led by a
översteamiral ("colonel admiral"), to whose assistant a
underamiral was appointed. It was not until 1569 that a permanent
översteamiral was appointed; In 1602 the title was exchanged for
riksamiral ("
Admiral of the Realm"). The first permanent
underamiral was appointed in 1575; his office ceased in 1619. Vice admiral is first mentioned in 1577. The admirals of the
Swedish Navy have, incidentally, been as follows:
generalamiral ("
general admiral"), amiralgeneral ("
admiral general"),
storamiral ("
grand admiral"),
överamiral,
riksviceamiral ("Vice
Admiral of the Realm"),
amiralgenerallöjtnant ("admiral lieutenant general"),
amirallöjtnant ("
lieutenant admiral"),
schoutbynacht and
konteramiral ("
rear admiral"). ==Riksamiraler (Admirals of the Realm)==