Michman

Michman Russian Navy
(1994-2010) (after 2010)
Rank insignia	Russian Navy
Introduction	1940
Rank group	Michman
Army / Air Force	Praporshchik
NATO equivalent	OR-9b

Michman (Russian: мичман, IPA: [ˈmʲit͡ɕmən]) is a Russian and Soviet Navy rank. It is also used in a number of other countries. The rank is equivalent to praporshchik in the Russian and Soviet army and air force. According to NATO rank system the rank might be comparable to OR-9b in NATO armed forces. In the Russian Navy there are two grades of michman: michman and starshy michman.

While the rank michman is etymologically borrowed from the English rank midshipman, michman is a very senior and experienced enlisted rank, equivalent to a master chief petty officer or warrant officer, while midshipman is a very junior officer rank (OF-1 in NATO naval forces), which, being an officer, is technically higher in rank than any enlisted rank, despite a midshipman's very junior status.

Soviet Union

The ranks of senior michman (and in the army and air force, senior praporshchik) were added in 1981. The Russian Federation retained the rank structure of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Michman rank insignia

	Michman						Starshy michman (OR-9a)
	(OR-8)					(OR-9b)
	Sleeve insignia (1940−1943)		Shoulder board (1943−1953)	Shoulder board (1954−1957)	Shoulder board (1957−1971)	Shoulder board (1971-1994)	Shoulder board (1981-1994)

Sequence of ranks in the Russian Federation Navy

junior rank: Glavny starshina of the ship (Senior rating of the ship)	Michman	senior rank: Starshy michman (Senior michman)

Imperial Russia

Rank insignia Michman

until 1909

1909-1917

Shoulder board

Michman was originally an Ober-ofizer rank, in line to the Table of Ranks class XII/XIII in the Imperial Russian Navy equivalent to Praporshik of the Imperial Russian Army and classified as junior officer rank (OF-1c).

The rank was abolished in 1917 by the Bolsheviks and restored in the 1970s in the former USSR for non-commissioned officers and became equivalent to the non-commissioned officer rank OR-9.

See also

• Comparative officer ranks of World War I
• Ranks and rank insignia of the Soviet Army 1943–1955, and Ranks and rank insignia of the Soviet Armed Forces 1955–1991,
• Ranks and rank insignia of the Russian Federation´s armed forces 1994–2010
• Army ranks and insignia of the Russian Federation

Michman ranks in other nations

The following countries use a similar rank:

• Azerbaijan: Azerbaijani: Miçman
• Lithuania: Lithuanian: Mičmanas
• Poland: Polish: Chorąży marynarki
• Ukraine: Ukrainian: Мічман; michman

References