A commodore's ship is typically designated by the flying of a broad pennant, as compared to an admiral's flag.
The Royal Netherlands Air Force has adopted the English spelling of "commodore" for an equivalent rank.
The rank of commodore was at first a position created as a temporary title to be bestowed upon captains who commanded squadrons of more than one vessel.
Concurrently, until the early 1980s, U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard captains selected for promotion to the rank of rear admiral (lower half), would wear the same insignia as rear admiral (upper half), i.e., two silver stars for collar insignia or sleeve braid of one wide and one narrow gold stripe, even though they were actually only equivalent to one-star officers and paid at the one-star rate.
To correct this inequity, the rank of commodore as a single-star flag officer was reinstated by both services in the early 1980s.
This immediately caused confusion with those senior U.S. Navy captains commanding destroyer squadrons, submarine squadrons, functional air wings and air groups, and so on, who held the temporary "title" of commodore while in their major command billet.
Although not flag officers, modern day commodores in the U.S. Navy rate a blue and white command pennant, also known as a broad pennant, that is normally flown at their headquarters facilities ashore or from ships that they are embarked aboard when they are the Senior Officer Present Afloat (SOPA).
This rank was first used by the Royal Air Force and is now used in many countries such as Australia, Bangladesh, Greece, India, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, Thailand and Zimbabwe.
The German air force used the concept of a unit commodore for the commander of a wing, usually in the rank of colonel (OF-5).
Commodore is also a title held by many captains as recognition of exceptional navigation ability and seagoing seniority in the Merchant Service, and by the directors of a few yacht clubs and boating associations.
Civilian yacht clubs, yachting associations and fellowships[26] with formal hierarchical structures, began to use the title "commodore" in countries around the world[27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34] for their presidents in the early twentieth century[35] along with "vice commodore" in the same manner as "vice president,"and "rear-commodore" and "port captain' or "international bridge member" in the same manner as board members.
Sometimes a trumpet fanfare is also include for special occasions like ribbon cutting in 2019 for the 50th Transpacific Yacht Race.