Droungarios of the Fleet

[3] The Karabisianoi, however, proved inadequate and were replaced in the early 8th century by a more complex system composed of three elements, which, with minor alterations, survived until the 11th century: a central fleet based at Constantinople; a few regional naval commands, namely the maritime Theme of the Cibyrrhaeots and a number of independent commands under a droungarios, which eventually evolved into the maritime themes of the Aegean Sea and of Samos in the course of the 9th century; and a greater number of local squadrons in the land themes, charged with purely defensive and police tasks and subordinate to the local thematic governors.

Bury, followed by the French Byzaninist Rodolphe Guilland, considered it "not improbable" that the Imperial Fleet existed as a subordinate command under the stratēgos tōn karabisianōn already in the 7th century.

[8] In the Taktikon Uspensky, the droungarios of the Fleet is positioned relatively lowly in the hierarchy, coming after all the senior military and civilian officials, placed between the prōtostratōr and the ek prosōpou of the themes.

In addition, there was a komēs tēs hetaireias (κόμης τῆς ἑταιρείας), whose function is disputed: according to Bury, he probably commanded the foreign mercenaries, especially Rus' or Scandinavians, who served as marines, but the Greek historian Nicolas Oikonomides considered him the head of the droungarios' personal guard.

[12] The office reached its heyday during the 10th century, when several important personages held it, most notably Emperor Romanos I Lekapenos (r. 920–944), who used it as a springboard to the throne.

Although reduced in significance in comparison to its heyday, the megas droungarios tou stolou remained important, ranking 32nd in the overall hierarchy in the Book of Offices.