Hi there.  How would one address a Marine Captain while Marines are
stationed onboard a US Navy ship?  If the Navy Captain is the
"Captain" then what or how is the Marine Captain addressed?  Also,
would you cite your source?  Thanks!

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Request for Question Clarification by pinkfreud-ga on 28 May 2005 18:53 PDT

Please let me know if this information would provide a fully
satisfactory answer to your question:

"An Army or Marine captain is ranked three steps lower than a navy
Captain. If an army Captain is aboard a naval vessel, he is never
referred to by his rank but instead referred to as 'Major' to
eliminate any possibility of confusion with the nautical captain of
the vessel."

http://www.explainthis.info/ca/captain.html

"There is an old Naval Tradition when an Army/Marine 'Captain' is aboard a 
ship he's addressed as Major."

http://groups-beta.google.com/group/rec.arts.startrek.current/msg/b9b44c1a20c5eaa5?hl=en

"The Marines use army rank - Major, Captain, Lieutenant, Sergeant,
Corporal, Marine (not Private or Soldier). A Marine Captain serving
afloat has the courtesy title of 'Major' (to avoid confusion with that
august being, The Captain)."

http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=43540

Captain Aart and Commander Bast made their way to Marine Country via
lift. The area where the thirty Fleet Marines lived and worked was
near the aft end of the starship close to the Akagi's valuable
engineering room and boat bays. 'I have a short-platoon of Fleet
Marines assigned to the Akagi mostly for internal security and
boarding actions.' Captain Aart explained. 'The platoon is commanded
by Captain Connopo Brionii, we refer to him as Major Brionii onboard
to avoid confusion. Of course you know that Force Commander.' Captain
Aart smiled teasingly at the new senior marine officer."

http://www.freelancetraveller.com/features/stories/road2glory/newbeg02.html

"Since the commander of any kind of ship, whatever his rank, is
formally called the 'Captain' of the ship, no other person on the ship
can be called 'Captain.' Thus, a Captain in a Marine contingent on a
ship would be addressed as 'Major' to avoid confusion."

http://www.friesian.com/rank.htm

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Clarification of Question by praetorious-ga on 28 May 2005 20:15 PDT

Yes, thank you.  That's perfect.  I was hoping for something from a
"military" site or webpage.  I didn't have any luck finding one but
you certainly did a great job.  Thanks for helping me out with this. 
Very much appreciated.

I'm glad to have been able to help. I have reposted my findings below.
 I did not find any offical U.S. military sources that deal with this
issue, but in matters of custom and tradition rather than of military
law, official sources are often lacking.

"An Army or Marine captain is ranked three steps lower than a navy
Captain. If an army Captain is aboard a naval vessel, he is never
referred to by his rank but instead referred to as 'Major' to
eliminate any possibility of confusion with the nautical captain of
the vessel."

Explain This: Captain
http://www.explainthis.info/ca/captain.html

"There is an old Naval Tradition when an Army/Marine 'Captain' is
aboard a ship he's addressed as Major."

Post from rec.arts.startrek.current newsgroup
http://groups-beta.google.com/group/rec.arts.startrek.current/msg/b9b44c1a20c5eaa5?hl=en

"The Marines use army rank - Major, Captain, Lieutenant, Sergeant,
Corporal, Marine (not Private or Soldier). A Marine Captain serving
afloat has the courtesy title of 'Major' (to avoid confusion with that
august being, The Captain)."

The Miniatures Page: "Question: Ship Crew titles?" Topic
http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=43540

Captain Aart and Commander Bast made their way to Marine Country via
lift. The area where the thirty Fleet Marines lived and worked was
near the aft end of the starship close to the Akagi's valuable
engineering room and boat bays. 'I have a short-platoon of Fleet
Marines assigned to the Akagi mostly for internal security and
boarding actions.' Captain Aart explained. 'The platoon is commanded
by Captain Connopo Brionii, we refer to him as Major Brionii onboard
to avoid confusion. Of course you know that Force Commander.' Captain
Aart smiled teasingly at the new senior marine officer."

Freeland Traveller: The New Beginning - Part II
http://www.freelancetraveller.com/features/stories/road2glory/newbeg02.html

"Since the commander of any kind of ship, whatever his rank, is
formally called the 'Captain' of the ship, no other person on the ship
can be called 'Captain.' Thus, a Captain in a Marine contingent on a
ship would be addressed as 'Major' to avoid confusion."

The Proceedings of the Friesian School: Military Rank
http://www.friesian.com/rank.htm

My Google search strategy:

Google Web Search: "marine captain" "addressed as" navy OR naval OR ship OR vessel
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22marine+captain%22+%22addressed+as%22+navy+OR+naval+OR+ship+OR+vessel

I hope this is useful! If anything is unclear or incomplete, please
request clarification; I'll gladly offer further assistance before you
rate my answer.

Best regards,
pinkfreud

"An Army or Marine captain is ranked three steps lower than a navy
Captain".

Navy ranks go like this. Ensign, lt jg, 1st lt, lt commander,
commander captain. Six ranks.

Army ranks. 2nd lt, 1st lt, captain, major, lt colonel, colonel.

But a Navy Captain is more than an Army Colonel, by virtue of naval
law, the Law of the High Seas. A captain is a flag officer, whereas
the Army really does not do 'flag officer' bits.

The Navy has been trying for years to differentiate the two kinds of
the one-star admiral. They first tried to bring back 'Commodore', but
this got shot down. Then they tried 'Rear Admiral, Lower Division',
but 'rear admiral' is already a gay joke, and 'lower division' makes
it even funnier.

The Navy has one more degree of officerhood, and the army and air
force resent the idea that a full admiral should have a circlet of
five stars.

Hello Waukon,
The last ten days, you've been charging in like Blücher, as the Germans say.
The info about naval officers is not really pertinent to this question, 
and I don't think it agrees with the that shown by this site:

http://www.military-quotes.com/ranks/navy-rank-insignia.htm

I don't know if you noticed, but Randycoy-ga canceled that question
about customer service - just while I was typing a comment.  Since
this question has been very satisfactorily answered, I trust that no
one will object to my posting it here:

"Hi Randycoy,
Waukon sort of forgot about the Golden Rule for a moment. (I used to
post comments like that till I learned to try to stick the subject,
especially when I see that a question is "seriously" priced.)"

Some in the community may be nodding about the last sentence.
No hard feelings, not towards anyone with a Norwegian grandmother  :-)
See you around,
Myoarin