Ministers, President, ONU, any international organization... wow
"An admiral of the fleet (also known as admiral of the navy, fleet admiral or grand admiral) is a military naval officer of the highest rank. In many nations the rank is reserved for wartime or ceremonial appointments. It is usually a rank above admiral (which is now usually the highest rank in peace-time for officers in active service)"
This is the rank above admiral. post #1674426 this post also shows that there is a rank above admiral.
And, as I have said on other posts, the word used in Kancolle that we translate as Admiral (提督) is the position of Admiral, that is, the person who commands a fleet (the flag officer), and not the rank of Admiral (OF-9 大将); The same goes with Commander (司令官 cf. OF-4 中佐).
Hence, she could be <rank> Watabe, Admiral of <fleet name>.
Probably depends on which rank of Admiral he is, I think it is more common to simply refer all the various ranks of Admiral as "Admiral" when it is not necessary to distinguish which level of Admiral they are.
Throwing 提督 into various translators has thrown out a few other meaning (not that I can say they're right), but the outputs besides admiral were commodore, naval commander, and commissioned navy officer.
Officer Ranks and equivalents by wikipedia:
OF-6
US: Rear Admiral (lower half)
US (WWII): Commodore
UK: Commodore
GER: Flottillenadmiral
GER (WWII): Konteradmiral
JMSDF: N/A
IJN: N/A
OF-7
US: Rear Admiral
US (WWII): Rear Admiral
UK: Rear Admiral
GER: Konteradmiral
GER (WWII): Vizeadmiral
JMSDF: Rear Admiral (海将補)
IJN: Rear Admiral (海軍少将)
OF-8
US: Vice Admiral
US (WWII): Vice Admiral
UK: Vice Admiral
GER: Vizeadmiral
GER (WWII): Admiral
JMSDF: Vice Admiral (海将)
IJN: Vice Admiral (海軍中将)
OF-9
US: Admiral
US (WWII): Admiral
UK: Admiral
GER: Admiral
GER (WWII): Generaladmiral
JMSDF: Admiral (統合・海上幕僚長たる海将)
IJN: Admiral (海軍大将)
OF-10
US: Fleet Admiral
US (WWII): Fleet Admiral
UK: Admiral of the Fleet
GER: N/A
GER (WWII): Großadmiral
JMSDF: N/A
IJN: Marshal Admiral (元帥、海軍大将)
Sidenote: this was written before Paracite's response, but took me awhile to double check stuff.
Probably depends on which rank of Admiral he is, I think it is more common to simply refer all the various ranks of Admiral as "Admiral" when it is not necessary to distinguish which level of Admiral they are.
Throwing 提督 into various translators has thrown out a few other meaning (not that I can say they're right), but the outputs besides admiral were commodore, naval commander, and commissioned navy officer.
Officer Ranks and equivalents by wikipedia:
OF-6
US: Rear Admiral (lower half)
US (WWII): Commodore
UK: Commodore
GER: Flottillenadmiral
GER (WWII): Konteradmiral
JMSDF: N/A
IJN: N/A
OF-7
US: Rear Admiral
US (WWII): Rear Admiral
UK: Rear Admiral
GER: Konteradmiral
GER (WWII): Vizeadmiral
JMSDF: Rear Admiral (海将補)
IJN: Rear Admiral (海軍少将)
OF-8
US: Vice Admiral
US (WWII): Vice Admiral
UK: Vice Admiral
GER: Vizeadmiral
GER (WWII): Admiral
JMSDF: Vice Admiral (海将)
IJN: Vice Admiral (海軍中将)
OF-9
US: Admiral
US (WWII): Admiral
UK: Admiral
GER: Admiral
GER (WWII): Generaladmiral
JMSDF: Admiral (統合・海上幕僚長たる海将)
IJN: Admiral (海軍大将)
OF-10
US: Fleet Admiral
US (WWII): Fleet Admiral
UK: Admiral of the Fleet
GER: N/A
GER (WWII): Großadmiral
JMSDF: N/A
IJN: Marshal Admiral (元帥、海軍大将)
Sidenote: this was written before Paracite's response, but took me awhile to double check stuff.
The most 'precise' translation is "flag officer", i.e. a naval officer who holds the flag, or command of a fleet. (Such officers are senior enough to be entitled to fly a flag on their commanding ship, hence the terms "flagship" and "flag officer".)
(So yeah, anything at OF-7 and above, or OF-6 and above, depending on the navy)
In most navies, the lowest rank to qualify as a 'flag officer' is a Rear Admiral or some equivalent. In some others, Commodores also qualify. IIRC, in Japan, any rank with a 将 in it counts as a "flag officer" and 提督. Naturally, any rank above those without 将 (like the Grand Marshal) also counts.
Both the IJN and JMSDF do not have Commodores or equivalent (OF-6) ranks, so generally speaking the lowest rank referred to as 提督 would be the Rear Admiral (海軍少将[IJN]/海将補[JSMDF]).
Since usually only admirals or some variation ("[adjective] Admiral") are qualified to be called 提督, most translators will just translate the term as Admiral, which is less wordy and more easily understood than the term "flag officer".
(Not to mention that nobody ever addresses another person with the term 'flag officer" anyway).
In theory you could give command of a fleet to a junior officer who isn't an Admiral, which can happen if the navy needs more fleets (and leaders to lead those fleets) but is restricted by the parliament/congress/diet/some equivalent or some treaty to a fixed number of flag officers.
In practice, however, these officers would be 'promoted'/'breveted' to "Acting Rear Admiral" or some equivalent anyway. Example. They would be promoted to actual ranks later when senior Admirals retire, freeing up space for the other admirals to move up the queue.
I'm a mix-first gal.I-Is that really going to be okay...?So it's not okay, then...And everything else is in the wash, so...Room #310 - Admiral Watabe
Room #310 - Admiral WatabeWell, as long as I don't have any business to see the higher ups, I'm okay--Good morning!By the way Inazuma-chan, when do you mix in the soy sauce?I handed in the sortie formation documents whatnot, so I've got no need to head off to the brass today.Your documents are short one section. Please bring them over as soon as possible.You're up early today, Comman...der...I went and got soy sauce all over my regular shorts, ya'see.Oh, Inazuma-chan. 'morning.TRACKPANTS!?Game over!!And the plan was to spend the whole day in the office anyway, so there's no problem, is there?Well, that's all well and good, but...And that's check-mate!!