Lineal lists: maintenance

§ 5504. Lineal lists: maintenance (a) The Secretary of the Navy shall maintain a single lineal list of officers in the line of the Navy on active duty in the grade of ensign and above. Line officers shall be carried on this list in the order of seniority of the grades in which they are serving. Officers serving in the same grade shall be carried in the order of their dates of rank in that grade. Officers serving in the same grade and having the same date of rank in that grade shall be carried in the order of their seniority. (b) The Secretary shall maintain a single lineal list of officers of the Marine Corps on active duty in the grade of second lieutenant 315 and above. Officers of the Marine Corps shall be carried on this list in the order of seniority of the grades in which they are serving. Officers serving in the same grade shall be carried in the order of their dates of rank in that grade. Officers serving in the same grade and having the same date of rank in that grade shall be carried in the order of their seniority. (c) The Secretary shall maintain for each staff corps a single lineal list of officers in that corps on active duty. Staff corps officers serving in the grade of lieutenant (junior grade) or above shall be carried on the lineal lists for their respective corps in the order in which their running mates are carried on the lineal list for officers in the line. Staff corps officers serving in the grade of ensign shall be carried on the lineal lists for their respective corps in the order of their dates of rank in that grade. Staff corps officers serving in the grade of ensign and having the same date of rank in that grade shall be carried on the lineal lists for their respective corps in the order of their seniority. (d) For the purpose of this section, each officer serving in a grade to which he was appointed under section 5597 or promoted under section 5787 of this title is considered as serving in the grade he would hold if he had not been so appointed or promoted. (e) Each officer serving in the grade of admiral, vice admiral, general, or lieutenant general has, upon the termination of his appointment in that grade, the grade and position on the lineal list that he would hold if he had not received such an appointment. (f) Except as provided in subsection (g), an officer’s rank among officers on the same lineal list is determined by his position on that list. (g) An officer who is appointed to an office the incumbent of which, regardless of his grade and date of rank in grade, is entitled to the rank of rear admiral with pay of the upper half or to the rank of major general shall be carried on the appropriate lineal list in the position he would have if he had not been so appointed. However, his rank among other officers holding the grade or serving with the rank of rear admiral or major general is determined by the date of his appointment to the office to which the rank of rear admiral with pay of the upper half or major general is attached, rather than by his position on the lineal list, unless his position on the list entitles him to higher rank. (h) Persons appointed in the grade of ensign in the Navy or second lieutenant in the Marine Corps under section 5573, 6904, 6906, or 6909 of this title shall be placed on the appropriate lineal lists. The initial position on a lineal list of officers having the same date of rank shall be determined by the Secretary in accordance with their demonstrated performance regardless of the source from which procured, giving consideration to whatever differences exist in the methods of assigning grades among the various educational institutions at which the officers have been educated. (i) Each officer appointed under section 5584, or 5686 of this title shall be placed on the appropriate lineal list after the junior officer of the same grade. (j) Officers of the Naval Reserve and the Marine Corps Reserve, when ordered to active duty, shall be placed on the appropriate lineal 316 list among officers in the same grade in accordance with their dates of rank. The position of each such reserve officer among officers having the same date of rank as himself is as determined by the Secretary. (k) There shall be excluded from the lineal lists under this section the following: (1) Retired officers. (2) Retired enlisted members and members of the Fleet Reserve and the Fleet Marine Corps Reserve on active duty serving under temporary appointments under section 5597 of this title. (3) Each temporary officer whose only appointment to a grade above chief warrant officer, W–4, is an appointment under section 5697 of this title for a period of limited duration. (4) Officers of the Naval Reserve and the Marine Corps Reserve assigned to active duty for training, ordered to active duty in connection with organizing, administering, recruiting, instructing, training, or drilling the Naval Reserve or the Marine Corps Reserve, or ordered to temporary active duty to prosecute special work. (5) Women officers appointed under section 5590 of this title. (6) Women reserve officers, other than reserve officers in the Nurse Corps and other than reserve officers appointed under section 5581 of this title.