Commodore is a former rank in the United States Navy and United States Coast Guard and a current honorary title in the U.S. Navy with an intricate history. Because the U.S. Congress was originally unwilling to authorize any admirals in its service until 1862, considerable importance was attached to the office of commodore. Like its Royal Navy counterpart at the time, the U.S. Navy commodore was not a higher rank, but a temporary assignment for captains, as Herman Melville wrote in White Jacket, 1849,