A captain is a commissioned officer rank in the United States Navy. This officer may be in command of some of the Navy's largest warships, such as aircraft carriers. The pay scale of a naval captain is directly in the middle among the different ranks of naval officers. Only the five ranks of commodore and admiral are above a captain in pay grade.
A captain's salary is largely dependent on his years of service in the Navy. According to the Defense and Finance Accounting Service, as of January 2011, a naval captain with less than two years experience in the rank earns a monthly salary of $4,893. This represents a 1.4 percent pay increase from the previous year. Salary increases incrementally culminating in a final monthly pay rate of $7,856.70 at more than 18 years of service.