Michman

Michman () is a Russian and Soviet Navy rank. It is also used in a number of other countries. The rank is equivalent to praporshchik in the Russian and Soviet army and air force. According to NATO rank system the rank might be comparable to OR-9b in NATO armed forces. In the Russian Navy there are two grades of michman: michman and starshy michman.

While the rank michman is etymologically borrowed from the English rank midshipman, michman is a very senior and experienced enlisted rank, equivalent to a master chief petty officer or warrant officer, while midshipman is a cadet in training or a very junior officer rank (OF-1 in NATO naval forces), which, being an officer, is technically higher in rank than any enlisted rank, despite a midshipman's very junior status.

Soviet Union
The ranks of senior michman (and in the army and air force, senior praporshchik) were added in 1981. The Russian Federation retained the rank structure of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Michman rank insignia
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Imperial Russia

Michman was originally an Ober-ofizer rank, in line to the Table of Ranks class XII/XIII in the Imperial Russian Navy equivalent to Praporshik of the Imperial Russian Army and classified as junior officer rank (OF-1c). 

The rank was abolished in 1917 by the Bolsheviks and restored in the 1970s in the former USSR for non-commissioned officers and became equivalent to the non-commissioned officer rank OR-9.

See also
Comparative officer ranks of World War I
Ranks and rank insignia of the Soviet Army 1943–1955, and Ranks and rank insignia of the Soviet Armed Forces 1955–1991,
Ranks and rank insignia of the Russian Federation´s armed forces 1994–2010
Army ranks and insignia of the Russian Federation

Michman ranks in other nations
The following countries use a similar rank:
Azerbaijan: 
Lithuania: 
Poland: 
Ukraine:

References

Category:Military ranks of Russia
Category:Military ranks of the Soviet Union