Lieutenant (junior grade)

Lieutenant (junior grade) (LTJG)  is a junior commissioned officer rank in the United States Navy, the United States Coast Guard, the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Corps, with the pay grade of O-2.

Lieutenant, junior grade ranks above ensign and below lieutenant and is equivalent to a first lieutenant in the other uniformed services (the Army, Marine Corps and Air Force) and sub-lieutenant in the Royal Navy and the navies of many Commonwealth countries.

The time for promotion to LTJG is a minimum of two years after commissioning in the Navy or 18 months in the Coast Guard. Lieutenants, junior grade typically lead petty officers and non-rated personnel, unless assigned to small aircraft or on staff duty. A LTJG's usual shipboard billet is as a Division Officer.

Lieutenant, junior grade is often referred to colloquially as JG ("Jay-Gee"). Prior to March 3, 1883, this rank was known in the Navy as master.

Notable lieutenants (j.g.)

 * George Herbert Walker Bush, the 41st President of the United States
 * L. Ron Hubbard, Science Fiction writher and founder of Scientology
 * David Robinson, U.S. Naval Academy (Class of 1987) and National Basketball Association (NBA) player.
 * Harvey Milk Gay rights activist and local government official in San Francisco.
 * Michael Jerome Sheehan, former crew member of Mystery Science Theater, author, filmmaker, photographer, noted Minnesota movie reviewer.
 * Neil Armstrong, the NASA Apollo 11 Commander, who was a Naval Aviator during World War II. He joined the US Naval Reserve after the war and obtained the rank of lieutenant j.g.

Fictional lieutenants (j.g.)

 * Douglas A. 'Doug' Roberts from Mister Roberts.
 * H. Paynter, Jr. from The Caine Mutiny.
 * Nick "Goose" Bradshaw from Top Gun.
 * Daniel Alistair Kaffee from A Few Good Men.
 * Sam Weinberg from A Few Good Men.
 * Tim O'Neill for the entire run of seaQuest DSV.
 * Lonnie Henderson during the final season of seaQuest DSV.
 * Nick Holden (Tony Curtis) a character in the 1959 Blake Edwards film Operation Petticoat.
 * Cathy Connors (Barbara Eden) and Danny Romano (Frankie Avalon) in the 1961 motion picture Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.
 * Iroquois Pliskin from Metal Gear Solid 2 Sons of Liberty/Substance who was later revealed to Solid Snake.