He had made himself third in command of the ship.

"And since when did you take over command of the ship?"

He took command of his new ship on 11 July 1873.

And you're now in command of the ship, you say?

He was in command of the ship, not the mission.

He was now in direct command of the ship itself.

At that time, I had no longer been in command of either the ship or the battle group.

The time might even come when Hal would take command of the ship.

The command of the ship would be as worked out between the two, amongst themselves.

"I see that you have ambitions beyond even command of your own ship."