[2019] Ranked, How's it Work?

Hey Battle_Cat_Cringer,

As other players have said your starting rank this season is based off of the rank you finished last season at. You get bonus stars for every rank you achieved last season of ranked.

According to established tradition, all of your achievements from the previous season will be accounted for, so you won't have to start from the scratch. Depending on the Rank at which you finished the previous season, you’ll be granted a certain number of bonus stars. The maximum possible number is 17 stars. If you earned the maximum number of stars in the previous season, you’ll start the new season at Rank 10. Rewards issued for the preceding ranks will be added to your account automatically.

This is directly from the ranked article: https://worldofwarships.com/en/news/general-news/ranked-12/

Hopefully this helps with understanding why you started at rank 14 =).