Captain is a rank of officer in many naval services and space forces, most notably Earth Starfleet and its Federation counterpart. The title of captain is also used in a more general sense to refer to any individual, civilian or otherwise, who is the commanding officer of a ship. However, there are times when a captain may not be the commanding officer of a ship, serving as a department head, first officer or adjutant to an admiral or a more senior captain. 3 cases include Spock, who served as first officer under James T. Kirk onboard the USS Enterprise and USS Enterprise-A in spite of holding the rank of captain; Montgomery Scott, who served as captain of engineering on board several ships; and Geordi La Forge, who briefly served as captain of engineering onboard the USS Enterprise-E before returning to his previous rank.
Starfleet captains are sometimes referred to as "Skippers". (DS9 episode: "In the Pale Moonlight", DS9 - Mission Gamma novel: Lesser Evil)
Naval captains
Equivalent ranks
- The Blood Many has a strict rank code which places an avedon at the head of their ships, the so-called Blood savages. When Shucorion joined the crew of UFPF Challenger, he took somewhat of a demotion to first officer status, as he had previously been a captain-equivalent avedon. (TOS - New Earth novels: Wagon Train to the Stars, Challenger; CHA - Gateways novel: Chainmail)
- The Breen have a sort of rank or title that places a thot in control of their ships.
- In the Cardassian language, gul is a Cardassian officer rank title which, in translation to Federation Standard, is approximately equivalent to a captain. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, et al.)
- The Ferengi rank/title most similar to captain is DaiMon, although like much of Ferengi culture the title is distinct and different in that it carries a mercenary ethic and prices to match. (Star Trek: The Next Generation, et al.)
- In Klingonese, a ship's captain is referred to as HoD. (ST reference: Klingon for the Galactic Traveler)
- The Romulan Star Empire has two ranks, commander (rh'iov in the Romulan language) and legate, that are analogous to a captain's standing. (TOS - TLE novel: The Lost Years; NF novels: After the Fall, Missing in Action)
- Rigger is the Skeen's designation of a ship's captain. (VOY novel: Acts of Contrition)
- Vulcan ships refer to their commanding officer as captain as well, although they sometimes use the terminology "commander", a type of reference shared with their offshoot cousins, the Romulans. (Star Trek: Enterprise, et al.)
Insignia
22nd century
In the Earth Starfleet uniforms of the 22nd century, captains wore pin insignia of four rectangular pips. Their service uniforms also had sleeve insignia of a two white bands with a division color-coded stripe between. (ENT episode: "These Are the Voyages...")
23rd century
By the era of the 23rd century, Federation Starfleet, captains' uniforms had a sleeve insignia of a two gold braids with a broken braid in between. A captain's dress uniform was similar to a commander's, with thick gold braid at the neck and closure, with added thin gold piping along the shoulder seam. (TOS episode: "Court Martial")
In the early 2270s, captain's uniforms had the same sleeve insignia, and an epaulet that also bore two solid stripes and a broken stripe. (TOS comic: "Domain of the Dragon God!")
In the uniforms of the 2280s, captains wore pin insignia with a three central bars attached to two command officer flag devices, above and below. (ST reference: The Star Trek Encyclopedia)
24th century
In the uniform insignia introduced in the mid-24th century, a captain wears four circular pips as their rank insignia. (FASA RPG module: Star Trek: The Next Generation Officer's Manual)
Captain insignia
| Starfleet captain insignia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| era | general wear | command division | operations division | sciences division | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| command | tactical/military | flight-engineering (admin, pilot, engineer) |
security | special services | sci-ops (ops, sci & tac ops) |
medical | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Alternate captain insignia
| Starfleet alternate captain insignia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| era | command division | operations division | sciences division | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Positions and lists
Earth & Federation Starfleet
- See: Starfleet captains
Klingon Defense Force
- Bek'Ta
- B'Tak
- Cha'DIch, son of hiJaK
- Ch'Targh
- Dorrek, son of M'Raq
- Gatrell
- Grannk
- G'Zar
- H'Ta, son of Kahmar
- Kaaj, son of Torg
- Kalan
- Kang, son of K'naiah
- Kargan, son of Talak
- Kasak sutai-Khornezh
- Kaul
- K'Draq, daughter of Sangra
- Kert sutai Restok
- Kevas
- Klaa
- Klag, son of M'Raq
- K'mpec
- Koloth
- Konet sutai Cultuic
- Korris
- K'retok
- Krenn
- Krill sutai Limur
- K'Tar
- K'Temoc
- K'Vada
- Qurag
- R'taga
- Sotugh
Romulan Mining Guild
Others
- Angel
- Breytik (Maligonq Familial Consideration)
- David Meyerson (Red Path; formerly Starfleet)
- Vrandu (Red Path)
- Ko In Lah Pili Leb (Xahean Ministry of Trade)
Appendices
Connections
| Enlisted ranks | Commissioned ranks | Flag ranks | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Klingon Defense Force naval & marine |
ENL (bekk) | PO/LDR (DevwI')
|
ENS (lagh) | LT JG | LT (Sogh) | LT CMDR | CMDR (la') | CAPT (HoD) | CDORE (totlh) | ADM ('aj) | FADM | |||||
| ENL (mang) 2C
ENL (mang) 1C LCPL |
CPL (Da') | SGT (bu')
SGT MAJ |
LT JG | LT (Sogh) | CAPT | MAJ | LT COL | COL | BRIG ('ech) | MAJ GEN | GEN (Sa') | |||||
| Earth SF | CREW | PO2
|
CPO
|
ENS | LT | CMDR | CAPT
|
CDORE | RADM / 2ADM | VADM / 3ADM | 4ADM | FADM / 5ADM
| ||||
| Starfleet & SFMC | ENS JG
|
LT JG | LT | LT CMDR | CDR | CDORE
| ||||||||||
| PVT | CPL | SGT
|
SUBLT
2ND LT |
1ST LT | CAPT | MAJOR | LT COL | COL | BRIG | GEN | ||||||
| US military (& US Navy) |
PVT | CPL | SGT
|
2ND LT | 1ST LT | CAPT | MAJ | LT COL | COL | BRIG GEN | MAJ GEN | LT GEN | GEN | |||
| CREW | PO | CPO
|
ENS | LT JG | LT | LT CMDR | CMDR | CAPT | RADM LH | RADM UH | VADM | ADM | FADM | |||
| Vulcan | Subaltern | Altern | SLt | Lt | Maj | SCdr | Cpt Cmdr |
Min | Admin | |||||||
| Andorian | Lt | Cdr | Cpt | Gen | ||||||||||||
External links
- Captain article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.
- Captain article at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.