Rear admiral was a flag officer rank above commodore, but below vice admiral. As a Starfleet rank, it was used by the United Earth and Federation Starfleet.
On the 2140s-early 2160s Starfleet uniform, rear admirals, such as Daniel Leonard, were denoted by two rank insignia enclosed in a rectangular frame, worn on both sides of a uniform jacket. These officers also had a series of rank stripes on their sleeve, a group of four stripes (three in a group, and one separate towards the cuff). (ENT: "Broken Bow")
Later Starfleet rear admirals, such as James T. Kirk, were again denoted by sleeve stripes, this time signified by a similar insignia, one solid band of braid, and an additional stripe separate. Rear admiral's shoulder insignia, for epaulet uniforms, was a single eight pointed star. (Star Trek: The Motion Picture)
On the late 2270s-2350s Starfleet uniform, Kirk, and all other officers, wore their insignia as a pin device attached to the shoulder on the jacket clasp. The rear admiral pin was a small round field with four gold arrowheads arranged pointing towards the center, and was accompanied by an embroidered sleeve stripe. (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan)
In the 2360s, rear admirals like Starfleet Academy superintendent Brand, were denoted by two gold rank pips surrounded by a square frame. (TNG: "The First Duty")
Starfleet rear admirals
- Bennett
- Brand
- Cobum
- L. Cole
- Drake
- James T. Kirk
- Daniel Leonard
- M.C. Minor
- Erik Pressman
- Rollman
- Norah Satie
- Shukar
- Sitak
| Enlisted personnel | Commissioned officers | Flag officers | ||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fleet: | CRM | PO | CPO | MID CDT OC WO |
ENS | LT JG | LT | LT CMDR | CMDR | CAPT | FCAPT | CDORE | RADM | VADM | ADM | FADM | ||||
| Military: | PVT AMN |
CPL LCP |
SGT | SSGT | MSGT 1SGT |
2nd LT | 1st LT | CAPT | MAJ | LT COL | COL | BRIG | MAJ GEN | LT GEN | GEN | MARSHAL | ||||
| Services: | Andorian • Bajoran • Cardassian • Ferengi • Human (CSA • Third Reich • UE MACO • USA) • Jem'Hadar • Klingon • Romulan • United Earth/Federation Starfleet • Vulcan Mirror universe: Terran Empire Starfleet • Terran Empire MACO | |||||||||||||||||||
This chart shows only general equivalencies based on the ranks used by many governments on Earth, as well as the rest of the galaxy.
Background information
Robert Blackman's production notes during Star Trek: The Next Generation described this rank as "2 Starfleet Admiral, gold framed bar w/2 dots." [1](X)
The Star Trek Encyclopedia, 3rd ed., p. 210-211 labeled this rank as "rear admiral" referring to the late 2270's-2350's uniforms, and "admiral, two star" referring to its use on 2350s-2370s, late 2360s-early 2370s, and 2370s uniforms.
A "one star admiral" insignia also appeared in the encyclopedia, but never appeared in a live action production until the series Star Trek: Picard when the rank was referred to as commodore. The only true "one star" admirals seen in a Star Trek production were Gregory Quinn and Mark Jameson, however both were simply referred to as "admiral" (In Quinn's case as a "senior admiral"). In the real United States Navy, on which Starfleet ranks are mostly based, such a rank would be known as rear admiral (lower half), however this rank and title has never appeared in any Star Trek production or writing.
Star Trek: The Magazine Volume 2, Issue 10, p. 99, mistakenly identified the late 2270's-2350's commodore insignia as the rear admiral insignia.
External links
- Rear admiral at Wikipedia
- Rear admiral at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works