Commander is a commissioned rank in many militaries.

History and specifics[]

In the United Federation Starfleet, the rank name is derived from English-speaking naval tradition.

Due to the growth of the British Royal Navy, senior captains who were outraged at the idea of promoting deserving but far less experienced lieutenants to the rank of captain demanded that the Admiralty create a new office for these inexperienced commanding officers that did not impinge on their rank or dignity. The Admiralty and the Crown appointed these senior lieutenants to the post of "Master and Commander" of the vessels they were given command of, denoting a senior British naval officer's dual role as not only the sailing master of the vessel, but as the bearer of the rightful office of command. In the years that followed, this rank name was simply renamed "commander."

Commanders in the United Federation Starfleet serve as executive officers or department heads in the senior staff of large commands or as the commanding officers of medium-sized commands. They have been trained in a post-graduate command-track environment that allows them to take command of a Starfleet vessel, should the need arise. Commander is also the lowest rank permitted of a Starfleet starbase commanding officer where the base is a major hub of strategic importance.^{[citation needed]}

The equivalent rank in other services is as follows:

Romulan Imperial Navy: Subcommander

Vulcan Defense Force: Subcommander

Klingon Defense Force: la' in Klingonese (ST reference: The Klingon Dictionary)

"Commander" is a translation of the rank in the Romulan Imperial Navy equivalent to "Captain" in Starfleet. Like their counterparts in Starfleet, Commanders of the Romulan Imperial Navy preside over some of the Empire's most prestigious commands. Unlike a Starfleet officer, however, a Romulan commander is often also tasked with specific political powers since ascent to this rank also implies the ability to have a certain level of political charisma. Individual Romulan commanders, such as Keras, have often been tasked directly by the Romulan Praetor to engage in acts of acquisition, directly extending the Romulan sphere of influence on those star systems or areas of space absorbed into the Empire. Imperial commanders are often given the authority to act as military governors, enacting laws and regulations as need be until suitable civilian governors can be appointed through the political machinations of the Romulan Senate.

The same can be said of Commanders of the Klingon Empire who are given the authority to extend the dominions of their Empire or individual House. However, these officers sit at the same level of their Starfleet counterparts at the rank of the Lieutenant Commander and Commander. Commanders of the Klingon Defense Force, or those in the service of individual Houses of The Empire command, perhaps, the widest array of vessels within the Empire and are often judged on their command prestige before being considered for advancement to the rank of Captain. That prestige can take the form of the kind of vessel under their command (as small as a B'Rel class frigate to as large as a Vor'Cha attack cruiser/subdreadnought) as well as the perceived respect afforded to that commander by his crew (often reported as a lack of assassination attempts on the commanding officer's life). Weak commanders do not keep their commands long, at any level, in the Klingon Empire.

Commander insignia[]

Starfleet commmander insignia
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
Earth Starfleet ranks
Federation Starfleet ranks (2160s)
Federation Starfleet ranks (2230s)
Federation Starfleet ranks (2240s) (insignia for all officer grades)
Federation Starfleet ranks (2250s) (insignia for all officer grades)
Federation Starfleet ranks (2260s)
Federation Starfleet ranks (2270s)
Federation Starfleet ranks (2270s-2350s)
Federation Starfleet ranks (2350s-2366)
Federation Starfleet ranks (2366-2373)
Federation Starfleet ranks (2373-2386)
Federation Starfleet ranks (2386-2410)
Federation Starfleet ranks (2800s)

Alternate commander insignia[]

Starfleet alternate commander insignia
era	command division				operations division				sciences division
Federation Starfleet ranks (2250s) alt
Federation Starfleet ranks (2386-2410) alt

Positions and Lists[]

Grades are noted where known.

Starfleet[]

The Starfleet rank is above Lieutenant Commander and below Captain.

• Lieutenant Commander Gilaad Ben Zoma
• Lieutenant Commander Rafaele Buonarroti
• Lieutenant Commander Chernin
• Margaret C. Clark
• Commander Codobach
• Lieutenant Commander Domenica Corsi
• Lieutenant Commander Kieran Duffy
• Commander Sonya Gomez
• Drysi Gravenor
• Lieutenant Commander Fo Hachesa
• Lieutenant Commander Jaza Najem
• Lieutenant Commander Ranul Keru
• Commander Atish Khatami
• Lieutenant Commander Nidani Ledrah
• Lieutenant Commander Robin Lefler
• Lieutenant Commander Xintal Linojj
• Commander Dr. Xin Ra-Havreii
• Lt. Cdr & Commander William T. Riker
• Lieutenant Commander William Ross
• Commander Salek
• Commander Joseph Shabalala
• Lt. Cdr & Commander Elizabeth Shelby
• Lt. Cdr & Commander Benjamin Sisko
• Commander Hiromi Takeshewada
• Lieutenant Commander Mor glasch Tev
• Lt. Cdr & Commander Deanna Troi
• Lt. Cdr & Commander Tuvok
• Lt. Cdr & Commander Christine Vale
• Lt. Cdr & Commander Tom Paris
• Commander Colin Braig

Romulan Star Empire[]

The Romulan rank is above Subcommander and below General. It is equivalent to a Starfleet Captain.

• Donatra
• Sartai
• Suran
• T'Reth
• Tomalak

Chronology[]

Dates listed are first appearance or mention at that rank except as noted. Personnel are Starfleet except as noted.

2263[]

• Commander Hiromi Takeshewada (reference uncertain: possibly 2266)

2265[]

• Commander Atish Khatami

2268[]

• Rojan of the Kelvan Empire

2303[]

• Rafaele Buonarroti promoted to Lieutenant Commander

2311[]

• Lieutenant Commander Chernin
• Xintal Linojj promoted to Commander
• Drysi Gravenor

2357[]

• Margaret C. Clark

2355[]

• Lieutenant Commander William Ross

2361[]

• William T. Riker promoted to Lieutenant Commander

2362[]

• Beverly Crusher promoted to Commander

2364[]

• William T. Riker promoted to Commander
• Lieutenant Commander Deanna Troi

2366[]

• Lieutenant Commander Elizabeth Shelby
• Lieutenant Commander Benjamin Sisko
• Tomalak (Romulan)

2369[]

• Benjamin Sisko promoted to Commander

2370[]

• Commander Joseph Shabalala
• Deanna Troi promoted to Commander

2372[]

• Commander Elizabeth Shelby

2373[]

• Lieutenant Commander Ranul Keru

2375[]

• Lieutenant Commander Kieran Duffy
• Lieutenant Commander Robin Lefler
• Commander Sonya Gomez
• Commander Salek

2376[]

• Lieutenant Commander Domenica Corsi
• Lieutenant Commander Mor glasch Tev
• Lieutenant Commander Christine Vale

2379[]

• Tuvok promoted to Commander

2379[]

• Donatra (Romulan)
• Lieutenant Commander Fo Hachesa
• Lieutenant Commander Jaza Najem
• Commander Dr. Xin Ra-Havreii
• Suran (Romulan)
• Christine Vale promoted to Commander

Connections[]

	Enlisted ranks				Commissioned ranks							Flag ranks
Earth SF	CREW	PO2 PO1		CPO SCPO MCPO	ENS	LT		CMDR		CAPT FCAPT VICE CDORE		CDORE	RADM / 2ADM	VADM / 3ADM	4ADM	FADM / 5ADM GADM
Starfleet & SFMC					ENS JG ENS ENS 1C	LT JG	LT	LT CMDR	CDR			CDORE 1ADM
	PVT	CPL	SGT MASTER SGT		SUBLT 2ND LT	1ST LT	CAPT	MAJOR	LT COL	COL		BRIG	GEN
Klingon Defense Force naval & marine	ENL (bekk)	PO/LDR (DevwI') CPO/TROOP LDR (QaS-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')
Romulan naval & Tal Shiar (where known)	UHLAN		DECURION		ANTE CENTURION (erein)	SUBLT	SUBCMDR (erei'riov)				CMDR (rh'iov)	CMDR GEN (khre'riov) HIGH COMMANDER	ADMIRAL ADMIRAL-SUPERLATIVE
							LT	MAJOR	TRIBUNE		COLONEL		GENERAL (enriov)
								CENTURION (arrain)			LEGATE	SR CENTURION (enarrain)	HIGH CENTURION
					EQUITORIAM	SECONDAM	TRINAM					FIELD PRIMUS	PRIMUS			GRAND PRIMUS

External link[]

• Commander article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.
• Lieutenant Commander article at Star Trek Online Wiki.