Commodore

Commodore is a rank of flag officer in many naval services and space forces, most notably Earth Starfleet and its Federation counterpart.

Standing[]

A commodore is the most basic flag officer rank, a grade higher than a captain and a grade below rear admiral in most rank structures, although some organizations will refer to a captain as a commodore in title only, to show the said captain's seniority over other captains. The Federation also once had a rank of vice commodore, falling below commodore but above captain. The commodore rank is roughly equivalent with the authority of a brigadier of military forces, and the rear admiral lower half of some service organizations. The Romulan Star Empire has two ranks, senior centurion (enarrain in the Romulan language) and commander general (khre'riov), that are analogous to a commodore's standing. In the Cardassian language, jagul is a Cardassian flag officer rank title which, in translation to Federation Standard, is approximately equivalent to a commodore. In Klingonese, a commodore is referred to as totlh. (TOS novel: The Romulan Way; TLE - Terok Nor novel: Day of the Vipers; ST reference: Klingon for the Galactic Traveler)

Starfleet commodores[]

22nd century[]

In the United Earth Starfleet uniforms of the 22nd century, commodores wore pin insignia of a single rectangular pip surrounded by a silver rectangle. Their Earth Starfleet uniform service jackets also had sleeve insignia of a wide white band with a maroon stripe across it. (ENT episode: "First Flight")

23rd century[]

Robert April, old — Commodore Robert April in dress uniform.

By the era of the early 23rd century Federation Starfleet, commodores' Starfleet uniforms had a sleeve insignia of three solid gold sleeve stripes, similar to that of an admiral. (EV comic: "Futures, Part One")

Also in the mid-23rd century Starfleet uniform was a commodore's dress uniform, with the rank shown by gold piping on the shoulder seams as well as the collar and front closure.

By the uniform redesign of the 2260s decade, commodores wore a single gold band a couple of inches wide, with a braided stripe on each edge. A commodore's dress uniform remained similar to a captain's, with thick gold braid at the neck and closure, and thin gold piping along the shoulder seam. Some, but not all commodores had dress jackets with the added thin gold piping down to the cuff of the sleeve. (TOS episode: "Court Martial")

The TOS reference: Star Fleet Technical Manual incorrectly showed a TOS-era commodore uniform sleeve with three separate rank stripes, an insignia that has been speculated to be that of a fleet captain, and would seem appropriate for a vice commodore also.

In the early 2270s uniform issue, commodore's uniforms had sleeve insignia of three braided rank stripes placed edge-to-edge as a solid group. The commodore's epaulet also bore three stripes. (TOS comic: "Domain of the Dragon God!")

In the uniforms of the 2280s, commodores wore pin insignia with a single pip-shaped center attached to two command officer flag devices, above and below. Commodores also had gold piping on their uniform closures and a thin checkered flag officer stripe on their left sleeves. (ST reference: The Star Trek Encyclopedia)

Before The Star Trek Encyclopedia depicted a fairly accurate version of Robert Fletcher's rank pin designs, other sources presented differing commodore insignia, such as FASA which used a pin that looked like a rounded captain's pin with a sold bar in the middle. Confusingly, that insignia was also used by DC Comics' TOS comic: "Who's Who in Star Trek, Issue 2" for fleet captain. Shane Johnson's ST reference: Mr. Scott's Guide to the Enterprise showed a commodore pin that was a captain's pin with two additional gold flags attached, and again the insignia was shown in another source, this time the Encyclopedia, representing the rank of fleet captain.

24th century[]

In the uniform insignia introduced in the mid-24th century, a commodore wears five circular silver pips as their rank insignia. (FASA RPG module: Star Trek: The Next Generation Officer's Manual)

By the 2370s, there were very few officers in Starfleet that held the rank of commodore. Andrea M'Benga once described the rank as being as "old and musty as a laser pistol". The rank was so obscure that many, such as William T. Riker, only regarded it as the informal title given to captains who command other captains. In 2373, Data retrieved information that showed a handful of officers were still on record as holding the rank, although the information was obscure enough that Data could not retrieve a list of their assignments. (ST novel: Dark Victory)

In 2375, prior to the final battle of the Dominion War, there were several commodores in the Starfleet fleet that was heading to Cardassia. Commodores from different divisions discussed the structure of the fleet. (DS9 novelization: What You Leave Behind)

In 2380, Mackenzie Calhoun proclaimed Jean-Luc Picard a commodore, when deferring command of his task force. Though initially taken to be a tongue-in-cheek comment, Picard was referred to as the fleet's commodore throughout the mission, by other captains in the force. (TNG novel: Before Dishonor)

On alternate reality uniforms from the future, commodores such as Data of the early 25th century wore command officer green and black uniforms with silver trim on the front, cuffs and belt. (TNG novel: Imzadi)

The collar and shoulders of the future uniform was seen on the book cover, and the belt and cuffs were described in the text of Imzadi.

Other races[]

Lyrans[]

Back in the second half of the 23rd century, the Lyran Star Empire had two grades of commodore, the higher commodore grade, senior commodore, being roughly equivalent to a Starfleet rear admiral and, in most clans, one's performance at that rank was paramount for promotion to the nobility rank of count. (ST video game: Starfleet Command)

Klingons[]

Klingon flag officer rank pin.

With the Klingonese language calling this rank totlh, a Klingon commodore was equivalent with a brigadier. A Klingon commodore wore a variation of the Klingon flag officer rank pin on their uniform or sash. (TOS references: The Klingon Dictionary, Klingon for the Galactic Traveler; FASA RPG - The Klingons modules: The Klingons: Star Fleet Intelligence Manual, The Klingons: Game Operation Manual)

Commodore insignia[]

Starfleet commodore insignia
era	general wear	command division			operations division				sciences division
era	general wear	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) (insignia for all flag grades)
Federation Starfleet ranks (2250s) (insignia for all flag grades)
Federation Starfleet ranks (2260s)
Federation Starfleet ranks (2270s)
Federation Starfleet ranks (2270s-2350s)
Federation Starfleet ranks (2350s-2366)
Federation Starfleet ranks (2373-2386)

Positions and lists[]

Kshatriyan[]

Uligbar Dar Zotzchen

Appendices[]

Connections[]

	Enlisted ranks				Commissioned ranks						Flag ranks
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
Klingon Defense Force naval & marine	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 PO1		CPO SCPO MCPO	ENS	LT		CMDR		CAPT FCAPT VICE CDORE	CDORE	RADM / 2ADM	VADM / 3ADM	4ADM	FADM / 5ADM GADM
Starfleet & SFMC	CREW	PO2 PO1		CPO SCPO MCPO	ENS JG ENS ENS 1C	LT JG	LT	LT CMDR	CDR	CAPT FCAPT VICE CDORE	CDORE 1ADM	RADM / 2ADM	VADM / 3ADM	4ADM	FADM / 5ADM GADM
Starfleet & SFMC	PVT	CPL	SGT MASTER SGT		SUBLT 2ND LT	1ST LT	CAPT	MAJOR	LT COL	COL	BRIG	GEN

Background[]

In ST video game: Conquest, commodore is used for new Starfleet commanders entering the game in Federation play, with the graphics reflecting the "one-star" rank insignia dating back to the US military forces and the Earth Starfleet. The game proceeds these characters to rear admiral after their commodore experience points are complete.

External link[]

Commodore article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.

Memory Beta, non-canon Star Trek Wiki