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Commodore

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Commodore is a rank of flag officer in many naval services and space forces, most notably Earth Starfleet and its Federation counterpart. 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 the Earth Starfleet uniforms of the 22nd century, commodores wore pin insignia of a single rectangular pip surrounded by a silver rectangle. Their service uniforms also had sleeve insignia of a wide white band with a maroon stripe across it. (ENT episode: "First Flight")

Commodore's 2260s rank stripe.
Commodore's 2260s rank stripe.
Commodore Robert April in dress uniform.
Commodore Robert April in dress uniform.

By the era of the 23rd century Federation Starfleet, commodores' uniforms had a sleeve insignia of a single gold band a couple of inches wide, with a braided stripe on each edge. A commodore's dress uniform was 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 an 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.
Commodore's 2270s epaulets.
Commodore's 2270s epaulets.

In the early 2270s, 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")

Commodore's 2270s-2350s rank pin
Commodore's 2270s-2350s rank pin

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: 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" 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.
Commodore's later-24th century rank pins.
Commodore's later-24th century rank pins.

In the uniform insignia introduced in the mid-24th century, a commodore wears five circular pips as their rank insignia. (TNG reference: 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 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.

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)

Commodore Data.
Commodore Data.

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)

Contents

[edit] Positions and Lists

[edit] Earth Starfleet

In Earth's Starfleet, a commodore was senior to a captain and below a rear admiral.

[edit] Federation Starfleet

The United Federation of Planets adopted the same grades for its own Starfleet, although separate grades, such as fleet captain and vice commodore were sometimes included as subordinate to commodore, while rear admiral lower half was also sometimes used and considered generally equivalent.

[edit] Klingon Defense Force

[edit] Kshatriyan

[edit] Chronology

[edit] 2263

[edit] 2264

Enlisted ranks Commissioned ranks Flag ranks
Starfleet Crew PO CPO Ens Lt, jg Lt LtCdr Cdr Capt

FCapt

Cdore

Rdml

RAdm VAdm Adm

Col?

FAdm
Earth SF Lt Cdr

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