Starfleet enlisted ranks

[Dumbass 0]

Can anyone point me towards good (meaning something close to canon) information on Starfleet enlisted ranks?  The only person ever featured was Chief O'Brien, and I'm not even sure if he was a Non-Commissioned Officer (like Sergeant or Petty Officer) or something like a Warrant Officer.  Star Trek just never got detailed about it.

 

The reason I ask is in a non-STSF sim I play a character who received a battlefield promotion to Ensign even though my character never had any intention of attending Starfleet Academy.  I'm pretty sure such a promotion wouldn't be given to an ordinary "crewman" (in quotations because my character was a foot-soldier in the Dominion war and didn't serve on a ship until after the promotion) but might have been given to someone with some authority, just not a full officer.

 

LtJG Van Roy

Helmsman

USS Enterprise-F

[Garnoopy 0]

Vanroy-

I pulled out my ST Encyclopedia, and looked this up, and not much was there. As a matter of fact, nothing was there.

 

My best guess would be to point you at Voyager. The Maquis were combined with a Starfleet ship and they were given ranks appropriate to each person. Though once given the rank, they were Starfleet officers, not all of them would have gone through the Academy. But, once they did recieve a rank, they recieved all of the rights and privialiges of an officer of Starfleet.

 

So, I believe that your character would have all the rights and responsibilities of the rank of "Ensign" because he was enlisted, and he wears the Starfleet uniform and the Starfleet Ensign pip.

[Dumbass 0]

Actually, NOW it's LtJG (referring to my non-STSF character).  My point is we know there are "Crewmen" and "Chiefs" but not much is known other than this.  O'Brien, when captured once and asked for his rank, gave it as "Chief of Operations, Starfleet" so "Chief" must be both a rank as well as a duty position (as well as "Captain").

 

It doesn't seem right to me that everyone, or even most everyone, is an officer.  Even Ensigns don't clean toilets.

[Cmdr Laura Issia 0]

I've never seen a Trek canon listing of non-com ranks.  Best suggestion I can make is to point you towards modern Naval ranks, as that's what ST ranks are based on.  I suggest a good ol' fashioned encyclopedia -- the old (I mean like 'my dad used them in high school' old) set we have at home has full illustrations of rank badges/bars/etc and charts of command structure and stuff, and I bet a more recent one would even have it in *gasp* color! ;-)

[MajorZStarDust 0]

In a non-STSF sim I was in, we did develop a full ranking system for non-coms. We based it on the modern ranking system.

There was a thing on a ST website at one time where the question was asked about O'Brien and the ST production people who are in the know stated that the Chief rank is both a rank and a title, but when they created the character they really hadn't planned on it being a reoccuring character so they had to modify things as O'Brien became a regular character

 

There was also Kirks yeoman in TOS. Yeoman is not a rank, but a title, but crewman was supposedly a rank. Go figure.

For the Marines on the Arc (the NPC's) we have given them ranks equivelent to modern marine ranks, right down to the enlisted. We even had a regular SF officer (NPC) in security who was a former enlisted SF Marine.

[Dumbass 0]

For the Marines on the Arc (the NPC's) we have given them ranks equivelent to modern marine ranks, right down to the enlisted. We even had a regular SF officer (NPC) in security who was a former enlisted SF Marine.

With all the planets and away missions I always wondered why Starfleet never created some kind of land force like the Marines or the SEALs or something.  Who do they send down for land-based missions?  BRIGHT RED and YELLOW SHIRTS!

[MajorZStarDust 0]

In some of the books the Marines are mentioned.. they just forget in the series, although I think there was a reference or appearance by them in TOS.... but I could be wrong.

[Romulan Commander 0]

I think the rank structer goes like this: Crewman and cadet

                                                        Ensign

                                                        Lt.

                                                        Lt. Commander

                                                        Captian

                                                        Rear Admeral

                                                        Admeral

                                                        Fleet Admeral

                                                        Commandore.

 

This might not be acurate. Also, cheif is a designation, not rank. It means department head.

[Garnoopy 0]

Actually, you've forgotton a rank. According to my ST Encyclopedia, it geos as follows:

 

Cadet

Chief Warrent Officer

Ensign

Lieutenant Junior Grade

Lieutenant

Lieutenant Commander

Commander

Captain

Admiral, one star

Admiral, two star

Admiral, three star

Admiral, four star

Fleet Admiral, five star

 

Chief = Chief of Operations, it is a designation, not a rank as Romulan did say.

[Garnoopy 0]

Wait, that ranking scale I posted is for TNG and ahead, not for TOS. If your talking TOS, it goes like this:

 

Ensign

Lieutenant Junior Grade

Lieutenant

Lieutenant Commander

Commander

Captain

Fleet Captain

Commodore

Rear Armial

Vice Admiral

Admiral

Fleet Admiral

 

 

HA! Here is an addition for Vanroy's enlisted ranks..., it goes like this for Star Trek Films II-VII:

 

Ables'man

Petty Officer 1st Class

CPO

Senior CPO

Master CPO 2nd Class

Master CPO

[Dumbass 0]

I also have a list of Enslisted crew ranks... if anyone wants that.

Yes, that would be most interesting.

 

By the way, "Chief Warrant Officer" implies there are Warrant Officers who are not chiefs.  

 

The US Army used to have (I say "used to" because when I got out there was discussion of simply making them Commissioned Officers as well as creating additional Warrant Officer ranks, I'm not sure where the discussion is now) these ranks for Warrant Officers:

 

W-1  Warrant Officer

W-2  Chief Warrant Officer

W-3  Chief Warrant Officer

W-4  Chief Warrant Officer

 

The rank emblem was a silver bar with a brown square for each W- grade you had.

[VileRomulan 0]

HA! Here is an addition for Vanroy's enlisted ranks..., it goes like this for Star Trek Films II-VII:

 

Ables'man

Petty Officer 1st Class

CPO

Senior CPO

Master CPO 2nd Class

Master CPO

isn't there also a rank called 3CPO? oh, wait, wrong movie...

[KhreRiovtRex 0]

I also have a list of Enslisted crew ranks... if anyone wants that.

Hmm, we just call anything below Erein (Ensign) as "Meat" or "Target Practice". :laugh:

[Webmaster 20]

:::grins:::  Something that just should be killed each week.    ::):

[Yvon Hawke 0]

There's a great comparison chart at a web site for rank insignias called RPG-Insignias. Take a look. They even have Starfleet Marine ranks, ambassadorial, warrant officers, and other popular races.

[MisterSmith 0]

I found a better one at USS Miranda.com: Starfleet Ranks

 

So Chief O'Brian could be a CPO or a CWO, or even more.

[Yvon Hawke 0]

I've seen that list before. The source of those insignias and designations is RPG-Insignias. I like the Miranda listing better because it's an all-in-one listing.

 

Plus I like the Miranda model. It's like A Sovy-Miranda-Prometheus freakazoid on crack or something.

 

I gotta ask them for the model for my 3DS-MAX collection.

[FredM 0]

Hey there,

 

One thing to remember though is that quite a few sims have "unique" ranking structures. For example, Reaent has the rank of "First Lieutenant." On Aegis, the rank of "Midshipman" exists. While both of the websites for the sims have a ranking chart posted, just something to keep in mind.   :)

[Garnoopy 0]

For example, Reaent has the rank of "First Lieutenant."

Fred, I'm jw, but why didja add the rank of "First Lieutenant"?

[Yvon Hawke 0]

There's insignias for those as well. They're part of the Marine's insignias based off of US military ones, but they're there.

[LtCdrGromVik 0]

For example, Reaent has the rank of "First Lieutenant."

Fred, I'm jw, but why didja add the rank of "First Lieutenant"?

I'm not speaking for Fred here, but some sims like to place a rank between the ranks of Lieutenant and Lieutenant Commander for the purposes of "the half way" point between the two ranks.  The rank of Lieutenant Commander takes significantly longer than the previous ranks a player moves up.  I've known some who have waited close to two years with the rank of Lieutenant before receiving a promotion to Lieutenant Commander because they needed to demonstrate that they were able to handle the rank appropriately. Quite honestly, I don't see anything wrong with it, as it does not usually delay a simmer's promotion to Lieutenant Commander.

 

Rank is not what is important in this forum.  Maintaining simming integrity while still having fun is the most important element.  Rank will come with time, but don't make it your every simming motivation.  It took more than 5 months for me to receive my promotion from Ensign to Lieutenant (Jg) way back when I first started simming on Starbase Aegis.  Although the promotion was cool when it finally came, I didn't dwell on the fact that I had been an Ensign for a considerable amount of time.  I was having a blast simming with cool people. (Many of them are still around :) ::shameless plug::)

Just something to take into consideration.

[FredM 0]

Fred, I'm jw, but why didja add the rank of "First Lieutenant"?

Hey there,

 

GromVik answered this pretty well. It exists because often times it takes a long time to move from Lieutenant to Lieutenant Commander. For example, I recall one sim where it would take you about 2 1/2 years to move from Ensign to Lieutenant Commander.