Admiral (Star Trek)

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Starfleet ranks and insignia Admiral
Enterprise:
TOS:	unknown
TMP:	unknown
TOS films:
TNG 1^st season:
*TNG, DS9, VOY*:
TNG (alternate universe):

Admiral is the second highest commissioned Starfleet officer rank in the Star Trek fictional universe. This flag rank is analogous to the actual rank of admiral, the second highest military rank – below fleet admiral and above vice admiral – in many navies, particularly the United States Navy after which the rank system in Starfleet is largely based. "Admiral" is also the abbreviated title often used to address rear, vice, and fleet admirals.

Although the most frequently seen admiral in Star Trek: Enterprise is a vice admiral, the series establishes a series of rank insignia to denote various admiral grades.

Admirals are rarely seen in Star Trek: The Original Series: an admiral is not seen on camera until the second season, and only three or four admirals appear through the series:

Admiral Komack – "Amok Time"
Admiral Fitzgerald – "The Mark of Gideon"
Admiral Fitzpatrick – "The Trouble With Tribbles"
Admiral Westervliet – "For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky" (Westervliet's name appears only in the script, and he wound up being played by the same actor who portrayed Komack; these may be the same characters)

With the exception of a brief shot in "The Trouble With Tribbles", these officers appear on viewscreens and their rank insignia are not visible. As such, during the TOS time frame, all insignia above the rank of commodore remain conjectural. Also uncertain is whether these officers are full admirals (the brief glimpse of Fitzpatrick's insignia suggests he is, in fact, a vice admiral).

Several admirals of various grades appear or are mentioned in the TOS-era films, including Rear (and later Vice) Admiral James Kirk (Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan) and Fleet Admirals Bennett¹ (Star Trek: The Final Frontier), Cartwright (Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country), Morrow (Star Trek III: The Search for Spock), and Nogura (The Motion Picture), and an unnamed fleet admiral who serves as Starfleet commander-in-chief². Admirals' uniform jackets in Star Trek II and onward differ from field officers' uniforms with the former's use of gold piping where the jacket opens.

The first admiral to appear in Star Trek: The Next Generation is Leonard McCoy, although he is not in uniform and it is unclear what admiral grade he reached. TNG's first admiral's uniform appears in "Hide and Q". Q wears the uniform, the variety of which never appears again. Subsequent episodes established the 24th century practice of flag officers wearing distinctly different uniforms than field officers.

Rear Admiral Mark Jameson is the first uniformed flag officer to appear in TNG ("Too Short a Season"). His uniform and insignia variety, however, are not used beyond the show's first season. Starting with the show's second season, and extending throughout the runs of Star Trek Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager, admirals wear simpler pip-based ranks similar to those worn by the shows' field officers. The main difference is that the admirals' insignia are bound in a gold box.

All three 24th century spinoffs include a variety of admirals, although the vast majority are rear or vice admirals. Full admirals include:

Admiral Kathryn Janeway – In an alternate future (Voy: "Endgame")
Admiral William Riker – In an alternate future created by Q (TNG: "All Good Things...")
Admiral Bullock – As a simulacrum of a "real" officer (Voy: "In the Flesh")
Admiral Strickler – In an alternate timeline (Voy: "Non Sequitur")
Admiral T'Lara (DS9: "Rules of Engagement")
Admiral Charlie Whatley (DS9: "Rapture")

Starfleet ranks and insignia
Flag Officers:	Fleet admiral	Admiral	Vice admiral	Rear admiral	Commodore
Officers:	Fleet captain	Captain	Commander	Lieutenant commander	Lieutenant	Lieutenant junior grade	Ensign
Other:	Enlisted	Officer cadets
Alternate and non-canon rank insignia

[edit] Footnotes

Note 1: "Bennett" is a conjectured name, as Captain Kirk identifies him only as "Bob". However, the role is played by longtime Star Trek producer Harve Bennett, and the surname is generally accepted
Note 2: Addressed as "Bill" at the briefing at movie's beginning, but otherwise only addressed as "Admiral." Although non-canon, the novelization of the movie, by J.M. Dillard, gives Bill the last name "Smillie."