Starfleet ranks Starfleet ranks were the identifying titles for the officers and enlisted members of Starfleet , under both United Earth and the United Federation of Planets . These ranks used the titles and positions adopted from earlier Earth naval forces . Creation and early usage . Starfleet ranks were first created sometime in the mid 22nd century due to the expansion of the United Earth Starfleet . These early Starfleet ranks had at least three enlisted positions , four officer ranks , and three ranks for use by flag officers . Starfleet uniforms of this period were mainly worn as single fitting jumpsuits with a colored shoulder trim denoting what field a particular officer or crewman specialized in ( command , security / engineering , or science / medical ) . The original Starfleet rank pattern was as follows : 23rd century . Early - 23rd century . In the 2230s , the Starfleet uniform used a sleeve stripe system to denote rank instead of pips . The rank of lieutenant commander had also been added . ( ) Mid - 23rd century . By the late 2240s , Starfleet had changed its uniform and had a new rank and insignia system . Enlisted personnel wore no rank insignia . Commissioned officers were denoted by the number of pips on their delta / arrowhead design and the Admiralty wore a delta / arrowhead surrounded by laurel leaves on a dark disc . ( ) Lower rank grades among the Admiralty were indicated by blackened laurel leaves on each side of the arrowhead . ( ) and ( ) As rank was shown on the breast badge that also indicated the division one worked for , the above ranks were shown similarly on the below division insignia . By the mid 2250s , Starfleet had again changed its uniforms and had adopted a much simpler rank and insignia system . Enlisted personnel wore no rank insignia while the rank of chief petty officer was denoted by a special sleeve stripe . Commissioned officers wore a solid gold stripe . This system would stay in place for at least fifteen years , with only a slight modification in the early 2260s , when those holding the rank of captain were authorized to wear two gold stripes whereas other officers wore one . By 2265 , the rank system was as follows : Alternate reality . By 2258 in the alternate reality , Starfleet had adopted uniforms and an insignia pattern more reminiscent of the late 2260s in the prime reality . These new insignia consisted of silver bands worn on the lower sleeves of the Starfleet uniforms . Ensigns and enlisted personnel wore no rank insignia . The 2260s and 2270s . By 2266 , Starfleet had once again changed its uniforms and , while still using the sleeve stripe system to denote rank , the rank stripes had been modified to show more detail for each particular rank . An exception was that enlisted personnel , chief petty officers included , now had no insignia whatsoever with most enlisted personnel also wearing Starfleet jumpsuits instead of the standard tunic uniforms worn by the officers . Starfleet flag officers wore a thicker braid insignia than regular officers and the rank of cadet and midshipman were both apparently in use at Starfleet Academy . The 2266 rank and insignia pattern was as follows : In the mid 2270s , Starfleet changed its uniforms again , although mainly in appearance only . The rank insignia of officers remained relatively the same , with the exception that the rank of lieutenant junior grade was apparently done away with . Enlisted personnel also adopted a style of their own rank insignia and both officers and admirals could now wear a short sleeve " Class B " uniform which displayed rank insignia on shoulder tabs . The 2271 rank insignia pattern was as follows : Corresponding officer shoulder boards appeared as follows : Late 23rd - mid 24th century . By the year 2278 , Starfleet had again changed its uniforms , abandoning the previous sleeve stripe system and adopting a totally new insignia design which incorporated a series of rank pins worn on a shoulder strap with the color of the strap determining the bearer ' s branch within Starfleet . At this point , the lieutenant junior grade rank had also been re - established . The shoulder strap system also matched with a cuff strap which could display various citation and years - of - service pins . Finally , in the case of admirals , another series of cuff straps denoted the particular rank of the admiral . Enlisted uniforms were also completely revamped from previous versions and now were worn as jumpsuits with rank pins worn on the lower right sleeve . Enlisted ranks themselves were expanded , encompassing several grades of petty officer and chief petty officer . With the exception of some minor cosmetic changes to officer uniforms , including the introduction of a standard communicator pin around 2344 , the uniforms and insignia of the late 23rd century remained unchanged until approximately the year 2355 . The insignia pattern was as follows : The 24th century . By the year 2355 , Starfleet had introduced a new uniform design with the manner of insignia returning to the pip system used a hundred years earlier . The 24th century pip system introduced a generic " hollow pip " insignia to denote chief petty officers . The pip system used introduced in the mid 24th century remained relatively unchanged and by 2379 was still the standard insignia system used by Starfleet , although the uniforms themselves had undergone a change . The original officer and enlisted pip system , introduced in the 2350s was as follows : The insignia for flag officers had a slightly different history than those of the regular officer and enlisted corps . In the 2360 s , admirals wore a type of triangular insignia on a special flag officer uniform . By 2366 , this insignia had been replaced by a " boxed pip " system worn vertically on the flag uniform collar . The very next year the admiral insignia changed again , this time worn flat against the collar in the same way as the insignia worn by other grades . The original flag officer insignia pattern was as follows : By 2367 , the admiral insignia appeared as follows : By the mid 2370s , Starfleet had made a further change to its insignia , this change pertaining to enlisted personnel . Replacing the " hollow pip " generic insignia was a new chevron system , worn as pins on the collar of the enlisted personnel ' s uniform . The chevron system displayed rank for the petty officer and chief petty office grades . Alternate universe . In an alternate universe observed during a quantum fissure , Starfleet had adopted an additional form of insignia which was incorporated directly into the design of the Starfleet combadge . The insignia appeared as metal bars behind the Starfleet crest , designed to show the rank of the wearer and accompanied the prime universe ' s collar pips . This same insignia also appeared in the " prime " universe , when it was used by the alien Barash during a holographic simulation of the USS " Enterprise " - D designed to trick Commander William T . Riker into thinking he was in the future . Barash ' s simulation did not include the collar pips . ( ) 29th century . The uniforms worn by the Starfleet crew of the during the 29th century displayed rank insignia on the right collar . ( ) Comparative rank tables . Flag officers . Admirals in Starfleet were described as the " flag officer s . " These ranks constituted the highest authorities of Starfleet Command . Provisional officers . During some periods of its existence , Starfleet maintained a procedure of granting temporary rank to civilians when the civilian in question was required to have authority over Starfleet personnel . In 2364 , Starfleet propulsion expert Kosinski ran several upgrade experiments on the " Enterprise " - D . Kosinski wore a unique rank insignia denoting his special position . ( ) The crew of the USS " Voyager " , which included non - Starfleet Maquis members , was forced to make use of provisional rank appointments as a matter of course since the ship was stranded in the Delta Quadrant and the Maquis members were essential to shipboard operations . The provisional insignia system as of 2372 was as follows : Cadet ranks . Cadet ranks were held by those attending Starfleet Academy during their training to become commissioned officers . Enlisted ranks . Enlisted ranks were achieved by members of Starfleet who had not attended Starfleet Academy . Crewmen . The lowest possible rank of recruit , rated below the crewman grades , had no insignia . Titles and positions . Fleet captain . Fleet captain was a title bestowed on senior Starfleet captains . It was a rare distinction , held by particularly distinguished captains . The title of fleet captain was held by former " Enterprise " Captain Christopher Pike in the year 2266 . It was also held in the 2260s , by Captain Garth , one of Starfleet ' s most decorated captains and hero of the Battle of Axanar . Deputy Director . Deputy Director was a positional title whose exact relationship to the regular Starfleet rank tier is somewhat unclear ; although the position did warrant some command authority over a captain . The insignia for Deputy Director was the four pips of a captain centered above a gold bar . Note : some rank lists show this as fleet captain , which might be the actual rank a deputy director held , as both seem to have been staff officers . Colonel . In 2293 , Starfleet Colonel West was involved in the Khitomer conspiracy . ( ) Corporal . In 2154 , Starfleet Corporal Askwith perished at the Earth embassy on Vulcan . ( ) Miscellaneous . In 2254 , Captain Christopher Pike , while on Talos IV , imagined himself as an Orion trader . He imagined an officer in a dress uniform with him at the Orion colony wearing peculiar shoulder epaulets and of unknown rank . ( ) In 2376 , The Doctor aboard " Voyager " briefly resigned his Starfleet commission . ( ) Appendices . Development . The Starfleet rank system was designed by William Ware Theiss , with the first versions cribbed principally from the insignia of the United States Navy . According to " " , since Gene Roddenberry didn ' t want an overtly military Starfleet , Theiss toned down his stripe system by giving ensigns no stripe and lieutenants one full stripe , which is what an actual USN ensign wears . The later pip designs of " Star Trek : The Next Generation " and " Star Trek : Enterprise " emulate US Navy insignias almost exactly , although " " s issue notes there aren ' t any lieutenant commander and lieutenant jg ranks in United Earth ' s Starfleet . Since such ranks also don ' t appear on " Star Trek : Enterprise " , there is some question about their existence during that timeframe . Among the items sold off on eBay ' s It ' s A Wrap ! sale and auction was an able seaman ' s rank pin . Implied ranks . Several insignia patterns were designed and created by the producers of " Star Trek " films and television series , although the full rank spectrum never appeared on camera . The first such pattern was the full array of Theiss - designed flag officer insignia which appeared in . Dialogue from the first - season episode revealed Starfleet admiral ranks as high as fleet admiral , but the highest on - screen rank was a simple admiral ( bearing vice - admiral insignia according to costume notes ) . In modern USN ranking , fleet admiral is a special rank earned during wartime only , bearing gold sleeve cuffs in one two - inch - wide stripe with four ½ - inch - wide stripes , and five five - pointed silver stars in a tight circle upon gold shoulderboards . Five silver stars also appear on the uniform shirt collar in the same pattern as the shoulderboards . Including the official insignia designed by Theiss , the full range of admiral insignia from the " Original Series " is as follows : Script notes and costume design templates from also provide insignia patterns for the first three Starfleet flag ranks . The senior ranks of admiral and fleet admiral , although definite to exist , were not discussed in the film leaving the question open as to how the insignia for these two ranks may appear . The rank of commodore has been used on and off in modern nautical military services ( US Navy , US Coast Guard ) , with the rank being called " rear admiral lower half " ( see below ) when not used as " commodore " . Currently , the proper name for this rank is " rear admiral lower half " and has the insignia of one two - inch - wide gold stripe on the sleeve cuffs , and one silver star on gold shoulder boards , and one star worn on the shirt collar . " ( There is no change to the naming of the two - star rank of " rear admiral " regardless of whether " commodore " or " rear admiral lower half " is used for the " one - star " rank . ) " Thus , the flag officer insignia pattern for is as follows : The first season of showed admiral ranks ranging to vice admiral ; however admiral and fleet admiral were never seen on camera . Surviving script and costume notes indicate the following pattern for the first season admirals of " The Next Generation " . During the entire run of " The Next Generation " , two flag ranks which were never seen on camera were that of the one star admiral rank , which would have been properly referred to as " rear admiral lower half " , using the " boxed pip " insignia , as well as a Starfleet fleet admiral . Costume notes , in particular those of Michael Okuda , provide the insignia for these two ranks . A similar matter also arose during " Star Trek : Enterprise " when the ranks of full admiral and fleet admiral were never seen , although they were discussed , leaving costume notes from the series as the only known source for how these insignia would appear . Also never seen on screen is the rank of lieutenant junior grade in the Starfleet insignia rank system used in the TNG episodes and . This rank is implied since that system paralleled the " pip " system used in the rest of the series . In all , the following five insignia never appeared on camera and thus are not considered as canon material ; however , in modern nautical military services they are real ranks : Another array of insignia which the viewing audience never was able to see were the full spectrum of enlisted insignia patches designed for " Star Trek : Deep Space Nine " . In all , the costume designers for the show developed rank patches for every enlisted rank from petty officer , 3rd class to master chief petty officer . The budget of the show , however , prevented mass production of these insignia and , other than Miles O ' Brien and Dorian Collins , no enlisted personnel appeared wearing the following collar patch enlisted ranks : The rank systems used in ' s were based on the rank system used in TOS . The insignia used for the 2230s Starfleet uniform aboard the in the beginning of the film would seem to contain two ranks that were not seen on screen , lieutenant junior grade and commander . The full system would then appear as : Warrant officers . According to the personal notes of the movie - era Starfleet ranks designer , Robert Fletcher , " there is no warrant rank . " ( p . 11 ) A ' " Star Trek " Cast Ranks ' memo from Rick Berman to Bill Theiss confirms the intention of having warrant ranks , whereas it was stated that the " C . W . O . " ( " Chief Warrant Officer " ) was described as having " 1 Black Disk " ( pip ) . According to the , the insignia worn by CPO Miles O ' Brien in " Star Trek : Deep Space Nine " s first few years and enlisted Maquis on was supposed to represent a warrant officer , even though numerous dialogue references and general naval parlance about the ranks of those referred to would seem to contradict this . The non - canon reference manual " " speaks briefly on the subject .