Acting captain The position of acting captain was bestowed upon an officer or another individual aboard a starship when the ship ' s regular commanding officer was unable to command for an extended period of time . The first person eligible was generally the first officer , with the line continuing down the ranks until someone was both physically and psychologically able to command . In 2151 , when Captain Jonathan Archer lost consciousness after a fight between the Suliban Cabal and Sarin ' s group of renegade Suliban , T ' Pol became the acting captain of . ( ) In 2152 , when Captain Archer was on a classified mission with T ' Pol , was the acting captain of " Enterprise " . ( ) Later that year , Paul Mayweather , temporary captain of the , joke d with his brother Travis Mayweather , citing that " " An ensign ought to salute before addressing a captain . " " Ensign Mayweather laughed it off , reminding him that he was only that " " acting captain " " and not to " " let it go to your head . " " ( ) In 2154 , when Captain Archer became obsessed with protecting a Xindi - Insectoid hatchery due to a chemical from the hatchery ' s eggs , Trip led a mutiny in order to bring Captain Archer back to " Enterprise " so that they would be able to continue their mission to stop the Xindi from destroying Earth . During the time that Archer was recovering , T ' Pol was the acting captain of the " Enterprise . " ( ) After the capture of Captain Christopher Pike and Number One by the Talosian s in 2254 , Spock became the acting captain of the . ( ) In 2256 , Commander Saru became acting captain of the after Captain had been captured by the Klingon s . ( ) Later on , after the " Discovery " jumped into a parallel universe , Commander Saru again became acting captain of the ship due to Captain Lorca leaving to act on his plan to be brought before . ( ) The crew was ultimately faced with the revelation that the Lorca they knew had been from the mirror universe all along , leaving Saru as acting captain indefinitely . ( ) In 2266 , with Captain James T . Kirk being detained by the staff on Tantalus V , Spock was the acting captain of the " Enterprise " and referred to himself as such in the ship ' s log . ( ) While under the influence of the polywater intoxication , Wesley Crusher deemed himself " acting captain " of the in 2364 after commandeering the ship from engineering . ( ) Lieutenant Commander Data became acting captain of the " Enterprise " in 2367 when Captain Picard was incapacitated due to a lack of REM sleep . ( ) Three years later , Data again became acting captain when both Captain Picard and Commander Riker were held captive by Arctus Baran . ( ) On several occasions from 2372 until 2375 , Lieutenant Commander s Worf and Jadzia Dax were made acting captain of the for missions in the Gamma Quadrant and during the Dominion War . Captain Benjamin Sisko was the commander of Deep Space 9 , which during the war was the headquarters for the Federation Alliance , and would often demand his close attention . As such he would entrust to his most senior Starfleet officers command of the ship and its crew . ( ) Aboard the Silver Blood , its copy of Ensign Harry Kim assumed command of the starship as the highest ranking surviving officer , after his own senior officer s had dissolved . ( ) " In the alternate reality 2233 , Lieutenant Commander , first officer of the became acting captain of that vessel after Captain Richard Robau was forced to leave the ship and was subsequently killed . Captain , who later wrote a dissertion on the incident noted that Kirk was captain of a starship for a mere twelve minutes but saved the lives of the eight hundred crewmembers aboard the ship . " " In 2258 , in the same reality , Captain Pike of the appointed Commander acting captain and George Kirk ' s son , Lieutenant as first officer when Pike left the ship to confront Nero . Subsequently , Kirk proved that Spock was unable to perform his duties and then Kirk himself was made acting captain . After everything was over , Kirk was promoted to the rank of captain and given regular command of the ship . " ( ) " Later , in 2259 , Kirk placed in charge when he and other members of his crew flew a K ' normian trading ship to Qo ' noS to apprehend John Harrison , a move which questioned , saying , " " You just sat that man down at a high - stakes poker game with no card s and told him to bluff . " " Kirk rebuffed his concerns . " As acting captain , Sulu ordered the refueling and preparation of the K ' normian ship for Kirk and his team . He also delivered an ultimatum to Harrison that impressed McCoy and caused the doctor to revise his earlier opinion . " " When Kirk was aboard the , and the " Enterprise " was falling towards Earth , Spock , in the role of acting captain , ordered the entire crew to evacuate the ship while he remained behind to ensure their safety until they did . Sulu and the rest of the bridge crew declined , strapping themselves in . " ( )