Captain

Captain is a rank of officer in many ground and space forces, most notably Starfleet. The title of captain is also used in a more general sense to refer to any individual, civilian or otherwise, who is the commanding officer of a ship. However, there are times when a captain may not be the commanding officer of a ship, serving as a department head, first officer or adjutant to an admiral or a more senior captain.
== Naval captains ==
Captain is the most senior officer rank, a grade higher than a commander and a grade below either commodore or 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, and a title of fleet captain that is considered to outrank a captain. The captain rank is roughly equivalent with the authority of a colonel of military forces, although some militaries have an unrelated rank of captain that is equivalent to a naval lieutenant.
=== Equivalent ranks ===
;Breen Confederacy : Thot
;Cardassian Union : Gul
;Ferengi Alliance : DaiMon
;Klingon Defense Force : HoD or Captain
;Romulan Republic: Commander
== Background information ==
Three examples of a captain not being a commanding officer of a ship include Spock, who served as first officer under James T. Kirk on board the and in spite of holding the rank of captain; Montgomery Scott, who served as captain of engineering on board several ships; and Geordi La Forge, who briefly served as captain of engineering onboard the