star trek beyond rank insignia

Screen Rant

Star trek’s ranks in order: how starfleet officers get promoted.

From Cadet to Admiral, the career path of a Starfleet officer has become an integral part of the stories of many of Star Trek's best-loved characters.

Starfleet officers begin their career at Starfleet Academy as cadets, studying various subjects and participating in extracurricular activities.
After graduating from the Academy, officers start at the rank of Ensign and often have to perform less glamorous tasks on their assigned starship.
Officers can work their way up the ranks, from Lieutenant Junior Grade to Commander, with each promotion bringing additional responsibilities and opportunities for command.

While many Starfleet hopefuls dream of one day having a command of their own, they must work their way diligently through Star Trek 's rank structure first. While it prides itself on exploration and diplomacy, Starfleet is a military organization at heart, and the command structure is reflective of this fact. The basic structure of Starfleet is very similar to that of the US and Royal Navy, with the high seas being swapped for the stars of deep space.

A promotion in Star Trek is usually a reward for exceptional performance , with many Starfleet officers being promoted in response to the valor and bravery demonstrated in the line of duty. Sometimes, a field promotion can also be handed to Starfleet officers in exceptional circumstances, such as with the Maquis officers in Star Trek: Voyager or Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) in Star Trek: Picard season 2. However, everyone's Starfleet story must begin somewhere and that first rung on the ladder usually comes in the form of an application and admittance to Starfleet Academy. Here are the various ranks in Starfleet, from the lowly Ensign to Admiral.

Star Trek: Every Captain of the Enterprise

Starfleet academy hopefuls.

Every Starfleet officer's career starts at Starfleet Academy, where prospective recruits enroll as cadets . Starfleet Cadets spend four to eight years at the Academy, depending on their program, where they study a variety of subjects. Courses on offer at Starfleet Academy include Warp Theory, Robotics, Quantum Chemistry, and the legendary Kobayashi Maru simulation . There's also a variety of extracurricular activities on offer at the Academy that also provide formative experiences. Previous Cadets like Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) have helped Starfleet Academy groundskeeper Boothby (Ray Walston) tend to the roses, while the Rigel Cup was won by the Nova Squadron shortly before the tragic accident that left a lasting impression on Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton).

Starfleet Academy played a big role in J.J. Abrams' Star Trek (2009), and the upcoming Star Trek: Starfleet Academy series is the first time a Star Trek show will be set at the school.

Lowest of the Lower Deckers

After graduating from Starfleet Academy, a Cadet is given their first assignment to a starship as an Ensign. This is the lowest position aboard, which usually means that they have to do the less glamorous jobs aboard their assigned starship. Star Trek: Lower Decks has depicted jobs as menial as holodeck filter duty, and the cataloging of various weird and wonderful alien artifacts. Not every Ensign is a lower-decker, however. Ensign Nyota Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding) is key to keeping the USS Enterprise connected in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and Ensign Harry Kim (Garrett Wang) was integral in working on various solutions to returning the USS Voyager home to the Alpha Quadrant.

8 Lieutenant Junior Grade

Congrats, it's your first command rank.

Lieutenant junior grade is the next step-up for an Ensign , denoted by the additional black and gold pip on the collar. Also known as a Lieutenant JG, this rank allows for limited command responsibilities. Notable junior grade lieutenants include Reginald Barclay (Dwight Schultz), a fiercely intelligent but painfully shy engineer. Dr. Julian Bashir (Alexander Siddig) was also a JG, and his early arrogance suggested he was ostentatiously choosing to slum it as a lieutenant junior grade due to his desire to study frontier medicine. When the Lower Deckers of the USS Cerritos were promoted in Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4 , they became the most notable Lieutenant Junior Grades in modern Star Trek .

7 Lieutenant

Welcome to starfleet middle management.

After earning a promotion to Lieutenant, the black and gold pip of the JG becomes fully gold, denoting their additional responsibilities. Many Star Trek lieutenants are responsible for various departments aboard their assigned starship. For example, Lieutenant La'an Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong) and Lieutenant Worf (Michael Dorn) were in charge of security on the USS Enterprise and Enterprise-D, respectively, while starship helmsmen like Lt. Tom Paris (Robert Duncan McNeill) and Lt. Erica Ortegas (Melissa Navia) are ranked Lieutenants.

In both Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine , the Lieutenant was the lowest rank in the senior staff, but still allowed them to provide valuable insight and input into any issues facing the crew. Star Trek: Voyager 's Ensign Harry Kim (Garrett Wang) bucked this trend by being privy to various command meetings.

Star Trek: Every Version Of The Starship Enterprise

6 lieutenant commander, now you're running your own starfleet department..

Lieutenant Commanders were Heads of Departments or Executive Officers aboard their assigned starships, referred to as " Commander " by those serving under them or their senior officers. Lieutenant Commanders had an additional black pip added to their collar which would become gold on their next promotion. In Star Trek 's 23rd century, the second-in-command on the USS Enterprise was Lieutenant Commander Una Chin-Riley (Rebecca Romijn), who was later succeeded by Lt. Commander Spock (Leonard Nimoy). However, this had changed by the time of Star Trek: The Next Generation , with Starfleet Lieutenant Commanders instead serving as Number One on smaller ships, as Lt. Commander Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks) did on the USS Saratoga.

5 Commander

Welcome aboard, number one.

Commander is the last step on the Starfleet career ladder to the captain's chair and one of the most senior ranks on any starship as they deputized for the ship's Captain. Commanders who are starship First Officers often receive the nickname "Number One." In Star Trek: Deep Space Nine , Commander was the most senior rank until season 3, when Commander Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks) finally received his promotion to Captain.

Despite Star Trek 's fascination with its Captain characters, Commander was never a barrier to leading a show, as proved by both Sisko and Commander Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) in Star Trek: Discovery . The most notable Commander was William T. Riker (Jonathan Frakes), who felt like second-in-command of the Federation flagship was more fulfilling than being Captain of a less-celebrated starship.

The rank most Starfleet Officers dream of

Captain of a starship is what many Starfleet officers dream of , and is given to those in command of their own starships. They had enormous responsibilities for the safety of their crew and to Starfleet's Prime Directive. The Captain's rank was also applied to various other positions, such as Captain of Engineering, the position held by Montgomery Scott (James Doohan) in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock .

Generally, the position of Captain was the most senior role that still had the relative freedom of deep space exploration and adventure. So much so that Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) warned Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) against accepting a promotion to Admiral in Star Trek Generations . It was a warning that Picard would later ignore, much to his regret.

3 Vice Admiral

You've achieved flag officer status.

Vice Admiral is the rank between Captain and Starfleet Admiral, denoted by three pips on a black and gold bar badge on the collar. The most notable holder of this position is Vice Admiral Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) who received her promotion after commanding the USS Voyager through the Delta Quadrant. However, Janeway still had to answer to someone, as seen in her conflict with Admiral Edward Jellico (Ronny Cox) in Star Trek: Prodigy season 1. The earliest notable Vice Admiral was the 22nd Century's Maxwell Forrest (Vaughn Armstrong) who was in constant contact with Captain Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula) in Star Trek: Enterprise , often being the mediator between Starfleet and the Vulcans in the early days of deep space exploration.

In Star Trek: The Motion Picture , James T. Kirk held the rank of Rear Admiral and was Chief of Starfleet Operations.

Try not to become a Badmiral

Admiral is the highest position in the Royal Navy, however, Starfleet does have a higher position of Fleet Admiral, held by the doomed Elizabeth Shelby (Elizabeth Dennehy) in Star Trek: Picard season 3. A Starfleet Admiral is responsible for entire divisions of Starfleet. Notable Starfleet Admirals include Robert April (Adrian Holmes) who oversees his former command, the USS Enterprise, and Owen Paris (Richard Herd) who oversaw the Pathfinder Project that established long-range communications with the USS Voyager in the Delta Quadrant. Jean-Luc Picard later became Admiral of the Romulan rescue armada in response to the impending supernova but resigned his commission in protest at the Federation abandoning the evacuation, and their ideals.

Many Starfleet Admirals go insane or become villains for some reason.

1 Other Notable Starfleet Ranks

From specialist to warrant officer to commodore.

There are also sideways promotions available to Starfleet officers , such as Fleet Captain and Commodore. Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) got his Fleet Captain promotion in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2 while overseeing work on the Deuterium refinery. It was a temporary promotion that allowed Pike to be in overall charge of both the USS Enterprise and USS Farragut for the duration of the refinery project. Similarly, Starfleet Commodores also have overall responsibility for multiple starships, with Geordi La Forge reaching this position with his promotion to curator of the Athan Prime Fleet Museum in Star Trek: Picard season 3.

In Star Trek: Picard season 1, Commodore Oh (Tamlyn Tomita) was Chief of Starfleet Security before she exposed herself as a deep cover Romulan agent named General Nedar.

There are also the lower-ranked non-commissioned officer roles or NCOs. Traditionally, NCOs wouldn't enter a military organization via conventional means like training academies and instead worked their way up through the ranks. The most notable Star Trek NCO is Chief Miles O'Brien (Colm Meaney) who was put in charge of engineering on Deep Space Nine and was reportedly the most important man in Starfleet history. Another notable NCO position is the Warrant Officer, a role granted to Dal R'El (Brett Gray) and the former crew of the USS Protostar by Vice Admiral Janeway in Star Trek: Prodigy season 1's finale . Michael Burnham also held the unranked position of Specialist when she joined the USS Discovery after she was released from a Federation penal colony in Star Trek: Discovery season 1.

Every Star Trek series except Star Trek: Prodigy is available to stream on Paramount+.

Star Trek: Prodigy i s available to stream on Netflix.

Star Trek Ranks, Explained

Though primarily peaceful, Starfleet follows a quasi-military protocol, which means a chain of command that ensures all runs smoothly.

Starting with the original series, Star Trek has adopted a quasi-military series of ranks and protocols for its characters. Starfleet is ostensibly a peaceful organization dedicated to exploration and diplomacy, but things can get dangerous on the final frontier. A functioning chain of command is necessary in the event of trouble to ensure that everyone operates at peak efficiency.

It's a bit of a paradox, since Starfleet officers also tend to be rugged individualists, but it makes a good deal of sense and over time has become an indispensable part of the franchise. A given character's rank speaks volumes about their comparative age, their position onboard, and their relationship with the other members of the crew. As with most things Star Trek, rank insignia has evolved over time. Here's a breakdown of Starfleet's ranking system in descending order from the lowliest cadets to the most powerful admirals.

Updated January 18, 2024 by Robert Vaux: Star Trek's ranking system is very stable at this point, and very little tends to change. The article has been updated to include a brief list of prominent members of each rank, along with the series and seasons they held it. It has also been updated to conform to current CBR guidelines.

9 Cadets Are Officers in Training at Starfleet Academy

Star trek: voyager actor weighs in on controversial tuvix debate.

Cadets are typically students at Starfleet Academy , spending time onboard a starship as part of their training. They hold no rank and must obey the orders of any crewmen. They're often issued temporary badges or communicators and usually have a supervisory officer to watch over them. Cadets in the 23rd century wear badges with a distinctive black backing. Cadets in the 24th century wear distinctive uniforms denoting their status.

In Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, the Enterprise is used as a training vessel, with the crew consisting almost entirely of cadets. Wesley Crusher formally joins Starfleet Academy starting in Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 4, Episode 9, "Final Mission," and spends most of his subsequent appearances at that rank. Similarly, Nyota Uhura joins the Enterprise as a cadet in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, as does Sylvia Tilly in Star Trek: Discovery.

8 Enlisted Personnel/NCO Are Starfleet's Worker Bees

While officers attend Starfleet Academy, the rank-and-file personnel attend the 24th-century equivalent of boot camp. They become the anonymous crew working in the background, performing the countless tiny tasks required to keep a starship running. Their ranks include both enlisted crewmen and petty officers (the equivalent of sergeants) who often play supervisory roles. They typically lack any insignia on their uniforms, though chief petty officers in the Next Generation era sometimes have a black pip or similar marking.

Enlisted personnel often serve as The Original Series ' infamous red shirts : doomed to die in the name of plot exposition. The Next Generation introduces perhaps Starfleet's best-known enlisted man. Miles O'Brien runs the transporters on the Enterprise-D, and later becomes Chief of Operations on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine .

7 Ensigns Hold The Lowest Rank

Every star trek series, ranked.

Ensigns are the lowest-ranking officers on Starfleet vessels. Cadets typically receive the rank of ensign immediately upon graduation from Starfleet Academy. While they technically have command authority, they're usually assigned menial tasks beneath the attention of the senior officers. Like NCOs, they lack insignia on their uniforms in The Original Series era. With The Next Generation and later series, ensigns receive a single gold pip on their collar. They're often lumped into the red shirt category.

Harry Kim is probably the franchise's most famous (or infamous) ensign, failing to receive a single promotion through Star Trek: Voyager's seven seasons , despite serving with distinction on the bridge. The Original Series' Pavel Chekov also begins his Starfleet career as an ensign, though he advances at a faster rate. Of course, the four main characters in Star Trek: Lower Decks are ensigns, though they all receive a promotion to lieutenant, junior grade at the beginning of Season 4.

6 Lieutenant, Junior Grade Have More Responsibility Than Ensigns

The next step up the ladder is lieutenant, junior grade. These are officers with more authority and responsibility than ensigns, but who still require seasoning before taking higher command positions. Medical personnel typically receive the lieutenant, junior grade rank after graduating, which reflects their extended training time. The Original Series uses a single dashed bar on the uniform sleeves to denote them, though Strange New Worlds has retconned that with a connected colored bar. T he Next Generation and later series note the rank with a second black pip in addition to the ensign's colored pip.

Both Julian Bashir and Ezri Dax hold the rank of lieutenant, junior grade when they begin their duties on Deep Space 9, though Ezri receives hers as a field promotion in Season 7, Episode 3, "Afterimage." Geordi La Forge starts as a lieutenant, junior grade too, as does Mr. Worf. B'Elanna Torres receives the rank on a provisional basis when she joins the crew of the Voyager, and the Lower Decks crew are all promoted to lieutenant, junior grade in Season 4, Episode 1, "Twovix."

5 Lieutenants Lead the Away Teams and More

Did star trek (2009) incorporate a story from a canceled original series movie.

Lieutenants have advanced to the point where they can take on considerable responsibilities. They may lead away teams or control key systems, and they often appear among the bridge crew or even as department heads. The Original Series notes them with a single bar on the uniform sleeve, while Strange New Worlds adds a second thinner bar above the lieutenant, junior grade's insignia. The Next Generation uses two colored pips on the collar — a method emulated by subsequent series.

Worf spends most of The Next Generation's later seasons as a lieutenant (he's promoted to lieutenant commander during the events of Star Trek Generations ) while Ro Laren is promoted to lieutenant shortly before her defection to the Maquis in The Next Generation Season 7, Episode 24, "Preemptive Strike." Lieutenants often occupy the helm position, including Hikaru Sulu in The Original Series, Keyla Detmer in Star Trek: Discovery , and Erica Ortegas in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds .

4 Lieutenant Commanders Head up Departments

Lieutenant commanders hold positions of senior responsibility onboard a starship, even serving as executive officers or de facto captains on small ships. One larger ships, they often serve as the head of specific departments such as science and engineering. In The Original Series , the rank is designated with two stripes on the sleeve — one thick, one dashed — which Strange New Worlds adjusts to two thick colored bands. The Next Generation and subsequent shows note lieutenant commanders with two colored pips and one black one.

Montgomery Scott holds the rank of lieutenant commander in The Original Series , acting as Chief Engineer and even commanding the Enterprise when Kirk and Spock are away on missions. Similarly, Geordi La Forge rises to the rank of lieutenant commander in The Next Generation , joining Data and Deanna Troi at the position, though the latter eventually advances to commander. Worf and Jadzia Dax are both lieutenant commanders when they begin their romance on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine . Lastly, the original Number One — Una Chin-Riley on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds — is a lieutenant commander.

3 Commanders Aid and Can Take Over the Captain's Dutires

After star trek: discovery, the 32nd century should be the franchise's new frontier.

Commanders are usually the ship's executive officers, "Number Ones," who assist the captain in their duties and step up in the event the captain is incapacitated. Commanders are often viewed as captains in training, and ultimately destined for a ship of their own in the future. In some cases, commanders are the head authority on smaller ships or space stations. Chief medical officers often hold this position as well. They're delineated by two thick bands on their sleeves in The Original Series era and three colored pips on the collar in The Next Generation and later.

Mr. Spock holds the rank of commander during the events of The Original Series , serving double duty as chief science officer as well. He's been followed by the likes of William Riker on The Next Generation and Seven of Nine on Star Trek: Picard . In addition, Beverly Crusher and Leonard McCoy both hold the rank of commander, while Deanna Tori is promoted to commander in Season 7, Episode 16, "Thine Own Self." Ben Sisko also begins his tenure on Deep Space 9 as a commander before being promoted to full captain at the end of Season 3.

2 Captains Command Starfleet's Various Starships

The captain serves as the commander of a starship, with the entire crew ranked beneath them. This affords them a great deal of autonomy, but also equal amounts of responsibility. Starships must often face dangers alone in the far depths of space. It falls to the captain to make the final call when lives are at stake. Occasionally, captains can be found in other duties, such as commanding a star base or holds an administrative position on Earth. Captains are delineated by three stripes on their sleeves in the Original Series era — two thick, one dashed — which Strange New Worlds slightly alters to a single thin band sandwiched between two thicker ones. The Next Generation era uses four full pips on the collar.

Most Star Trek series use a captain as the main character, starting with James T. Kirk in The Original Series . Their ranks include Jean-Luc Picard, Kathryn Janeway, Christopher Pike, and Carol Freeman. In addition, many lower-ranking characters eventually attain the captain's chair, such as Will Riker, Tuvok, and Mr. Spock. Both Ben Sisko and Michael Burnham become captain after several seasons of climbing the ranks, a change from most Star Trek series which tend to begin with their captains in place.

1 Admirals Possess The Greatest Rank and Come to Represent Starfleet Itself

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Admirals are Starfleet's major movers and shakers, placed in charge of entire fleets or overseeing vital operations. As flag officers, they no longer serve onboard starships, though they can claim command of one if circumstances dictate. James T. Kirk takes control of the Enterprise as an Admiral in both Star Trek: The Motion Picture and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan , while both Kathryn Janeway in Star Trek: Prodigy and Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: Picard are the authority on their respective vessels.

In addition to giving successful captains a cushy desk job, Star Trek often uses admirals as stand-ins for Starfleet itself: either aiding the crew in their endeavors or standing in their way when they go against protocol. They're delineated by a wide variety of methods, and hold varying ranks within the admiralty, such as Vice Admiral and Commodore, that shift from project to project.

The Star Trek universe encompasses multiple series, each offering a unique lens through which to experience the wonders and perils of space travel. Join Captain Kirk and his crew on the Original Series' voyages of discovery, encounter the utopian vision of the Federation in The Next Generation, or delve into the darker corners of galactic politics in Deep Space Nine. No matter your preference, there's a Star Trek adventure waiting to ignite your imagination.

Continuing Mission

A Fan Site for the Star Trek Adventures RPG by Modiphius

Uniform Guide

Welcome to a Star Trek 101 article .

T he intent of this blog is to provide a quick graphical guide of the evolution of the uniform.

Types of Uniform

In most eras, there are two types of uniform: the standard duty uniform and a formal dress variant. Duty uniforms are worn when on shift at a duty station, such as on the bridge or engineering. Dress uniforms are worn on formal occasions, such as diplomatic functions, weddings, and occasional court apperances.

Some eras have additional uniforms. Service or work uniforms are sometimes worn, typically when performing manual labour or similar work. This was especially true of medical staff, who often had labcoats or different coloured uniforms when serving in the medbay, and engineers. Captains also occasionally have casual duty variants, such as wrap-around tunics or jackets.

Cadets attending Starfleet Academy also typically have a variant uniform or badge denoting their trainee status.

Starfleet uses a variant of naval ranks.

Line officers were assigned to a single posting, typically a starship or starbase, which was their sole responsibility. Captains are generally in command and each is assigned to a starship. Beneath them are commanders , who might be officers working their way to the rank of captain and their own command, or simply be a highly experienced officer. In some instances, a commander might be granted command of a space station, colony, or similar posting. When a commander is in charge of a ship, they are given the rank of “acting captain”. In most eras, Starfleet also has the ranks of lieutenant and ensign , with the latter being the initial rank assigned graduates of Starfleet Academy.

Other ranks typically exist, but were not consistently shown. Lieutenant commanders are often recognized (informally addressed as “commander”, typically by more junior officers). The rank of lieutenant junior grade is sometimes also recognized, falling between the rank of ensigns and full lieutenants.

Above captains and not assigned a single ship were flag officers. Commodores were the lowest flag officers, falling between captains and admirals and commanded multiple ships in field operations. On occasion, this rank would be replaced/ renamed fleet captain . Above commodores/ fleet captains were admirals who were in charge of fleets of starships, entire sectors of space, or divisions of Starfleet. Admirals are subdivided into rear admirals , vice admirals , admirals , and fleet admirals in increasing order of superiority. Fleet admirals reported to the Commander in Chief of Starfleet, who was the senior fleet admiral reporting to the Federation Council and its president.

On most starships there are a number of “ noncoms ” or non-commissioned officers: crewmembers who did not graduate from Starfleet Academy. In some instances these are not distinguished and treated as ensigns or lack a display of rank. At times when differentiation between noncoms was needed they are given the ranks crewman , specialist , petty officer , chief petty officer , senior chief petty officer , and master chief petty officer . Higher ranking noncoms, such as senior and master chiefs, could have decades of experience and included among the senior staff of a starship or starbase, but were technically below a rookie ensign in rank.

In theory, there are also warrant officers in Starfleet: trained specialists whose expertise in a field grants them an informal commission. Despite not having attended the Academy, a warrant officer would have a rank equivalent to an ensign, lieutenant, or higher. However, no warrant officers have been identified as such on the show. In their place Starfleet potentially uses provisional or honorary ranks.

Description: The uniform of the United Earth Starfleet is a navy blue jumpsuit. This uniform was worn until the founding of the United Federation of Planets, including the period of the Earth-Romulan War.

It’s one of the few designs with pockets.

Division Colours: A strip of colour framing the shoulders denoted the officer’s department. Yellow was command, red was operations (security and engineering), and teal was sciences (medical and science)

Badge: Circular assignment patches on the left arm denoted the officer’s ship.

Rank: Rank was denoted with rectangular pips on the upper right breast.

Description: This was presumably the first uniform of the United Federation Starfleet. Similar to the Earth Starfleet jumpsuit, this uniform is a utilitarian light grey jumpsuit with coloured patches on the shoulders and cuffs as well as stripes down the chest and pants. The assignment patch on the upper arm remains, signifying the officer’s assigned ship.

Division Colours: The patches and stripes denote the wearer’s department: yellow is command, red is operations, and blue is sciences.

Badge: Gold pins of the Starfleet delta were worn on the left breast.

Rank: Unknown. No rank emblems seen on-screen.

Description: A minimalistic change from the jumpsuits, this two-piece uniform featured dark trousers and coloured tunic. A raised stripe of piping ran along the upper arms and across the chest.

Division Colours: The shirt denoted the officer’s department. Command wore blue, operations wore tan/gold, and sciences wore grey.

Badge: A raised silver outline of the Starfleet delta was on the left breast.

Rank: The shirt’s sleeve had metallic bands denoting rank.

Description: A tight two-piece blue uniform with metallic highlights on the shoulders and along the sides of the torso.

Division Colours: The huge of the metallic highlights denote division. Gold is command, silver is sciences, and bronze is operations.

Badge: Two-piece metallic insignia badges are worn on the left breast. The colour of the badge matched the metallic department colour of the rest of the uniform.

Rank: Raised bumps on the insignia badge identify an officer’s rank. The captain’s shoulders features additional gold highlights.

Note: Ostensibly, this uniform should be the same as the uniforms seen in early episodes of The Original Series , which takes place at roughly the same time. Tie-in novels state the brighter uniforms were newer diplomatic uniforms being phased in, starting with the exploratory Constitution -class starships.

Second Note: On Discovery several officers with black badges were shown. These were not identified on the show, but a deleted scene identified the black badge as belonging to Section 31. Why Section 31 would identify themselves or have Starfleet badges (when they were a separate organisation) is unknown.

W here It Was Seen: Star Trek The Original Series (the two pilot episodes: The Cage and Where No Man Has Gone Before )

Description: A coloured turtleneck sweater with dark trousers.

Division Colours: The colour of the shirt denotes division. Yellow for command, blue for science, and tan for operations.

Badge: Assignment patch worn on the left breast. It’s unknown if every ship had its own patch, like in the 2260s, or if every ship had the Starfleet delta.

Rank: Golden braids on the sleeve denote rank. Not all ranks were seen on-screen during the few episodes these uniforms were worn.

Description: A brightly coloured shirt with black collar with dark trousers.

Division Colours: The officer’s shirt colour signifies their department: yellow is command, blue is science, red is operations.

Badge: In place of the Starfleet delta insignia on the left breast, all ships and stations had their own unique assignment patch; the Federation’s flagship, U.S.S. Enterprise , retained the delta.

Rank: Golden braids on the shirt’s cuffs denote rank.

Note: This uniform was seen in The Original Series and theoretically also shown in the Kelvin Timeline films. In the first two Kelvin films, the black collar is instead a black undershirt and the coloured top is textured with Starfleet deltas. In Star Trek Beyond , the top is a heavier jacket with a high collar.

Description: Muted blue, white, beige, or grey uniforms. These uniforms came as jumpsuits or two-pieces with matching top and trousers.

Division Colours: The colour of the circle behind the unform’s printed insignia denoted the officer’s department. A white circle signified command, orange is sciences, green is medical, red is engineering, yellow is communications and helm/ navigation, while grey is security.

Badge: The Starfleet insignia was printed on the left breast.

Rank: Golden braids along the sleeve or on shoulder patches denote rank.

Description: A crimson tunic worn over a colour-coded turtleneck undershirt. The uniform’s dark trousers featured a coloured stripe running down the leg that matched the undershirt (except for command officers, who had a red stripe).

Division Colours: An officer’s department was identified by the colour of their undershirt, shoulder clasp, and a stripe running down their trousers. White was command; grey was sciences, communication, and navigation; ochre was engineering and helm; light green was medical; dark green was security; and red was cadets and junior officers. Non-coms wore jumpsuits, but also had black undershirts.

Badge: A metal variant of the Starfleet insignia with a large rectangular backing was worn on the left breast.

Rank: A metal badge worn on a shoulder clasp denoted rank.

Note: A long serving uniform, this design was used until the 2350s. In later years the belt and turtleneck ceased to be worn and the insignia pin was replaced by a combadge.

Early 2360s

Description: A tight one-piece jumpsuit with a low collar. The chest, back, and sleeves were brightly coloured, as was a stripe running along the collarbone and shoulders.

Division Colours: The colouration of the upper jumpsuit denoted department. Command was red, operations was yellow, and sciences was blue.

Badge: All officers wore a combadge: a silver delta backed with a golden oval that functioned as a communicator.

Rank: Round gold pips on the upper right breast denote rank.

Where It Was Seen: Star Trek The Next Generation (seasons 3 onward)

Description: A looser two-piece modification of the earlier jumpsuit with a high collar.

Division Colours: The jacket’s colour was associated with the wearer’s department: red for command, yellow for operations, and blue for sciences.

Badge: A communicator shaped like a silver delta with a golden oval backing was worn on the left breast.

Rank: Gold pips worn on the right collar denoted the officer’s rank.

2360s (Variant)

Description: Dark trousers and jacket worn over a blue-grey turtleneck undershirt. The shoulders of the jacket were brightly coloured.

Division Colours: The colour of the shoulders denoted one’s department. Red was command, yellow was operations, and blue/ teal was sciences.

Badge: A communicator was worn on the left breast. Initially this combadge was a silver delta backed with a golden oval. In the late 2260s and early 2270s this was replaced with an updated model that substituted a trapezoidal shape for the oval.

Rank: Gold pips worn on the right collar of the undershirt denoted rank.

Note: This variant was service dress, or “work uniform”. It was typically worn on less formal posting, such as space stations and colonies where more “hands on” work might be required. When the current duty uniform was being phased out, this variant saw regular use for a year or two.

Description: A dark jacket with light grey shoulders and matching trousers worn over a coloured undershirt.

Division Colours: The colour of the undershirt was associated with the officer’s department. Red was command, yellow was operations, and blue was sciences.

Badge: Combadge worn on the left breast: a silver Starfleet delta backed by a gold trapezoid.

Rank: Round gold pips worn on the right collar of the undershirt signified rank.

Where It Was Seen: Star Trek Picard

Description: A dark jacket with matching trousers with coloured shoulders and bands along the flared cuffs.

Division Colours: The colour of the shoulders and cuffs denoted one’s department. Red was command, yellow was operations, and blue was sciences.

2390s (Alternate)

Description: A double-breasted jacket with high waisted dark trousers. Black piping ran along the chest and shoulders.

Division Colours: An officer’s department was displayed by their jacket colour. Red was command, blue was science, and yellow was operations.

Badge: A combadge was worn on the left breast. The badge was a silver outline of a delta backed by two gold trapezoids

Rank: Gold round pips worn on the upper right breast above the black piping.

Description: Dark trousers and jacket worn over a black turtleneck undershirt. The shoulders of the jacket were brightly coloured.

Division Colours: The colour of the shoulders denoted one’s department. Red was command, yellow was operations, and blue was sciences.

Badge: A combadge was worn on the left breast. The badge was a silver outline of a delta backed by two silver trapezoids

Rank: Silver round pips worn on the upper right breast.

2410s (Potential)

Description: A dark jacket and trousers worn over a coloured undershirt. The jacket has a high collar with a wide band of colour running along the chest and shoulders. In officers, the shoulders above the coloured band are dark grey, while the commanding officer’s shoulders are white.

Division Colours: The undershirt and coloured band signify an officer’s department. Red is command, blue is sciences, and yellow is operations.

Badge: A combadge is worn on the left breast, shaped like a solid silver delta.

Rank: Silver rectangular pips on the right collar.

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Published Jan 28, 2020

Let's Revisit the History of the Starfleet Insignia

As America debuts its Space Force flag, we take an in-depth examination of the famous Starfleet symbol.

StarTrek.com

Last week, the official insignia for the United States Space Force debuted and Star Trek fans immediately thought it looked familiar:

Reactions to the logo for the newly formed Space Force included: "THIS IS THE STARFLEET LOGO!" "Is nothing sacred?" "Swell, now taxpayers get to pay for lawyers when you're sued by Paramount and the Roddenberry estate..." https://t.co/AJpqYd8Avb — NPR (@NPR) January 25, 2020

I can’t say how right or wrong they are, but it was a delicious irony that the real world decided to drop some new Trek content the same week we got the first episode of Star Trek: Picard . But they are also part of a back-and-forth between the design sensibilities of the United States military and space programs, and the Starfleet designs that are supposed to be a direct descendant of them.

This isn’t the first time the space program has taken inspiration from Trek , after all — the debut space shuttle was named the Enterprise after Trek fans waged a campaign for it, and decades later that shuttle became part of the opening credits to the show of the same name. But if you look at the fictional history of Starfleet and the real history of American military emblems, you can see that the new Space Force insignia mostly serves to fill in one more gap in the Starfleet emblem’s fictional history.

THE EARLY YEARS

Uniform patches have long been a tradition in the United States, and the general layout has been the same for decades, as seen with the United States Marine Corps insignia here — a circular layout, with the name of the organization around the outside, and the Corps’ “eagle, globe, and anchor” in the middle. This type of thing has informed public perceptions about what looks like an “official” organizational emblem for years.

The most obvious precursor to Starfleet in our modern world is NASA, where you can a lot of the same design elements that would later show up in Starfleet designs — the field of stars, the orbital path encircling the logo, and even a sort of oblong arrowhead shape that kind of looks like the Starfleet delta got stuck in a taffy-puller (or maybe an “automatic rice picker”). Patches like these show up, framed, in the “602 Club” frequented by Jonathan Archer and others of Starfleet’s earliest officers.

AIR FORCE SPACE COMMAND

The clearest design inspiration for the new Space Force logo is the shield for the Air Force Space Command, which was designed in the early 80s. The Space Command oversaw space-based defense missions like missile warning systems, and existed right up until the the Space Force became the sixth branch of the US Armed Forces in 2019. If nothing else, this shield showcases that if the United States is taking their design inspirations from Star Trek , they’ve been doing so for decades.

THE BEGINNINGS OF STARFLEET

“Through hardships to the stars” proclaims the earliest example of the Starfleet logo, which is clearly intended to be a direct descendent of the NASA emblems that proceeded it. In the early days, Starfleet uniforms featured a lot of design elements later uniforms would drop: things like visible zippers, plenty of pockets, and designated ship patches for each vessel. The crews of ships like the Enterprise and Colombia proudly identified the ship to which they belonged — because when you serve aboard the Enterprise , no matter the era, you want people to know it.

INCORPORATING THE MACOs

Before the creation of the Federation, the Earth stood alone. With the creation of a united Earth government, there was no longer a need to maintain militaries for individual countries to fight one another. The soldiers didn’t go away, however: they became MACOs, the “Military Assault Command Ops,” the official military tasked with defending Earth against extraterrestrial threats. By comparison, Starfleet was a smaller pilot program that spent its nascent years in danger of being scrapped.

When Earth was attacked by the Xindi, Jonathan Archer was sent to find and stop them — and he was given a detachment of MACO troops to help bolster Starfleet’s firepower. The MACO insignia includes a five-pointed star with an elongated top, which would become incorporated into the Starfleet logo

THE U.S.S. FRANKLIN

The Franklin is a ship that vanished during the early days of Starfleet, and its captain, Balthazar Edison, served as a MACO before the formation of the Federation. This mission patch shows one of the earliest instances of the Starfleet “Delta” in more or less the right shape.

THE U.S.S. DISCOVERY

By the time of the U.S.S. Discovery , the Starfleet insignia had evolved to a very recognizable form — with the addition of a vertical line that separated the insignia into two-toned sections. The MACO star, by this point, signified command-level crew, with different-model insignia for other departments.

KIRK'S ENTERPRISE

For a while during Kirk’s era, different divisions aboard the ship had different variants of the Starfleet insignia to denote the different departments, like Science and Engineering/Operations. Later generations (including The Next Generation ) would indicate departments through color-coded jumpsuits.

The Starfleet insignia later took on greater utility and importance as it came to house an officer’s communicator, scaled down from the bulky “flip-phone” design to a hands-free wearable device. The badge also tracks the wearer’s movements and activities everywhere they go, kind of like our smart phones do now (it’s best not to think about that too much).

Originally seen in the TNG series finale “All Good Things…” this future combadge popped up in multiple alternate futures: Captain Nog wears it in “The Visitor,” and a future version of Admiral Janeway dons one in Voyager ’s finale, “Endgame.” A slightly-sleeker version of this iteration of the combadge appears to be what Starfleet is wearing by the time of the new Star Trek: Picard .

THE FUTURE'S FUTURE

Spotted on the lapel of time-traveling 29th-century Starfleet officer Captain Braxton in Voyager , this combadge shows that the Starfleet insignia truly has some staying power.

Of course, the 29th century was previously the farthest ahead we’ve ever gotten in the Trek timeline, but with the upcoming season of Discovery we’ll hopefully see our intrepid crew carrying the gospel of slightly-oblong triangles to a new generation of future humanoids.

Sean Kelly (he/him) is a freelance writer based in St. Louis. He occasionally gets depressed that he’ll never know what raktajino tastes like.

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Uniform & Rank Inconsistencies

Starfleet's Uniform Chaos The Color of the TOS Command Uniform Shirt The Arrowhead as a General Starfleet Emblem Starfleet Rank Oddities

Starfleet's Uniform Chaos

Starfleet's uniform styles change in very irregular intervals, and very often not consistently for all ranks, ships and divisions. Some uniforms must have existed for many decades, whereas others lasted just one single year!

Earth Starfleet uniform

The uniforms worn by Earth Starfleet in the 2150's are not further discussed here, since they predate any other style by 100 years, and there may have been an unknown number of modifications in the 100 years from Enterprise to "The Cage". It is only worth mentioning that on the otherwise navy blue jumpsuits the departments on Enterprise NX-01 are already distinguished by thin stripes of different colors, similar to those of the TOS uniforms: yellow for command, red for engineering and security, green for science. The latter is a presumption. It would make Hoshi a scientist, rather than an officer with an executive position.

Franklin uniform

Kelvin uniform

Kelvin Timeline Enterprise uniform

Discoverse uniforms.

TOS Pilots uniform

Pastel-colored uniforms were created for the first Star Trek pilot, "The Cage" (2254). The uniforms reappeared in "Where No Man Has Gone Before" (2265), with slight modifications to the rank signs. They are still worn by the Antares crew in TOS: "Charlie X" (2266). Hence, this style must have lasted for at least twelve years.

TOS uniform

With the beginning of TOS (2266), the more colorful yellow , red and blue uniform shirts were introduced. This is the by far most famous style in the real world, so much that the Abramsverse, Discovery and Strange New Worlds all created their proprietary re-imaginations of the pattern and the colors, just to establish a visual bridge to pre-reboot Trek. Yet, the TOS uniform was extremely short-lived in-universe. It must have been abandoned some time prior to "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" (2271), at least as the Enterprise and Earth-based personnel were concerned.

TMP uniform

At the time of "Star Trek: The Motion Picture", several new uniform patterns with toned down colors can be seen, plus a standardized arrowhead emblem for all ships and departments of Starfleet.

Movie uniform

Some time between "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" (2271) and "Star Trek II" (2285), there must have been yet another switch of uniforms, and a radical one this time. The shirts were supplemented with asymmetrical jackets, the colors of most uniform jackets were narrowed down to red only, and the rank signs became quite different from anything seen so far. The department was still indicated by the shirt colors, but usually only their collar was visible. These red uniforms must have been introduced prior to 2278, the year that the USS Bozeman came from, whose crew is wearing this style in TNG: "Cause and Effect". This movie pattern remained in use unchanged for another fifteen years, at least until the maiden voyage of the Enterprise-B in "Star Trek Generations" (2293).

Basically the same untypical uniform style was preserved for an extraordinarily long time. A slight variant of the movie uniform can be seen as late as in the mid-24th century, only without the colored pullover collar underneath the jacket and later without the belt. The tailoring has remained the same. This simplified uniform is consistently used in in Q's recreated past TNG: "Tapestry" (2327), in TNG: "Yesterday's Enterprise" (2344) and still by Jack Crusher in a holographic recording in TNG: "Family" (2349). The re-use of the movie uniforms was an obvious choice, as it helped save production budget. Anyway, Starfleet must have eventually retired it between 2349 and 2355, seeing that Picard's crew in the flashbacks in TNG: "The Battle" (2355) wears Starfleet standard issue of the 2360's, the same as in early TNG.

TNG I uniform

Around 2350, after some 70 years, Starfleet's uniforms returned to a style of different uniform shirt colors for the departments (TNG I). Rank signs are since then reduced to small ranks pips, which are consistently worn also with the following 24th century uniforms. For some time there used to be a female variant with a skirt again, and even men were occasionally seen with a skirt (tentatively named "skant" by the costume designers).

TNG II uniform

The TNG I unisex uniform of 2364 was a jumpsuit, but later modified to a shirt-&-pants version with a belt (2366). Also, a collar was added. This new uniform (TNG II) was initially only worn by the higher ranking officers (or rather the main characters) until the end of 2366. On a different note, a variety of admiral's uniforms is known, all following the same basic pattern, but with slightly different jackets.

DS9/Voyager uniform

After only three years, yet another a new uniform was created, with the colors of the upper and lower half of the shirt reversed and a new bluish gray undershirt whose collar sticks out. Also, a new communicator was introduced, replacing the oval body with a rounded trapezoid. This uniform was worn on DS9 (2369), but did not affect the style on the Enterprise-D until the end of TNG (2370). Quite obviously the real-world reason is that it should be easier for the viewer to tell the two different series apart. The DS9 uniform may have been supposed to be an additional, maybe more practical variant to the TNG style. But the first TNG feature film "Generations" (2371) came with a total uniform chaos. Both the TNG and DS9 style were worn in parallel (the main characters were all TNG-clad at first), with a visible tendency towards the DS9 version.

Still, several branches in Starfleet must have retained the TNG version longer than on the Enterprise-D. Actually, most of the non-DS9 personnel seen until season 4, and all higher-ranking non-DS9 officers, seemed to wear the TNG variant. Examples include Calvin Hudson in "The Maquis", Dr. Lens from the Lexington in "Explorers", the crew of the USS Odyssey in "The Jem'Hadar", Thomas Riker in "Defiant" and finally Worf in "The Way of the Warrior". Most obviously the TNG uniforms could be witnessed in DS9: "Homefront" and "Paradise Lost", where also Sisko switched to this style - even before Admiral Leyton announced that he would become Earth's security chief! It is possible that specifically Earth- or planet-based personnel retained the old colors, while ship and space station crews adopted the new ones beginning in 2369 or even earlier. Moreover, the dress uniforms remained the same, also on DS9. There may have been a directive that both variants were permissible for a limited time. Voyager consistently sported the new colors from the start (2371), at a time when they were changing at random on the Enterprise-D. Riker appeared in the TNG II uniform as late as in VOY: "Death Wish" (2372). But this Riker may have come from any year between 2366 to 2371.

First Contact uniform

Oddly, the year 2373 brought us yet another new uniform. First featured in "Star Trek: First Contact" (2373), the new gray/black combination was adopted by the DS9 personnel in the same year. Moreover, quite unlike it was the case with the inconsequential previous switch, all of Starfleet's personnel were seen with the new uniform after 2373. The crew of Voyager is the only notable exception. Equipped with replicators, they could have easily switched after contact was made with Starfleet (2374), but the old uniform was in use until the series finale (2378). Certainly the real-world reason is once again to establish a distinct look of the series. An in-universe explanation could be that Janeway decided not to waste their scarce energy reserves on new uniforms (bearing in mind that even in the real-world US Navy implementing a dress code is to some extent at the captain's discretion).

Lower Decks and Prodigy uniforms

Post-Nemesis uniform

In a flashback in PIC: "The End is the Beginning", we can see Admiral Jean-Luc Picard and Commander Raffaela Musiker with uniforms resembling the DS9 style. The most notable differences are that the border between the colorful shoulder portion and the otherwise dark gray shirt is not straight, and there is a separate colorful stripe. We see only the red and yellow colors, but it seems obvious that the blue variation of this style exists as well. This uniform apparently replaces the one that was introduced in "First Contact".

Picard I uniform

The regular Starfleet uniform of the year 2399 can be seen since PIC: "Maps and Legends". It closely resembles the DS9 variation. Most notably, a collar was added, and the rank pips were moved to the right chest. Admiral Clancy's uniform is somewhat different, and is gray instead of red. But that may be her prerogative as Commander-in-chief.

Picard II uniform

Season II of Picard, set in the year 2401, brings another new Starfleet uniform. The basic colors are still the same, but the jackets now have some sort of asymmetrical lapel.

Alternate uniforms

Something that may be taken into account is the future and parallel timeline uniforms. The uniform in TNG: "Yesterday's Enterprise" had a different collar and an additional white belt. TNG: "Future Imperfect" and "Parallels" both showed the same uniform variant with an identical pattern to the regular TNG II uniform, only with different communicators. But more interestingly, there exist three episodes set in the future with identical uniforms, namely TNG: "All Good Things" (2395), DS9: "The Visitor" (2422), and VOY: "Endgame" (2404). Before Star Trek Picard, there was a good chance that this would be the actual uniform of the future (or better: the uniform of the actual future), considering that it seems to be a constant in the repeated alterations to the timeline. Geordi still wears the "First Contact" uniform in VOY: "Timeless" (2389), which would put the introduction of the "alternate future style" between 2389 and 2395. This clashes with the various different uniforms seen in Star Trek Picard. However, Picard at least adopted the "future-style" Starfleet arrowhead, since "The Last Generation" even with the golden field.

Here is a summary of Starfleet's uniform styles (without animated series and re-imaginations):

Summarizing, there is nothing really inconsistent about the life spans of Starfleet's uniforms. On the contrary, with the exception of Discovery, we never see any uniform versions, even in flashbacks or time travels, that we would have to reject as anachronistic. But the question remains whether Starfleet could possibly be so much into fashion that they would retain most of the various styles only for a couple of years, and replace them without any obvious reason. It would be somewhat more plausible if every single style had lasted at least one or two decades. The fact that Starfleet kept the most untypical uniform of the many styles we know of for the by far longest time remains an oddity.

The Color of the TOS Command Uniform Shirt

The color of the uniform shirt that Kirk, Sulu and Chekov wear most of the time is commonly described as "mustard", "gold" or simply "yellow". At least, this is what it usually appears to be on screen in TOS episodes, in the original TV version as well as in the remastered release. This, however, is not the whole truth. William Ware Theiss, who was responsible for the costumes of TOS, had in mind that the three departments of the ship should be represented by the three primary colors in additive color mixing as used for color TV: blue for science and medical, red for engineering and security, green for command. In fact, Kirk has a variant of the uniform, the so-called wrap-around shirt that was made of a different fabric and always appears green in the episodes. His shiny dress uniform is clearly green as well. Kirk's standard shirt, on the other hand, was made of an avocado green fabric that only appears yellow, owing to the conditions of the film material, the lighting and the processing of the film.

More precisely, an article at startrek.com lists five factors that create our impression of a yellowish shirt, instead of a green one. The first is the Eastman Kodak 35mm film used at the time, which was meant to produce "warmer" colors and which would shift greenish colors to red, making light green appear as plain yellow (and yellow as pink, as it used to happen with Spock's skin color). The second reason is the lighting with tungsten, whose color temperature is lower and hence makes the colors appear more red as well. The three other reasons for color variations are color timing, optical effects and the transfer to tape or digitizing, all of which are not free of imperfections.

The Arrowhead as a General Starfleet Emblem

The arrowhead in tos: just representing the enterprise.

From at least 2254 ("The Cage") to 2268 (the end of TOS), all crew members of the original USS Enterprise NCC-1701 consistently wear an arrowhead emblem on their uniforms, with an inner symbol denoting the ship's department they belong to (command, science, operations, medical). Other TOS-era Starfleet personnel is usually seen with the same uniform style, colors and rank signs, but with different emblems. One of these other emblems resembles a flower. It is commonly associated with Starfleet Command. Chest insignias other than the arrowhead and Starfleet Command can be seen in three TOS episodes, always worn by ship crew members: (U)SS Antares in TOS: "Charlie X", USS Constellation in TOS: "The Doomsday Machine", USS Exeter in TOS: "The Omega Glory". ENT: "In a Mirror Darkly" adds the emblem of the USS Defiant to the mix.

For decades, it seemed to be set in stone that the arrowhead symbol represented just the Enterprise at the time of TOS, and that each starship (or at least, each of the twelve Starship/Constitution-class vessels) had its individual symbol. This used to be the commonly accepted explanation for the different emblems until 2017. And it was more or less official (albeit not canon) because the existence of individual ship emblems was confirmed in all editions of the Star Trek Encyclopedia .

In all uniform variants since "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" (2271), all of Starfleet's personnel consistently wears the arrowhead (in many slight variations). We can still see the personnel of the Epsilon IX station with an individual emblem in 2271, so the transition may not have been abrupt, though. Anyway, if the arrowhead previously was the symbol of the Enterprise, there are two possibilities: Either the famous voyages of the Starship Enterprise have inspired Starfleet to adopt the ship's individual symbol for the whole organization, or the arrowhead had been a common identification symbol of Starfleet already prior to TOS, and was worn exclusively on the Enterprise only for that limited period - maybe because the Enterprise was the fleet's flagship or was considered something otherwise special. The latter is supported by the appearance of the arrowhead as soon as on the Friendship One UESPA probe (see below).

An article published at startrek.com in 2017 sheds new light on this very old issue. In a memorandum from December 18, 1967, Bob Justman, on behalf of Gene Roddenberry, stated that the arrowhead is meant to be the common insignia of all starship crews. The crew of the Antares, which were already seen with a different emblem at the time of the memo, are members of the merchant marine and "not entitled to bear this proud insignia" . We can make the same case for the USS Huron emblem that is not mentioned in the article. The memo purportedly came too late to prevent William Ware Theiss from creating different insignia for Commodore Decker (USS Constellation) and still for Captain Tracey and Dr. Carter (USS Exeter). "The Omega Glory" was just being filmed at the date of the document.

While behind-the-scenes information like Justman's memo would be overruled by canon evidence, it is worthwhile to review the arrowhead issue in light of the idea of a common starship crew emblem. In fact, we could see non-Enterprise starship personnel with arrowhead insignias on two occasions in TOS: two Starfleet officers who are not in Kirk's crew in the Starbase club in "Court Martial" (possibly more, but only these two implicitly identify themselves as being from another ship) and bodies of Defiant crewmen in "The Tholian Web". These would support the theory that all starship personnel wear the arrowhead insignia. Since we never see any of his crew (because they have left the ship and are all dead by the time), we may explain Commodore Decker's different emblem with him being a flag officer with a permanent field commission. This makes Tracey and Carter the only anomalies at the time of TOS, because why should just these two have a different insignia than the rest of their dead crew that we never see? Overall, it seems like the lesser evil to go with the conclusion of the startrek.com article and accept the two Exeter officers with their non-standard emblem as an exception, so the crew members in the Starbase club and on the Defiant would wear a regular emblem.

If we take into account ENT: "In a Mirror, Darkly", however, the situation is different. The arrowhead as the universal starship symbol produces quite a few more exceptions to the rule. The startrek.com article discreetly ignores the Enterprise episode (maybe because it is based on "false" suppositions). But even though ENT: "In a Mirror, Darkly" episode disregards the rule that Roddenberry and Justman made up (or rather, was made without any knowledge of the obscure document), it is fully canon and has definitely more weight than the meanwhile resurfaced memo.

Age of the arrowhead symbol

It is interesting to note that the long-range probe Friendship One (UESPA-1) in the Voyager episode of the same name sported the arrowhead, here as the symbol of the UESPA (United Earth Space Probe Agency), as early as in 2067. But Earth Starfleet has apparently abandoned or has never used the arrowhead symbol by 2143, as we could see a somewhat different, NASA-like Starfleet Command symbol, perhaps symbolizing a spacecraft trajectory, in ENT: "First Flight" and in other episodes taking place between 2151 and 2155. ENT: "Demons" finally showed a seal with this Starfleet symbol and the additional words "United Earth Space Probe Agency" , implying that Starfleet Command is a part of UESPA. If both organizations are the same or one is a department of the other, it is only plausible that symbols are interchangeable and that at a later date the arrowhead could come into use again -- even if the UESPA was renamed, demerged or abandoned some time between ENT and TOS.

The "boomerang" symbol

The "boomerang" symbol can be seen as the pennant on Federation Starfleet ships at the time of TOS, such as the USS Enterprise NCC-1701. The symbol is also visible as a wall decoration in the courtroom in TOS: "Court Martial". A more angular boomerang appears as the individual ship emblem of the USS Defiant NCC-1764 in ENT: "In a Mirror, Darkly". It is unknown what the boomerang signifies. It looks a bit like the Starfleet arrowhead. Considering that the Starfleet arrowhead is often turned by 90 degrees when displayed on ship hulls (since 2271) or on Kirk's first-season wrap-around uniform (2265), just like the boomerang, it is well possible that the boomerang is an alternative Starfleet emblem - but one that was abandoned, perhaps because it looked so crude.

A modified boomerang reappears on the pennant of the (U.)S.S. Raven NAR-32450 in VOY: "Dark Frontier", here denoting either a civilian ship registered in the Federation or a Starfleet science ship, depending on which of the two conflicting prefixes that were mentioned, SS or USS, we lend more credence.

Starfleet Rank Oddities

Inconsistent promotions.

Usually one might expect that a Starfleet officer receives a promotion every few years, depending on his or her conduct and performance. Most permanent crew members in the various Star Trek series have moved up the ranks through the years, but some have not. There may be certain special conditions to consider. As Picard said to Kirk in "Generations", accepting a promotion to admiral would probably mean that he lost his command over a starship. This was also the reason why he declined the offer to become the head of Starfleet Academy (with the rank of admiral) in TNG: "Conspiracy", and why Kirk was not too sad when he was demoted at the end of "Star Trek IV". Riker remained commander during all his time under Capt. Picard, 15 years altogether until "Star Trek Nemesis". He declined a command of his own four times. It is possible that there can be only one person with the rank of captain on a starship (the notable exception being the Enterprise-A with Captains Kirk, Spock and Scott).

Ensign Harry Kim, on the other hand, is a crew member who is never promoted in his whole seven years on Voyager, although no good reason becomes obvious. He finally complains about that in VOY: "Nightingale", blaming the exceptional circumstances in the Delta Quadrant for the stagnation, whereas he might be lieutenant, even lieutenant commander by now in the Alpha Quadrant. The rationale may seem plausible, as the rank structure might need lower officer ranks. Still, why is Tom promoted to lieutenant (jr. grade) again in VOY: "Unimatrix Zero", after he had been demoted to ensign in VOY: "Thirty Days"? Clearly Harry Kim's record has been better in the meantime. Other crew members who were apparently let down include Lt. Commander Data. Like Riker, he has been holding this rank for 15 years, although in his case there was no apparent reason why he shouldn't move up to the rank of commander, just like Deanna Troi in TNG: "Thine Own Self" (the episode even has an ironic remark that Deanna now outranks Data). Curiously, Deanna's promotion went along with an exam to acquire command ability, but Data had been in command before without holding the rank of commander.

O'Brien and other non-commissioned officers

The rank signs of officers at the time of early TNG are well-defined: one solid pip for the ensign, one solid and one hollow for the lieutenant junior grade, two solid for the full lieutenant, two solid and one hollow for the lieutenant commander, and so on. The supposedly existing lower ranks on the Enterprise have no insignia, a visual identification is impossible. Most importantly, there is no distinction between enlisted crewmen and non-commissioned officers (NCO). The obvious interpretation: there exist no non-commissioned officers at the time of TNG, just officers (who have graduated at Starfleet Academy) and crewmen (without graduation). Although this seems logical, it would be unfair to the crewmen, who could never rise in their rank. There would be no chance, with less of an effort than at Starfleet Academy, to receive a promotion to a non-commissioned officer rank, possibly as a field promotion. Becoming a "crewman first class" after years in service without any visible distinction seems anything but desirable.

Miles Edward O'Brien is wearing the solid pip of an ensign in TNG: "Encounter at Farpoint" and still in the (correctly in his case) recreated past of TNG: "All Good Things". From season 2 to 5 of TNG, his rank sign is the two solid pips of a lieutenant, and he is accordingly addressed by Riker in "Where Silence Has Lease".

Since TNG: "Family", however, we know that there are intended to be non-commissioned officers and that O'Brien is supposed to be one of them. Sergey Rozhenko introduces himself as an engineer and chief petty officer (CPO). Oddly, he identifies Miles O'Brien as another CPO -- but O'Brien is clearly wearing lieutenant rank signs at that time (two solid pips). It is possible that the writer of the episode thought that "(Transporter) Chief", as O'Brien was commonly referred to, was a rank rather than a function. Anyway, one theory is that there is an unknown number of non-commissioned officers aboard any starship, wearing the rank signs of the equivalent officer whose position they occupy. Although an ensign has a higher nominal rank than any NCO, it is possible for NCO ranks to perform the duty of an officer also in many real-world military organizations. Either because of their experience or because of a lack of officers. And perhaps, since no visual distinction is possible anyway, these NCOs would be referred to as if they were officers. Of course, that still wouldn't explain why Rozhenko could see that O'Brien is a CPO -- maybe Miles just looks like that?

Anyway, O'Brien's rank is clearly meant to be retconned by the viewer. He has never been demoted. He has never been an officer. He explicitly says "And don't call me 'sir'. I'm not an officer." to Muniz in DS9: "The Ship". Since his last appearances on TNG O'Brien is wearing rank signs different from the officers, definitely denoting him as something less than an ensign. At first, it was an empty pip, which would comply with the TNG rank system rather as a cadet than as an NCO. Nonetheless it is quite fitting, considering that the sign is identified as "Chief Warrant Officer" in the Star Trek Encyclopedia . Warrant officers are an intermediate group of ranks between an NCO and an officer but with an officer's duties in the US Navy, just like I have already speculated earlier. Also, it would confirm that O'Brien had received a promotion (rather than a demotion) prior to changing to DS9, which is mentioned in DS9: "Past Prologue", because a chief warrant officer is a higher rank than a chief petty officer.

O'Brien first wears the hollow pip on the Enterprise in TNG: "Realm of Fear", and he remains on board with this rank sign until TNG: "Rascals" (sixth season). The empty pip must have been introduced earlier. It appeared as early as in the second TNG season in "The Child" (Gladstone), then in TNG: "Reunion" (Maggie Hubble), TNG: "Night Terrors" (Gillespie), TNG: "The Next Phase" (Brossmer) and TNG: "The Quality of Life" (Kelso). There was also a woman in engineering in TNG: "The Next Phase" (fifth season) with this rank sign, and she was called "Chief" by Data. (It is actually her who saves the ship when she interrupts Picard's "engage" command that would have destroyed the ship.)

Later on in DS9, O'Brien's rank sign is modified to a combination of three chevrons and two dots, much like the master chief petty officer in the US Navy (three chevrons and two stars). This insignia is quite plausibly identified as "Chief Petty Officer" in DS9: "Hippocratic Oath". But has he been demoted? The Star Trek Encyclopedia calls this rank "Chief of Operations", which sounds rather like an occupation than a rank. In DS9: "Tribunal" O'Brien states "My name is Miles O'Brien. My rank is chief of operations, Starfleet. I am a Federation citizen." . But that was at a time when he still wore the hollow pip. The hollow pip could be an exceptional rank sign, considering that O'Brien was always called "Chief", while he was wearing this one, and not "Chief Warrant Officer". This would mean that O'Brien hasn't been demoted, and he may have been promoted from chief petty officer to master chief petty officer since his time on the Enterprise. More evidence that he may have climbed up the ranks comes from DS9: "Shadow Play", where O'Brien states that he is a "Senior Chief Specialist", which is the NCO in the US Navy closest to an officer rank, a senior chief petty officer with the status of a specialist.

Overall, a rank identification system would not be very practical if there were only one rank sign for the highest NCO (namely the hollow pip) or an intermediate warrant officer rank, while all other NCO ranks (if there is one, there must exist more) as well as the enlisted crew would have no rank signs. Yet, this seemed to be the case at the time of (early) TNG. Crewman 1st Class Tarses in TNG: "The Drumhead", for example, has no rank sign that would have allowed to distinguish him from a crewman 3rd class. In this regard the revision to introduce combinations of chevrons and dots for the NCO ranks is clearly an improvement. But we can't really tell if this is so. Apparently O'Brien remains one of extremely few NCOs in Starfleet. Only Cadet Dorian Collins in DS9: "Valiant" (the girl from the moon), one more female crew member of that ship, and Burke from DS9: "Nor the Battle to the Strong" wear a similar or the same rank sign with three chevrons. The provisional(?) rank of Cadet(?) Collins is just another oddity, considering that most of her fellow cadets were "promoted" to officer ranks. All other non-commissioned personnel are referred to only as "crewman" or at most as "crewman first class".

Another strange fact about O'Brien is that he was at Starfleet Academy indeed, where he studied engineering and underwent an extensive education and training. The same might apply to Dorian Collins who, if she was really about to become an NCO, would even be in the same class as the future officers. If it is only a few more months and a few more courses, why would anyone not want to become an officer? Especially someone as brilliant as O'Brien who was (most likely) not married at that time? Maybe his engineering studies were so extensive that he neglected the non-technical part. In spite of his undeniable merits, he is more than lucky that Starfleet would ask him to teach engineering (DS9: "What You Leave Behind"), although he has never made it to officer.

Tom's and Tuvok's ranks

Sometimes Starfleet officers are not wearing the rank signs they are supposed to have. The most obvious example is Tom Paris and Tuvok. Tom is field promoted to lieutenant by Janeway in VOY: "Caretaker". We can't tell if he is supposed to be lieutenant or lieutenant jr. grade, as both would be called "Lieutenant". Anyway, he is wearing the full lieutenant rank sign (two solid pips) for most of the first season. Tuvok wears lieutenant commander insignia from the beginning, but the opening credits call him "Lieutenant", and he was occasionally referred to as "Lieutenant", never correctly as "Commander". Towards the end of the first season, in "Faces", Tom's rank sign was changed to lt. junior grade. In "Cathexis", Tuvok's was changed to lieutenant. Were they both demoted?

Although it appears to be just retconning (bearing in mind that Tuvok was supposed to be lieutenant from the beginning, as per the episode credits), his demotion seems possible. Tuvok was involved in the incident in VOY: "Prime Factors", making an illegal deal on Sikaris and putting the ship in danger. This seems like a sufficient reason to demote him, but not Tom. Also, for some reason the demotion did not take effect immediately, but a couple of episodes later. Maybe Janeway was waiting for the result of an official investigation, before taking actions.

However, Tuvok's rank pips kept changing during "Cathexis", without any explanation what was going on. Also, there is still the question why Tom was demoted, although his role in the "Prime Factors" plot was at most marginal, while B'Elanna's was not. Another problem is that Janeway promotes Tuvok to lt. commander again in VOY: "Revulsion". She says, " Over the past nine years I've come to rely on his insightful and unfailingly logical advice..." , suggesting that he was having the same rank all the time.

More evidence can be found in VOY: "Worst Case Scenario" where both holographic characters Paris and Tuvok appear with their lower ranks, although at the time Tuvok wrote the program and Seska may have been the last person to ever touch it, they still had their respective higher ranks. It appears that the fact that Tuvok and Paris ever had higher ranks is consciously disregarded and retroactively invalidated.

Chakotay's rank

After VOY: "Caretaker" Chakotay becomes Captain Janeway's first officer. But it is uncertain whether his provisional rank, which he retains for the whole run of the series, is commander (CMDR) or lieutenant commander (LTCDR). He is consistently called "Commander", but that would be the proper way to address a LTCDR as well.

Arguments for LTCDR:

Arguments for CMDR:

Summarizing, although the visual evidence of his Maquis insignia looking like those of a LTCDR is compelling because it never changed, he is a consistently a CMDR in all written and spoken evidence. The latter appears to be stronger.

Jet Manhaver's rank

22nd & 23rd Century Starfleet Uniforms - incl. badges, ranks, spacesuits

24th Century Starfleet Uniforms - incl. badges, ranks, spacesuits

Visual Bloopers - incl. wrong uniforms and missing rank pips

Earth and Federation Emblems

Other History Inconsistencies - about the TOS movie timeline, the UESPA, first contact with the Borg, Klingons in the Federation, etc.

Some screen caps from TrekCore . Some info about uniforms has been taken from Trekmania, some facts about O'Brien's rank from Captain Mike's Galactopedia. Thanks also to Alex Hoffmann , Kris , Dan , Guy Foster , Daniel , Nordic Knight , RotSman and Alexandre Oliveira for additional observations and suggestions about uniforms. Ryan pointed out an error I made about the warrant officers. Special thanks to Patrick Kovacs and Gvsualan for observations about O'Brien's rank, to Adam for an idea about how O'Brien got "demoted" by a writer and to Tim for his suggestions about Chakotay's rank.

https://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/inconsistencies/uniforms1.htm

Last modified: 18 Dec 2023

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Fleet Yards

Starfleet ranks (officers)

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View history

The Starfleet rank system has a long history dating back to early space explorers of the Earth Starfleet and its predecessor naval and military forces.

1 Flag officers
2.1 Senior officers
2.2 Junior officers
2.3 Provisional officers
4 References
5 External links

Flag officers [ ]

Officers [ ], senior officers [ ], junior officers [ ], provisional officers [ ], see also [ ], references [ ].

↑ 1.0 1.1 Also seen in parallel 2370s and alternate 2390s . Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "2336 Admirals" defined multiple times with different content
↑ 2.0 2.1 Also seen in 2383 .
↑ 3.0 3.1 Also seen in mirror 2380s .
↑ The rank of commodore was mostly phased out in the 2350s in favor of the rank of rear admiral lower half.
↑ 5.0 5.1 In the early 2250s , all officers , regardless of rank , wore one stripe. However, the rank scheme was later changed in the late 2250s and Captains wore two stripes, while all other officers still wore one.
↑ All ranks except for FCAPT also seen in parallel 2370s .
↑ Also seen in parallel 2370s .

External links [ ]

Starfleet ranks (officers) article at Memory Alpha , the canon Star Trek wiki.
Federation Starfleet ranks article at Memory Beta , the non-canon Star Trek wiki.
Starfleet ranks and insignia article at Wikipedia , the free encyclopedia.
1 USS Ares (NCC-1650)
2 Dominion War

Rank & Uniforms

From star trek: theurgy wiki.

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. Aside from rank , all officers also held a position in a department, which could be said to be his or her 'job'. Example: A Lieutenant's position was not to be a Lieutenant on a starship. The Lieutenant's position on a ship could Security Officer, which was a role that had certain duties attached to it.

Starfleet uniforms were mainly worn with colors denoting in what field a particular officer or crewman specialized.

1 Division Colors
2 Starfleet Uniforms
3.1 Flag Officers
3.2 Line Officers
3.4 Warrant Officers
3.5 Enlisted & Non-Commissioned Officers
3.6 Provisional Officers
3.7 Civillian Personnel
4 Chain of Command
5 Crew Quarters
6 Disclaimer

Division Colors

Within Starfleet , there existed four divisions of personnel, which handled all possible allotted tasks.

Red indicated Command, Tactical and CONN . These were commanders, like COs and XOs, or administrative personnel, yeomen. They were also CONN and Flight Control officers. Tactical Officers also wore this colour, with the Chief Tactical Officer posted on the Bridge.

White indicated Tactical CONN . This was where the Starfleet Fighter Pilots and Officers belonged; in the newly formed Aerospace Command division where space aviation and military/tactical knowledge went hand in hand. The Tactical CONN department worked very closely with both the CONN and Tactical departments.

Gold indicated Engineering , Operations and Security . These were those who built, configured, alloted, and repaired ship's systems. Security handled security on board, ranging from crowd control, the Brig and a number of related issues.

Teal indicated Science , Medical and Counseling . These were the nurses, doctors, pharmacists, and orderlies of the Sickbay. They also analyse scientific data, and preform experiments.

Starfleet Uniforms

Starfleet uniforms were uniforms worn by individuals serving in the Federation Starfleet , originally a United Earth organization. These uniforms facilitated the wearers' needs as both scientists and researchers, as well as Starfleet 's military role. Wearers were expected to abide by the Starfleet dress code, though special exceptions were sometimes made for certain aspects of an individual's cultural heritage, such as Worf's Klingon baldric and Nog's Ferengi headdress as well as Ro Laren's (and briefly Kira Nerys') earrings. Source: Memory Alpha

These were the Starfleet Uniforms as of 2381 in Starfleet . Like all ships, the USS Theurgy had a specific dress code for on-duty officers. The standard duty uniform was a three piece ensemble consisting of pants, colored undershirt (department specific color), and jacket. An optional skirt was permitted for female crew if they wished.

Ranks in Starfleet followed a specific order, broken up into four, in this descending rank:

Flag Officers

Line officers, warrant officers, enlisted & non-commissioned officers.

Enlisted crewmen were not trained in any command fields, and fulfilled the mundane duties of a starship or starbase . Officers were trained for command, and it was assumed that some would someday reach the ranks of captain or above. Flag officers often fulfilled administrative duties, and sometimes commanded task forces of ships. Promotions were awarded for quality of service, not for length of time served.

Provisional Officers, the exception of the four above, earned a field promotion aboard a ship or a starbase , and could even hold Line Officer rank.

A Flag Officer was both a historic naval and military rank and a modern Starfleet title. It generally referred to all officers of Commodore rank or higher. The term traditionally denoted any officer that commanded a squadron of vessels, possibly in addition to one under their direct command.

A commissioned Line Officer was an individual who had attended, and graduated from the cadet program of Starfleet Academy or had been commissioned through the Officer Candidate School after having attained their education in their field elsewhere. Those graduating from Starfleet Academy earned a four-year degree (Bachelor's) in their major field of study such as communications, engineering , the sciences, or nursing. After four years at the Academy, they either passed or failed. If passing, the person would be promoted to Ensign. Officers doing exceptionally would be promoted directly to Lieutenant Junior Grade.

Medical officers attended an additional four years at Starfleet Medical Academy before earning their medical degree (or earned their commission through Officer Candidate School after having obtained their degree elsewhere).

Cadet was a rank which was used at Starfleet Academy to denote students in training to become Starfleet officers. Becoming a Starfleet cadet was a difficult process and required a significant amount of academic achievement while in high school. Academy entrance standards were particularly high, especially in scientific and math disciplines (such as calculus). Cadets were also expected to maintain a satisfactory grade point average during their attendance at the Academy. Getting bad grades was grounds for a cadet's revocation of appointment from the Academy, also known as "washing out". Starfleet cadets were under the same uniform code of justice as Starfleet officers and were in turn subordinate to the orders of superiors. They were also required to report violations of Federation law they observed to their superiors. Cadets were also expected to show military courtesy and respect to senior commanders.

Even though Warrant Officers were considered Commissioned Officers, they are drawn from the ranks of NCO personnel. The Warrant Officer, and the ranks that follow it, were a special form of Commissioned Officers bridging the gap between Enlisted personnel and Line Officers. Only Chief, Senior Chief, or Master Chief Petty Officers could apply to the Warrant Officer ranks. A warrant officer had rank over all Enlisted personnel, and frequently took charge of large divisions or departments of these crewmen. Regular commissioned officers, such as an Ensign, held rank over a Warrant Officer. SCPO or higher was able to advance directly to WO (skipping other ranks) provided they attended Officer Candidate School. Warrant Officers were specialists in sub-departments of a starship, such as Transporter Technicians and Holo-technicians.

Most of a starship's or starbase 's staff consisted of enlisted personnel. These people carried out the day-to-day operations and maintenance that allowred Starfleet to function. Enlisted stayed in Starfleet Boot Camp for six months as a Crewman Recruit, learning the ropes in a more simple way than Commissioned Officers, with a course emphasis relevant to your division. So, Enlisted were those who had not completed the four-year Starfleet Academy course or otherwise been given a commission as an officer. In most cases, Enlisted crewmen signed up directly to a ship or posting, and received basic training, as well as any specific courses required for their position.

As with Commissioned Officers, there is a rank structure amongst Enlisted crew. The term "Non-Commissioned Officer" referred specifically to any Enlisted personnel given authority over other personnel. In Starfleet , this could refer to any Petty Officer (up to Master Chief). Once making the rank of Chief Petty Officer, NCOs could transfer to Commissioned Officer status, and become an Ensign.

All Commissioned Officer ranks, from Ensign upward, outranked all Enlisted in the chain of command. However, in certain cases, Non-Commissioned officers could exercise authority over Commissioned Officers (Miles O'Brien is one such case, in his position as chief of operations aboard Deep Space 9 ). Additionally, Chief Petty Officers such as O'Brien wielded influence far beyond their place in the rank structure due to their extensive experience and skill and were expected to mentor Junior Officers as well as other Non-Commissioned Officers.

Provisional Officers

In difficult times, it had been found a necessity to grant civilians - or crew members of other militaries - ranks that would otherwise be considered official within Starfleet . These ranks could be placed upon those that allied to Starfleet in some form or manner for whatever reason that the Commanding Officer of the ship found adequate. Provisional Officers had special rank insignia that differed from the normal pips that a Starfleet Officer would wear in his collar (Example: The rank insignia the former Marquis officers wore in Star Trek: Voyager).

Civillian Personnel

Not all members of the crew held a Starfleet rank, but would rather be civilian expertise in certain fields, filling functions of the ship where Starfleet training was not required. Examples: Waitresses/waiters of the ship lounges and the Chef in the Mess Hall. Also, some professors and scientists in certain fields did not belong to the Science Department of Starfleet .

Chain of Command

The chain of command was a ranking system used by militaries and other organized groups. It represented the line of authority down which orders are passed from one officer to another, and also the line down which passed command of a particular vessel or installation.

Aboard a starship, or most starbases the chain of command began with the assigned commanding officer, usually an officer of the rank of captain, or in some cases commander. If the commanding officer, for any reason, was unavailable to command his or her post then those responsibilities passed down the "chain" to the first officer, then the second officer, etc. After the first officer (also Executive Officer or XO), command responsibilities passed down the chain from officer to officer as necessary in accordance with each officer's rank. And it was common practice for a commanding officer to designate a second officer to take command if both the captain and first officer were unavailable or unable to perform their duties.

Crew Quarters

Rank also determined which kind of quarters Starfleet officers lived in aboard a starship. Below are the different quarters on the USS Theurgy .

Captain's Quarters & VIP Quarters

Departmental Head Quarters

Senior Officers' Quarters

Junior Officers' Quarters

Shared NCO Quarters

Shared Enlisted Quarters

Uniform text portions of this page is used with permission of USS Wolff CO - granted Nov 1, 2016

Starfleet Information
General Information

Uniforms & Costumes : Ratings and Enlisted Men

This is a remedial article to dispel the widely-held belief that enlisted men (or "enlisted ranks" or "enlisted uniforms") were present onboard the U.S.S. Enterprise during Captain Kirk's 5-year mission in STAR TREK: The Original Series .

Efforts to catalogue TOS uniforms & insignia frequently suffer from significant inaccuracies: often-times attempting to justify the presence of an "enlisted" category in a consistent way.

Whether this arises from mis-interpretation of dialogue, or assumptions applied retroactively from the inclusion of enlisted members in other Trek, herein we aim to set the record straight where TOS is concerned.

While doing so, great attention will be paid to the usage of naval terms (particularly, ratings ) that can be easily mis-construed as an indication that enlisted men are present.

Thus, this article will not only serve as a uniform reference, but a study of how said terminology was actually being applied in 23rd century Starfleet.

Creator's Vision

Before delving into the on-screen content of the show, we will lay a foundation of information from the Great Bird of the Galaxy himself.

Creator Gene Roddenberry both internally and publicly stated on multiple occasions that all Enterprise personnel were officers.

From " THE STAR TREK GUIDE " for writers and directors (3rd rev., 1967), Page 27:

Is the starship U.S.S. Enterprise a military vessel? Yes, but only semi-military in practice -- omitting features which are heavily authoritarian. For example, we are not aware of "officers" and "enlisted men" categories. And we avoid saluting and other annoying medieval leftovers. On the other hand, we do keep a flavor of Naval usage and terminology to help encourage believability and identification by the audience. After all, our own Navy today still retains remnants of tradition known to Nelson and Drake.

The earlier " WRITER-DIRECTOR INFORMATION " (revised August 30, 1966) contains the same Q&A, with only minor differences in phrasing.

" THE MAKING OF STAR TREK " (September, 1968), co-authored by Stephen E. Whitfield in consultation with Gene Roddenberry and published during Season 3, sheds further light upon the underlying logic on page 209:

The "enlisted men" category does not exist. Star Trek goes on the assumption that every man and woman aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise is the equivalent of a qualified astronaut, therefore an officer. Reference is occasionally made to "the crew," in which case it is a generalized statement meant to include everyone aboard the ship. A reference to "senior officers" would refer to a much smaller, specific group of the crew members.

The book continues with a direct quote from Gene (indicated by ALL CAPS), explaining a progressive mindset towards the use of ranks in the future. From this, we can glean a key reason why one ladder of linear progression was more desirable than a "two-class" system:

RANK, WHEN PROPERLY USED, CAN BE A PLEASANT WAY OF ACKNOWLEDGING SENIORITY—OF SHOWING RESPECT TO A MAN, NOT ONLY FOR HIS LENGTH OF TIME IN SERVICE, BUT ALSO THE REPUTATION ACHIEVED IN HIS FIELD OR SPECIAL ABILITY. I THINK MAN WILL ALWAYS WANT THIS TYPE OF THING. IN OUR OPTIMISTIC ERA, ON OUR STARSHIPS, WE ENJOY THE USE OF THESE COURTESIES. IF THE CREWMEN STAND WHEN OUR CAPTAIN ENTERS A ROOM, IT IS NOT BECAUSE THEY ARE BEING SUBSERVIENT. THEY ARE, IN EFFECT, SAYING, “HERE IS A MAN WHO HAS ACHIEVED GREAT THINGS, HAS BEEN AWARDED HIGH HONORS, AND HAS EARNED HIGH ACCLAIM.” WHAT A PLEASANT WAY TO SAY, WHEN HE COMES IN, “CONGRATULATIONS.” AND THIS IS, IN ESSENCE, WHAT IT AMOUNTS TO. AND YOU NEED NOT BE MILITARY TO DO IT. YOU AND I DO THIS WHEN OUR FATHERS ENTER THE ROOM, OR WHEN WE APPLAUD THE APPEARANCE OF AN ADMIRED STATESMAN.

Gene would internally re-emphasise the point as needed, such as in a memorandum in the Roddenberry Vault addressed to Gene Coon (cc: R. Justman) on August 15, 1966 regarding the first draft of “ Court Martial ” [1x14] :

ENLISTED MEN . There is a feeling of an officer-enlisted man arrangement in this script. Actually, we've avoided terminology or playing of "enlisted men" aboard our vessel. Every man aboard is a trained astronaut, even the cooks.

Mr Roddenberry's steadfastness on the topic was reiterated in discussing Captain Kirk on Page 3:

The script is also our first opportunity to see him off his vessel and yet in contact with his peers. At present, he wanders around like everyone else, very little feeling of his special status, the pomp and ceremony and color of his position. This is not to say we want to go back into the officer-enlisted man thing, but on the other hand the more we understand that a starship captain's position is rare and considerable, the more we understand the threat to Kirk's career and sympathize with our Captain.

N.B.- As we read here, the show was not only avoiding the playing of enlisted men aboard the vessel — but the terminology as well. This should be kept in mind throughout, as it indicates that nothing within the scripts was meant imply the existence of enlisted men in the first place.

Visual Identification (or Lack Thereof)

In addition to Gene's incontrovertible statements, no coherent case for the presence of enlisted men can be made from the visual content of TOS.

While Navy enlisted sailors (other than Chief Petty Officers) wear quite different uniforms from the officers, there is no analogous TOS design that can be identified as an "enlisted uniform".

The coveralls have sometimes been carelessly classified as such, but these are in fact generic Working Uniforms – devoid of any rank insignia – that various officers (including members of the main cast) change into and out of as needed: dating all the way back to Dr Boyce in “ The Cage ” [0x01] .

Furthermore, there is no insignia worn by any Enterprise crew member that conveys itself as being an enlisted badge — an absence juxtaposed against every single shipboard Officer Rank Insignia being distinctly defined.

Prior to the idea of an enlisted category being thrust into consciousness by later Star Trek productions, popular non-canon publications such as the " STAR FLEET TECHNICAL MANUAL " (1975) gave that 387 of 430 (90%) of the Enterprise crew were Ensign-grade.

Although this may be an over-estimate (given how frequently Lieutenant's stripes appear), the overall idea is in alignment with the uniforms that are seen on-screen.

The entire remaining case for an enlisted category must therefore be rooted in terminology and dialogue , which the next several sections will examine in-depth.

Ranks, Rates, and Ratings

Although absent in both concept and visual evidence, various lines of TOS dialogue may still give the contradictory impression of enlisted men being addressed.

For clarity, it is necessary to understand the differences between ranks , rates , and ratings , in 20th century Navy terms.

Technically, only officers have ranks (a commission from the head of state). Commissions certainly exist in Starfleet: Commander Spock refers to his own in both “ Amok Time ” [2x05] and “ Journey to Babel ” [2x15] .

In contrast, the insignia badges worn by Navy enlisted members are a combination of a rate and a rating , as explained on Navy.mil ( "The Official Website of the United States Navy" ):

The use of the word "rank" for Navy enlisted personnel is incorrect. The term is "rate." The rating badge is a combination of rate (pay grade, as indicated by the chevrons) and rating (occupational specialty, as indicated by the symbol just above the chevrons).

Rates (a.k.a. "enlisted ranks") are not present within the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise . Indeed, not one is actually mentioned in that context at any point in the series .

On the other hand, a rating is an occupation (such as Yeoman). These are certainly in use, as a broad range of skills and specialities would be present onboard a Starship. Unlike traditional navies, ratings are held by officers .

Put simply...

Starfleet officer ranks determine relative seniority between Enterprise crew members; however
Officers may also be rated , which means (just as it does for Navy enlisted men) that they possess a certain occupational speciality.

It makes sense that these specialities are most often used as titles for junior crew members, since senior officers would typically have broader supervisory responsibilities.

Also, it is common for Navy enlisted sailors to be referred to by their rating rather than their rate (emphasising occupation over rank). Doing the same with various junior officers on STAR TREK helped maintain the desired flavor of Naval usage — not to mention that in a large crew, mentioning "Yeoman Smith" may be more immediately informative than "Ensign Jones" or "Ensign Brown".

The next section shall corroborate this with numerous examples.

Canon Examples

Key terms spoken on TOS that frequently imply the existence of enlisted men (at least according to their present-day naval usage) include crew , crewman , Chief , Technician , Specialist , and Yeoman .

Each will be examined in detail – along with who it was applied to, what ranks they held, and/or what uniforms they wore – and shown to have an evolved Starfleet usage appropriate to the Enterprise crew being composed entirely of officers.

Crew can refer to enlisted men when used in the naval phrase "officers and crew" , which is never spoken in TOS. On its own it is a general term that can refer to the whole company belonging to a ship.

The latter is its clear meaning across repeated uses, including multiple statements mentioning a Starship's full complement of 430 men and women (which is sometimes ball-parked to 400, and once given as a strangely specific 428 in “ Charlie X ” [1x07] ).

The numerous on-screen references draw from the writer/director guides, which give that the vessel has a crew of 430 persons .

Crewman / Crewmen

The Navy regards the word crewman (pl. crewmen ) as being particularly for one who is not an officer — but that is not necessarily the case, and once again not the case at all on TOS.

In Starfleet, it is used in two manners that will be examined individually:

As a description , with a lowercase " c " (e.g.- a crewman or three crewmen" ); and
as a title , with an uppercase " C " (e.g.- Crewman, stand aside or Crewman Jackson is dead ).

1. Crewman as a Description

As a general description, crewman or crewmen (lowercase "c") may reference any member or group of members of a Starship's crew, regardless of rank or gender.

A partial list of examples spoken by Captain Kirk includes:

* While plural references to "crewmen" obviously include women serving aboard, the two highlighted examples of solo female officers being called "crewman" are of great interest on the subject of terminology.

Female Crewman, Captain Christopher, and Captain Kirk - Tomorrow is Yesterday

For completeness, it should be mentioned that actress Sherri Townsend , who played the aforementioned Ensign in “ Tomorrow is Yesterday ” [1x21] , appeared on the end credits as CREW WOMAN .

That term was only spoken once in dialogue, in “ The Squire of Gothos ” [1x18] :

TRELANE: Oh? KIRK: Yes. I want you to leave my crewmen alone. I want you to leave my crew women alone too.

However, its context in that situation was Captain Kirk pointedly challenging Squire Trelane on his behaviour towards Ensign Teresa Ross and Lieutenant Uhura.

Thus, while "crew woman" is a valid descriptor in casual English speech today (and logically remains so in the future), we learn that crewman is the standard non-gender-specific Starfleet term applied individually to both men and women serving aboard a 23rd century Starship.

This is further cemented by " THE STAR TREK GUIDE " for writers and directors (3rd rev., 1967), which twice describes the Captain's Yeoman as a female crewman .

2. Crewman as a Title

In totality, seven characters in four episodes are addressed or titled as Crewman (uppercase "C").

Those are perhaps the most likely to be misconstrued as enlisted men, especially given its passing similarity to Seaman (a Navy junior enlisted rate).

Two of the seven wear blue Working Uniform coveralls: generic "stock" costumes that never have insignia, and are thus rank-indeterminate. The first is addressed by Spock ( Crewman, report to the lab! ) in “ The Man Trap ” [1x05] , and the second by Uhura ( Crewman, do I know you? ) in “ The Naked Time ” [1x06] .

The remaining five are officers in standard Service Uniforms, as follows:

It is therefore conclusive that Crewman is not an enlisted rate!

Rather, it is a title that may be used in place of rank to formally address a shipboard subordinate or peer.

Further, Crewman may be used with or without a surname, akin to "Mister/Miss" (and is comparatively more generic, being applicable to both genders).

We can also conjecture that it might only be considered appropriate towards junior officers: Crewman Jackson (a Lieutenant) holds the highest rank we hear titled as such, and it would sound odd indeed if Captain Kirk were to address Spock, McCoy, or Scotty in the same manner.

However – from a behind-the-scenes perspective – some of this delineation arises naturally from the fact that Crewman was a generic "catch-all" title for adding additional junior officer characters to a script.

Usage of Chief demands careful examination, as some claim that it refers to Chief Petty Officer (a Navy senior enlisted rate).

However, its application onboard the Enterprise was only in the context of positions held by officers:

The first two identified in “ Tomorrow is Yesterday ” [1x21] and “ The City on the Edge of Forever ” [1x28] belonged to the Services Division and wore generic red Working Uniform coveralls.

However, in “ That Which Survives ” [3x14] the Transporter Chief was wearing an Ensign's red Services shirt, and we learn that the title is interchangeable with Transporter Officer (as used in the writer/director guides):

UHURA: One casualty, Mister Spock. The transporter officer, he's dead. ... SPOCK: Was the cause of his death the same as that which killed the transporter officer? ... KIRK: That's a good question. She touched the transporter chief. He collapsed immediately.

Presumably there are more "chiefs", as Kirk broadly ordered Section chiefs, assign personnel to the search over the intercom in “ The Enemy Within ” [1x04] .

Eliminating the above examples – in which the word "chief" is part of a title that designates an officer supervising an area, regardless of his rank – only two occasions remain on which a crew member was addressed simply as Chief : both in “ Charlie X ” [1x07] .

The first was the officer who received the order all right, Chief, begin materialisation from Kirk; he was clearly manning the position of Transporter Chief, and furthermore wearing an Ensign's red Services shirt.

The second was the chef in the ship's galley, to whom Kirk began to reply on the intercom Chief, have you been— .

If we presume this was the same man who was earlier told in the corridor On Earth today, it's Thanksgiving. If the crew has to eat synthetic meat loaf, I want it to look like turkey. , then he was also wearing an officer's standard Services Division uniform (rank unseen), with some futuristic "chef's jacket" type garment overtop.

Humorously, this final example is a direct reflection of Gene's statement that every man aboard is a trained astronaut, even the cooks !

Technician is a term that readily indicates a rating of some sort — but as already mentioned, ratings are occupational specialities held by officers onboard the Enterprise .

Similar to "Crewman", this title was a generic (albeit slightly-more specialised) way of adding a junior officer to a script: focusing more on the purpose the character was to serve than the specifics of his or her rank.

In fact, " THE STAR TREK GUIDE " for writers and directors (3rd rev., 1967) lumps together various Technician Crewmen and other ship's officers in describing the bridge on Page 15!

Only five officers in three episodes are specifically referred to as technicians:

Geological Technician Fisher - The Menagerie, Part II

Geological Technician Fisher (Sciences Division) and Transporter Technician Wilson (Services Division) wear generic Working Uniform coveralls.

However, footage from “ The Cage ” [0x01] (as shown) reveals that Fisher was already a commissioned officer under Captain Pike!

Leslie, Spinelli, and Harrison - Space Seed

Prior to losing consciousness, Captain Kirk records Commendations recommended for Lieutenant Uhura, Technicians First Class Thule and Harrison, Lieutenant Spinelli and, of course, Mister Spock.

Harrison (a recurring character) is the Ensign at Environmental. While there is some debate about the identity of Thule, knowing that Lt Spinelli is at the Helm and Mr Leslie is at Engineering means that he must be either the Lieutenant (Command Division) at Navigation, or the Lieutenant (Sciences Division) near the turbo-elevator.

Karen Tracy – a Lieutenant – is twice referred to by Captain Kirk as a technician with a psycho-tricorder .

This outright eliminates any argument that "technician" is an indicator of enlisted status!

Specialist is another term that indicates a rating; it is somewhat rarer than Technician .

Mr Spock uses it as a self-descriptor (perhaps in the general sense) in “ The Immunity Syndrome ” [2x19] :

SPOCK: Which makes you indispensable, Captain. Further, you are not a science specialist.

Beyond this, it is applied specifically to only two officers in as many episodes:

SCOTT [OC]: Yes, sir. But Specialist Tomlinson is manning it alone. No standby crew available.

KIRK: With us is specialist Lieutenant Mira Romaine.

Being Lieutenants , both provide potent examples of officers holding ratings in TOS — perhaps Miss Romaine even more-so, being specifically introduced as a rated Lieutenant !

Yeoman is a Navy rating that continued onwards into 23rd century Starfleet.

Wikipedia's List of United States Navy ratings states that Yeomen perform administrative and clerical work , while STAR TREK writer/director guides describe the Captain's Yeoman serving as his combination Executive Secretary-Valet-Military Aide .

This term applies to officers of both sexes: although starting in the 2250s and continuing throughout the 2260s, the job became so dominated by women that all Yeomen appearing on TOS happened to be female! (In reality, after the departure of Grace Lee Whitney from the regular cast, this was no doubt to continue balancing out a crew that the writer's guide intended to be approximately one-third female.)

In total, of the 14 women that can be confirmed as Yeomen via dialogue or credits, all wore officer's uniforms.

Excluding the 2 pilot episodes and their unique uniform design, 11 of the remaining 12 wore an Ensign's red Services tunic (we will forego displaying a complete gallery, for brevity).

The final example is Tina Lawton, who wore an Ensign's blue Sciences tunic, shown here with Yeoman Janice Rand and Charles Evans in “ Charlie X ” [1x07] .

Tina Lawton, Janice Rand, and Charles Evans - Charlie X

Although the overwhelming majority of Yeomen seen on-screen were serving as the captain's, Rand introduces Lawton to Charlie as someone who is younger than herself, and a Yeoman Third Class .

Miss Lawton confirms the reasonable assumption that other shipboard department heads would have had a Yeoman as well — and more importantly for this article, that the rating is separate from the rank. Rand is clearly senior in job experience (and would presumably be a Yeoman First Class in order to be serving the captain), but both women wear an Ensign's uniform.

Mirror Universe

It is extremely telling that only one episode in the entirety of TOS makes a point of distinguishing between officers and enlisted men, and it occurs onboard the I.S.S. Enterprise in “ Mirror, Mirror ” [2x10] :

MAN: Mister Chekov was going to make me a chief. You could make me an officer. KIRK: All right. You're working for me. MAN: A commission? KIRK: You're in line. You might even make captain. MAN: Yes, sir. (Kirk punches him.) KIRK: Not on my ship.

Notably, the Terran Empire's Starfleet seems to relegate coverall uniforms to the enlisted ranks, who were regularly employed as bodyguards for officers: a budget-conscious way of using existing costume stock to further exhibit the sort of "two-class system" that Gene did away with on our own Enterprise .

Perhaps this contributed to Working Uniform coveralls often being mistakenly labelled as "enlisted uniforms", which (as previously explained) is not true in the Prime Universe.

Pilot Episodes

The pilot episodes typically receive separate analysis, especially since the un-aired 1st pilot (as re-cut into “ The Menagerie, Part I ” [1x15] & “ The Menagerie, Part II ” [1x16] ) was shot a year and a half prior to starting filming Season 1. It featured a different Enterprise crew in an earlier decade, and the uniforms were completely re-designed for TOS-proper.

However, for those who insist upon fully incorporating “ The Cage ” [0x01] into the present discussion (or argument), it may provide fuel by expanding upon the definition of what a Starfleet "officer" can be.

We are of course referring to the presence of CPO Garison (the Bridge Chief Petty Officer ): a non-commissioned officer (NCO) who wore a distinctive stripe of "ladder braid" on his Services shirt.

This is often put forward as "the elephant in the room" where an enlisted category is concerned, but does not actually provide a basis for any such argument.

In the quotes already given, Gene Roddenberry's main point was to emphasise that there is no separate category of "enlisted men" aboard; he never got so technical as to say that every crew member was commissioned (although that does appear to be the case under Captain Kirk).

What we have under Captain Pike is a minimalist system of rank insignia where NCOs wear ladder braid, junior commissioned officers have no braid, and senior commissioned officers wear a stripe of gold braid (increased to 2 stripes for Captain Kirk in the 2nd pilot), explored in greater detail in Pilot Uniforms - Insignia .

This aligns with U.S. Navy design of the mid-20th century (with which Gene Roddenberry and costume designer William Ware Theiss, as veterans themselves, would have been familiar). From a uniform standpoint, Chief Petty Officer was categorised separately from Enlisted Man below CPO : he was afforded essentially the same design as commissioned officers, with more ornate sleeve insignia than the junior officer ranks (who were technically superiors).

U.S. Navy Officer, CPO, Enlisted Man - 1959, 1964

The presence of a Chief Petty Officer explored the idea of placing a non-commissioned rank into the unified ladder of "officers". Gene Roddenberry and Bill Theiss would later revisit the same idea for TNG in 1987, defining a single black pip ("half-pip") as Chief Warrant Officer, beneath Ensign.

For TOS, the idea seems to have been shelved: there is no evidence of any NCOs serving under Captain Kirk. This is easily accepted, as we know Captain Pike's crew was structured rather differently in the 2250s, being a complement of only 203 rather than 430. (Captain Pike also had Midshipmen on his bridge, for example, while there is no indication that any cadets served in Captain Kirk's crew, either.)

A final word here about continuity, as bona fide enlisted men were written into multiple Star Trek productions set before and after TOS, and this may pose some questions for those attempting to reconcile the overall chronology.

Although this article concerns itself only with what was true at the time that The Original Series was being made – and not what subsequently "became true" in later Trek – one might still question how an organisation the size of Starfleet, even in the time of Captain Kirk, could have feasibly operated with a membership that limited itself to officer ranks.

The question is irrelevant, because that is not the claim being made . Everything put forward here is specifically in relation to the U.S.S. Enterprise , as a unit, during the latter half of the 2260s.

From a writer's perspective, the Enterprise is the setting of TOS: intended to be a metaphor for a future Earth, with everyone working together in mutual cooperation. That speaks further to why Gene did not wish to have a "two-class system" onboard.

In-universe, 430 crew members may initially seem like a lot — but consider that man had proliferated well beyond the Earth, and only 12 Starship class vessels like the Enterprise were in service. These heralded a new era for Starfleet, and not all of them were offered to human crews (for example, the Intrepid , lost in “ The Immunity Syndrome ” [2x19] , was manned by Vulcans ).

Assignment as a Starship crew member would be an honour reserved for the "best of the best", and it was entirely reasonable at this juncture for Command to insist upon every one of them being a fully trained & qualified officer.

Outside the Enterprise , we find a great deal of room for speculation on the organisation of Starfleet and the greater Federation. Here the series ultimately leaves more to the imagination than it answers, and this article makes no overreaching claims about where or how an enlisted category factors into the larger picture.

Those who adhere to the "enlisted men" narrative still attack this explanation with somewhat-humorous implausibility arguments (e.g.- "oh sure, so you're going to have commissioned officers cleaning the toilets"), but these are based upon 20th-century expectations of necessary labour versus available technology.

Additional quotes from Gene Roddenberry in " THE MAKING OF STAR TREK " (September, 1968) indicate that a much higher level of automation was being conceived of, such as the following on page 188:

AN AUTOMATED STARSHIP LIKE OURS COULD PROBABLY BE OPERATED BY TEN PEOPLE IF NECESSARY, BUT IT WOULD BE A TERRIBLY LIMITED, UNHEALTHY, MISERABLE LIFE.

And another, from page 206:

ONE OF THE REASONS FOR HAVING THIS MANY CREWMEN ON BOARD WAS TO KEEP MAN ESSENTIALLY THE SAME AS HE IS NOW. I BELIEVE THAT MAN IS AND ALWAYS WILL BE A "SOCIAL ANIMAL." ... IT IS GOOD TO HAVE PEOPLE ABOARD AND AVAILABLE TO LEND THEIR CREATIVE TOUCH WHEN AUTOMATED MACHINERY GOES WRONG. BUT THIS WASN'T THE PRIMARY REASON, SINCE WE MIGHT EASILY HYPOTHESIZE THAT BY THIS FUTURE CENTURY EQUIPMENT WOULD HAVE THE ABILITY TO REPAIR ITS OWN DAMAGE, OR BYPASS DAMAGED PARTS AND LET AUXILIARY PARTS TAKE OVER THE JOB.

Perhaps in some respects, this was a level of sophistication that special effects of the 1960s couldn't always fully convey — but the idea was clearly that skilled technicians could perform high-level repairs on numerous automated systems, which would in turn handle lower-level maintenance tasks. (An idealised, futuristic version of the concept that you never need to vacuum if you know how to fix your Roomba!)

In conclusion, the absence of enlisted men from the Enterprise during Captain Kirk's 5-year mission is not only demonstrable and entirely plausible, but does not require any sort of profound reconciliation of continuity with other Trek.

As such, the author would be more than pleased if this article simply served as encouragement for other publications – especially those that claim to be based exclusively upon canon – to cease categorising TOS crewmen, or their uniforms, as "enlisted"!

Acknowledgements

Dialogue quotations from Chrissie's Transcripts Site .
Star Trek: TOS screencaps from TrekCore .
Documents from the Roddenberry Vault .

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A Close-Up Look At ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Uniforms [INFOGRAPHIC]

| June 22, 2017 | By: Aaron Harvey 189 comments so far

Ever since the Star Trek: Discovery trailer came out last month, fans have been talking about the costumes and yesterdays release of the first picture of Captain Gabriel Lorca (Jason Isaacs) gave us the clearest picture yet of the Starfleet uniforms.

For the past few weeks this has been me: “Zoom in…is that a seam, or is that just a digital artifact?” “See that person coming down the hall on the left…what are they holding?” “Ok back, and to the left…what’s on her boot?” I feel a bit like I have been on a CSI case, teasing out details from the smallest of clues, interviewing suspects who just aren’t talking. These new “Beastly Blues” are tricky! Hey, the original series movies had the “ Monster Maroons ” we need a catchy name too.

Starfleet officers in uniform from Star Trek: Discovery

These new uniforms appear to be the most intricate of any seen before in the franchise, either on TV or film; providing a particular challenge to cosplayers seeking to craft their own. Showrunner Aaron Harberts recently cited them as one of the reasons the show has been delayed; they flew a costume designer to Switzerland to get the fabric, and some of the detailing had to be custom-made using 3D printers.

Like any uniform, these 23 rd century Starfleet issues are designed to be both functional, and to convey information about the officer wearing them. We’ve taken a close look and created a detailed infographic for you. We also take a look piece-by-piece at each component with some zoomed in screenshots below. Let’s start with the infographic…

INFOGRAPHIC: The Star Trek: Discovery Starfleet Uniform

(Click for an even higher-resolution, downloadable version.)

Note that the above graphic is based on observations from what has been released as of now. As more images and information is released we will update the graphic and repost it.

The new Starfleet Uniform – a closer look

The jackets.

They key component of the new uniform is the jacket. All the uniforms (jacket and trousers) appear to come in the same basic blue. The zipper (which is slightly offset from center), shoulder braids (which seem decorative and don’t indicate rank), and a raised delta shield pattern on the sides all have the accent which indicates department: gold for command, silver for science, and bronze for operations. The captain also gets an additional striped shoulder pattern. One note is that the braid, as seen so far in the handful of examples from the trailer, has four stripes for women and five for men. This seems to be a function of the size of the uniform, not something indicating rank, division, or gender.

Shoulder braids and delta pattern in bronze, gold and silver indicate division with captains (center) getting special shoulder patch

Trousers and Boots

The delta pattern is continued on the trousers, which also include a zipper and stripes, again indicating division. This division detail continues even down to the boots, as not only do they have a color-coded stripe around the sole, there also appear to be two delta shield clasps as well. These are hard to see in the trailer, but can be made out with closer observation of the trailer.

Division color-coding even applies to boot trim

Star Trek: Discovery also brings us delta shield badges which are new but still familiar as they use the same division symbols seen on the original Star Trek (set 10 years later). The badges are also color-coded to these same divisions, but they are doing double duty. They also function as rank insignia, although you will have to be pretty close to make it out. They are using a ‘pip’ system similar to that from Star Trek: Enterprise (set in the 22 nd century) but actually more akin to Star Trek: The Next Generation ‘s 24th century-era.

Starfleet insignia badges show both division and rank

One quick note on the ranks: If we assume TNG system of rank pips then the trailer images indicate that Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) is a Commander and Saru (Doug Jones) is a Lt. Commander, however earlier reporting had them as Lt. Cmdr. and Lieutenant respectively. So either the Discovery pip system is different or their ranks on the show are different than originally reported, or possibly their ranks change during the show.

Variants and Other Starfleet Outfits

In addition to the main uniform, we have also seen some other bits of Starfleet kit. One of the more interesting ones appears to be some kind of variant. You only get a couple of glimpses of it from behind in the trailer, but it appears to be a short-sleeved version of the standard uniform with a sort of cummerbund wrap which is (of course) color-coded. There are only a couple of examples and both were female crew members so it is possible this variant is only for women. One of the images was from the back of the bridge, so it does still appear to be something worn on duty. Unfortunately we haven not seen the front of it so we can only speculate, but presumably it is a shirt with a badge or possibly the badge is on the cummerbund, like Kirk’s green wrap tunic . It may even be that this short-sleeved shirt is what is worn under the standard jacket.

Star Trek: Discovery Starfleet uniform variant in silver and bronze

An even more obscure detail was spotted for just a few milliseconds in a scene in the corridor of the U.S.S. Shenzhou . As we follow one officer (in the above mentioned variant) down the hall, a brief flash of another crew person putting on some kind of white jacket can be spotted. This white jacket could be casual wear, but a good guess might be that it’s a medical smock.

Blink and you miss it glimpse at a white smock

One thing we get a really good look at is a new spacesuit, worn by Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green), as she takes a spacewalk in the trailer. And just like the uniforms, this is the most elaborate Starfleet spacesuit seen in Trek.

Michael Burnham in Starfleet space suit

The trailer and officially released images also give us a look at some desert wear. These do not appear to be standard Starfleet desert uniforms as there are no indications of rank or division, unlike the desert uniforms seen on Star Trek: Enterprise and similar uniforms on Deep Space Nine. However, they may still be Starfleet-issue and made to blend in with the locals on a visit to an alien world. The utility belt also seems to be similar to those from the original Star Trek’s “The Cage .”

Captain Philippa Georgiou and Michael Burnham in desert clothes

Like in “The Cage”, Discovery has field jackets, but with a bit more of a tactical bent. The braiding along the sides of the pant and shirt are black, the collar is lower and a uniform hight and it zips to the top, and the chest, back and shoulders have extra protection in the form of a vest. Where the division badge would be looks to be a standard Starfleet Command insignia, like on the space suit. There is also another (different) utility belt for holding a sidearm on the leg and (presumably) a communicator in the pouch at the waist.

Starfleet tactical uniform

Changes made since first look

It also appears that there have been changes made to the uniforms since the behind-the-scenes teaser trailer was released in January . The badges appear to have been widened. The cut of the jacket seems to have changed as well. Plus, a color-coded zipper is now more prominent. .

The uniforms have already changed since this earlier version was shown in January

“Happy Transporter Accident”

The new standard uniforms for Star Trek: Discovery are unique, and clearly different from the standard duty uniforms worn on the U.S.S. Enterprise either under Captain Kirk or Captain Pike, but that does not mean they are entirely new. Last summer, Discovery co-creator and former showrunner Bryan Fuller described the uniforms thusly:

“I think that when you see it [the uniform] I can tell you specifically what the influences are, and that the styles that [they adopted] a transporter accident in their approach. A happy transporter accident. I think when you see the design, you’ll say “It’s a little bit of this, it’s a little bit of that.”

When you look closely you do see various influences, particularly the 22 nd century Starfleet jumpsuits seen on Star Trek: Enterprise . While the new uniforms are two pieces, you can still see the influence of the blue and the zippered pockets from Enterprise . And another major influence may be the excursion jackets from the original Star Trek episode “The Cage,” which is set at the same time as Star Trek: Discovery .

As noted before, the insignia design and sizing are pretty much straight out of the original Star Trek , although styled more as badges than sewn on. The rank pips on the badges seem to be replicated from Star Trek: The Next Generation .

The new Discovery badges appear to be a mashup of TOS design with TNG rank system

As for the color-coding system of gold, silver and bronze, this may be another element that pulls from “The Cage” style. With gold again for command, science blue becoming silver, and the operations tan becoming bronze.

Classic division colors may have influenced the silver, gold and bronze for Discovery

The uniforms may also share more influences from beyond Star Trek, including NASA. The shoulder braids seem particularly reminiscent of a classic sci-fi look from the 1950s, also used extensively in Futurama .

More influences for the new Discovery uniforms?

Keep up with all the Star Trek: Discovery news at TrekMovie .

What do you think of the new uniforms?

So what do you think of Starfleet’s latest outfits? Sound off in our comments section below.

Aaron Harvey is a graphic designer and hosts an excellent podcast dedicated to Star Trek: TAS (and Trek in the 70s) for Trek.fm called Saturday Morning Trek .

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What do I think? I think I really, really want one! Love this design :)

I want one too! Can you say Halloween goals! I just love the uniforms. They are just awesome.

Really? They look so tacky.

Very pro this uniform. Clear attention to detail. Looks smart. I don’t care if it doesn’t particularly fit the time line precisely, the cage was made with almost no money. I can’t wait to see them in action!

The Cage had a huge budget. The uniforms looked the way they did because that’s how they thought the future looked to people in the 60s.

Thanks for the detailed analysis of the new uniforms; that’s very interesting!

I like the way the new uniforms look; they’re really quite spiffy. Fond as I am of the TOS uniforms, these uniforms provide a nicely updated look.

The only problem I have with them is that rank isn’t visible unless you’re practically on top of the person. Kirk could look at a crew member beaming aboard for the first time and call them “Lieutenant” from ten feet away, since from that distance, he could see they had one stripe around their sleeve. Captain Lorca will have to practically kiss new crew members in order to see their rank. :-)

Of course, I’m sure any captain would review the personnel files of new crew members before they even beamed aboard; that was just an example. :-)

That’s why PineKirk kept trying to kiss Nuhura… because he couldn’t find her rank.

Yeah I agree, and it looks like the badges did get bigger between time of the teaser trailer and now so I am sure we aren’t the only ones to point that out!

I agree with you Corylea. The rank system appears to be one of those “Hey wouldn’t it be a neat idea if…” moments, which no one thought through the practical implications of. I’m a bit of a Miliary geek so its really annoying. Also the division colours seem a bit “gaudy” for standard day uniform, and they run risk of implying that Ops/Bronze is less important/third place to, the other divisions.

Ha! I knew that little pip was going to be the rank insignia!

What else would it be?

When that first pic was released in the trailer, there was a lot of discussion that it was possibly a reflection, or an indentation, a lot of people didn’t know what it was. I had a discussion elsewhere with some folks where I posited it could be the rank pips, and for whatever reason most of them thought that was preposterous.

No jumpsuits! YAY!!!!

“Cadet”? Try enlisted.

Mary Wiseman is playing Cadet Tilly, she is specifically NOT Enlisted.

Cadet is a rank which Starfleet Academy uses to denote students in training to become Starfleet officers. In the 2250 cadets had a small starburst crest so it stands to reason cadets will have a different badge system, especially given the main uniform is put together.

Enlisted personnel may be promoted to receive a commission, but must pass necessary examinations and/or attend the Academy. So they may have just a blank badge, but we don’t know yet.

Cadet is simply a Starfleet officer who hasn’t graduated the Academy. Saavik was still a cadet, but held the rank of Lieutenant.

This is the kind of geeking out that Trek fans love–and, honestly, this deep dive article has only gotten me more excited for Discovery!

I’m right there with you buddy!

I’m totally geeking out!

“geeking out”? This one doesn’t.

I’ll do the geeking for me and for you then.

Same here, I’ll pony up for the stupid streaming service (but only after all the episodes are up, not because I’m that cheap so much but that I know when I get rolling on this, it’s binge-watch time and I hate being frustrated!)

Meh. They’re ok. Much more stylish than functional. Then again, Trek uniforms have never seemed particularly functional on the whole. I like the excursion jackets, and I really, really dig the boots. They remind me of Leela’s from Futurama. The EVA suit screams Buzz Lightyear. ;)

Enterprise uniforms were completely functional, and the most ‘realistic’ of the bunch. TOS movie (while good looking), and TNG uniforms were the least functional of the bunch. Both looked more like a dress uniform, not a duty uniform.

One of the things I like about the JJ-Verse uniforms is that they have uniforms specific to what they’re doing. Not a one-size-fits-all that doesn’t really fit for anything.

@NX — not sure I understand what you’re saying here — DISC evidently has custom uniforms for various purposes. There’s a duty uniform for ship wear, desert uniforms, away mission uniforms, and probably many more … Not sure what else you want. Also The Kelvin uniforms were way too baggy — at least TOS were fitted and snug. And they BEYOND uniforms seemed way too formal. Aside from the metal decoration, in many ways they seemed more stuffy than the DISC. So not really following your complaint here …

Sounded more like an observation than a complaint to me, but hey, I’m not a telepath!

The uniforms are growing on me. I really like the gold, silver, bronze parts. Getting more excited for September!

Looks like they’ll be expensive for accurate cosplay, especially with the boots. Don’t mind the look, though.

Maybe you should stop using stupid make up terms like “cosplay”. I assume you’re an adult.

Wouldn’t every word be “made up” at some point? Cosplay is certainly a word now. In fact, it didn’t even get flagged by spell check. Grow up.

No explanation as to why they are using 1701 specific insignia back when every other ship had their own. Oh well, must be another one of those JJverse changes. And, yes, still not buying that this is a prime universe setting.

The different insignia is a combination of costuming errors in Season 2 of TOS (Bill Theiss went and did whatever he wanted) and then a “fanon” explanation to try to deal with it. The intent was that all starships use the delta, other areas of service had their own badge, so only people serving on starships got the delta, folks doing cargo duty had a different patch and so forth. You can see the delta used in The Cage for non-Enterprise personel, and then later in Season 3 as well. You can find Justman’s memo from late 1967 floating around explaining it. So, there’s nothing wrong with using the delta for a starship crew.

Well, Decker commanded a starship in TOS and his uniform had a unique symbol – no Delta… can you elaborate on that memo’s explanation? Thanks! P.S. I still really like these uniforms, though…

See Aaron’s full copy and paste of the memo in the comment below our little chain here.

Doomsday Machine is part of TOS season 2, which as I mentioned is when the error crept in.

Justman’s memo comes from late ’67 when they were filming The Omega Glory, and he noticed they gave Capt. Tracy a unique insignia, which shouldn’t have happened. Justman either missed Decker’s insignia difference, or it may have been okay by him since he was a Commodore, no one is sure what happened there.

And then ENT went and created a custom insignia for the Defiant, which is now canon as well.

Yeah sadly they did that based on the incorrect “fanon” idea :-/ and until the HD remaster of TOS in 2006 (after the production of ENT ceased), you couldn’t really make out what insignia they had on, they had standard deltas, most dead guys on the Defiant are slumped away from the camera so you can barely see the insignia, making it super tough to tell.

These two shots are pretty darn clear in HD now:

http://tos.trekcore.com/hd/albums/3x09hd/thetholianwebhd0228.jpg

http://tos.trekcore.com/hd/albums/3x09hd/thetholianwebhd0270.jpg

I just took screenshots of the same thing :-)

@Matt — ha, I never saw that. I always assumed they put the dead guys face down specifically to avoid having to go to the expense of creating a new assignment patch, since it had already been established practice during the second season (never realizing that there was a memo indicating that practice was a mistake).

@Matt Wright – “These two shots are pretty darn clear in HD now:”

Yeah, those nice HD restorations is how this new insignia was discovered in “The Cage”. I’d love to know what the thought was of putting two apparent security guards in sciences blue, with their own custom insignia. Using blue for security continued into “WNMHGB” too, complete with the sciences insignia, evidently swapped for operations. It’s hard to hinge canon permanently on mistakes made in production, or inferred by fans to retcon it …

It’s hard to hinge canon permanently on mistakes made in production, or inferred by fans to retcon it.

Exactly, people need to give the show some slack. TOS wasn’t perfect by any means, there are production mistakes, issues, etc. throughout every show. TOS of course was invented as it went, Season 1 had a lot of world building to do, Starfleet wasn’t even a term for the first few episodes, and so forth.

On that 4th division, I have to admit, I didn’t even know there was one in Cage/WNHGB. Until the HD remasters I’m sure people just thought that was the engineering/operations division symbol since it’s somewhat similar.

Let me acquaint you with a memo from Bob Justman circa Dec 1967:-)

TO: Bill Theiss

FROM: Bob Justman

SUBJECT: STARSHIP EMBLEMS

TO: Bill Theiss FROM: Bob Justman SUBJECT: STARSHIP EMBLEMS DATE: December 18, 1967

Whilst sitting in Dailies today, it was noticed that a Starship Captain (from another Starship) was wearing an emblem unfamiliar to yours truly. I have checked the occurrences out with Mr. Roddenberry, who has reassured me that all Starship personnel wear the Starship emblem that we have established for our Enterprise Crew Members to wear.

Doubtless this situation has arisen due to the fact that a different Starship emblem was used last season on “CHARLIE X”. However, the personnel of that other ship in that show were the equivalent of merchant marine or freighter personnel — and therefore not entitled to bear this proud insignia on their individual and collective breasts.

Please do not do anything to correct this understandable mistake in the present episode. However, should we have Starfleet personnel in any other episodes, please make certain that they were the proper emblem.

Under penalty of death!

Signed this 18th day of December, in the year of our Lord, 1967, by

ROBERT H. JUSTMAN Chief Inquisitor

CC: Gene Roddenberry John M. Lucas D.C. Fontana Gregg Peters

RHJ:sts P.S. A carven “I’m sorry!” will be sufficient. R.H.J.

Under penalty of death — maybe this is the true language of General Order 4…or was it 7…

God I love Justman’s memos. They made “The Making of Star Trek” so much fun.

Thanks for posting that! I’ve seen the “different starships had different insignia” thing stated as fact in several places; it’s nice to have Mr. Justman set the record straight.

“No explanation as to why they are using 1701 specific insignia back when every other ship had their own. Oh well, must be another one of those JJverse changes. And, yes, still not buying that this is a prime universe setting.”

OMG, get OVER it. And how are you not ‘buying’ its not in the prime universe. Do you think CBS is lying about it? They aren’t the U.S. President.

No kidding.

TOS was filmed in the 60’s. Are we to expect every error, every cheap set, every decision made from the 60’s perspective to be adhered to? Come on…

bassmaster22 TOTALLY agree and it really a shame.

While I think they should have gone with sleeve ranks like in TOS rather than TNGs pips system, I think these uniforms are neat and tidy and reflect the quasi-military well that Starfleet is and aspires to be. Awesome article, thanks much!

Horrible and horrendous.

I think they’re hideous. The color is atrocious. Off center zippers are passe. And the entire thing doesn’t fit the timeline at all. Plus why the hell are they still using that stupid delta-shield pattern. UGH.

In Lirk’s time (10 year after Discovery), each ship had its own unique symbol, with Enterprise using the Delta Shield. If this show is a decade earlier, why does Discovery have a Delta shield? It should be different & unique to that ship. The Felta didn’t get adopted by Starfleet until after Kirk’s historic 5 year mission (or longer, until we reach the Motion Picture). If Discovery is in the Prime Timeline, this insignia use goes against known history and was the easy way to go (giving fans something familiar on the uniform). I wonder if they will ever address this during the run of the show, or if they will simply ignore established Prime Timeline history… Thoughts?

Captain Lirk is my favorite.

TO: Bill Theiss FROM: Bob Justman SUBJECT: STARSHIP EMBLEMS DATE: December 18, 1967 Whilst sitting in Dailies today, it was noticed that a Starship Captain (from another Starship) was wearing an emblem unfamiliar to yours truly. I have checked the occurences out with Mr. Roddenberry, who has reassured me that all Starship personnel wear the Starship emblem that we have established for our Enterprise Crew Members to wear. Doubtless this situation has arisen due to the fact that a different Starship emblem was used last season on “CHARLIE X”. However, the personnel of that other ship in that show were the equivalent of merchant marine or freighter personnel — and therefore not entitled to bear this proud insignia on their individual and collective breasts. Please do not do anything to correct this understandable mistake in the present episode. However, should we have Starfleet personnel in any other episodes, please make certain that they were the proper emblem. Under penalty of death! Signed this 18th day of December, in the year of our Lord, 1967, by ROBERT H. JUSTMAN Chief Inquisitor CC: Gene Roddenberry John M. Lucas D.C. Fontana Gregg Peters RHJ:sts P.S. A carven “I’m sorry!” will be sufficient. R.H.J.

Trek fans not knowing the truth and complaining about it.

Actually, real world explanation aside, you don’t know this. We only ever saw other starship assignment badges over 10 years after DISC is set. So anything else could have been the norm at that time. I recall reading one explanation about the assignment patches that suggested as more Constiution Class ships were launched, assignment patches were developed unique to each one, but eventually after the newness and pride of launching these powerful ships faded, and so many were lost, that the unique badges were retired, and the system was dropped in favor of a return to the delta shield uniformity that predates the Constitution badge departure.

That doesn’t bother me, since the delta is a bit different from the Enterprise one, and there’s at least one instance of a ship emblem being a variation on that logo. You can see it at https://goo.gl/images/PrSq3Q What does bother me is the change in the division colours and the overly complicated uniforms. Starfleet uniforms have generally been simple and functional, and these are way too dressy and decorative to fit with the design concepts to which Starfleet clearly subscribed during this period. I can forgive the colours because of The Cage, but the style is way too complex and overtly militaristic.

I do think the new uniforms are cool, pretty and unique. If it was just a general Sci-Fi space outfit, looks good. I love the dark blue with the metal highlights. However, as Starfleet? No, sorry. Doesn’t make sense to change to metals instead of blue/gold/red as it’s always been pretty much. The pips on the delta shield just don’t make sense to me. Why are we using the Delta shield anyway? I guess they just want to make it look cool but not strictly adhering to cannon.

Kudos, Mr. Harvey. Great work! I have to say that I found it especially thrilling that you pointed out the possible correlation between the new metallic colour scheme and the Cage-era colour scheme, since I have commented on that just yesterday. Now, to be fair, the division colours of the Cage-style uniforms are actually rather elusive, since the set lighting had a such a great effect on them. The colours seem to vary from shot to shot and sometimes it can be hard to tell whether Scotty and, say, Yeoman Colt are actually wearing the same colour, since it appears to oscillate between salmon, khaki, pale ochre and pale copper depending on the shot. Also, from what I’ve gathered, the “gold” uniforms, as worn by Pike or Spock were actually lime – which is also why they look a lot closer to that colour in the remastered version of the episode.

I LOVE the INFOGRAPHIC, and I LOVE the new uniforms! Glad the 1950s Sc-Fi aesthetics is being noticed more and more. This new uniform is just marvellous and unashamedly ‘Space-Age’.

I know the view is obscured by the holsters, but I’m liking how the phasers look.

Agreed! I’m not offended by the tweaks they’ve made to the look , but it’s great that the phasers seem to be close to the TOS ones (Which admittedly are one of the only things that still look cool by modern standards, in my opinion.)

1st I’m going to drop 25 pounds, then I’m going to buy these threads when I have no doubt Annovos will begin taking orders for them.

The ONLY part I would change is black pants. You gotta have black pants on Trek. ;)

I made a similar version to this graphic when the trailer came out, I like this uniform very much, except for the fact that the rank is nearly invisible.

http://rekkert.deviantart.com/art/Star-Trek-Discovery-Starfleet-Uniforms-681371238

Having seen this outfit a lot while doing that image, I’m fairly certain that the jumpsuit variant is in fact what everyone is wearing beneath the jacket. We’ll find out before September I’m sure.

I agree about the rank. Perhaps after seeing them on-screen they might update the uniform to include larger pips across the shoulder or the rank braids on the sleeve.

But the jumpsuit variant has a collar that looks like it’s identical in construction to the main uniform – that would super weird (and uncomfortable!)

The Division colors are so, so subtle. Without a full sense of the show’s look, I’m not sure I like the sparing and uniform use of color. I wasn’t a huge fan when DS9 went to the grey-shouldered First Contact unis. This, ahem, uniformity is so much more militaristic, and I’ve never loved that aspect pushed too hard.

The TOS movies must have really upset you then.

I like everything but the boots. I don’t know but they look like something college girls would wear to me. I kind of wish they stuck with the boots they were on Enterprise or even the KT films. But other than that its not bad. Still not my favorite uniforms (that will always be the First Contact era uniforms) but I do like them. I’m just glad they didn’t go back to the ugly uniforms of The Cage. Ugh.

Just a little love for Zap Brannigan? If Picard could wear a romper….

I can’t wait for the Mirror Universe Episodes and a Potential Mirror Universe Spin off.

I just don’t like the matching pants and jacket color. I would rather the pants be black or dark gray. Other than that, the uniforms are great.

@VZX — you must have hated the ENT uniforms.

I wonder why some have 4 and others have 5 shoulder stripes

So far it seems to be based on gender, broad shouldered men have an extra stripe to fill it out.

So then it’s not that much gender than more the encoded size of the uniform xxs=1, xs=2, s=3, m=4,l=5 … ;)

Right, however thus far from the trailer, all women seen have 4, all men seen have 5. So it ended up in practice based on gender, whether that’s the intention or not.

If its gender, I don’t like that. The stripes could, in an unintentional way. denote a higher rank for men. If they felt 4 didn’t look right on wider uniforms, they should have went with a slightly wider stripe rather then add a stripe.

But time will tell.

Agreed, TUP.

“These new uniforms appear to be the most intricate of any seen before in the franchise”

Nah, the most intriace are still the Monster Maroons.

Not from a construction standpoint, the Monster Maroons were much easier to build where the seams lie and availability of materials…the last time I checked they didn’t have tiny 3-D printed deltas overlaid on a different colored fabric panel inset, or any inset panel for that matter :-)

@Aaron — I assume by “Monster Maroons” you mean TWOK uniforms? If so you should read about them. There’s a reason they stopped using the white turtlenecks in TNG, and it had nothing to do with the evolution of the look. That turtleneck was likely more complicated than 3D printing of mini deltas on the side panels, requiring a custom machine they no longer made.

Awesome! Well Done!

Nope, not feeling this at all. I think it’s a real stretch on trying to explain the copper color for engineering division. I get it that in the first two pilots you didn’t see any red uniforms, but this is where you can take some creative liberties; but they’ve gone really beyond that at this point

Huh, how is the copper-color a stretch for engineering/support?

because copper is copper color, and red is red….also science/medical is silver now?

At least JJverse got it right; brilliantly right

You lost me at “JJverse got it right”. Like really, you lost complaining privileges with that one lol

@Hugh — Ignoring your JJ comment, but hunkering you in the original comment; there was NO RED during THE CAGE era. It was beige. Copper is as good as any neutral metal to represent a beige color. So … Checkmate. You lose.

Anyone notice the smashed NX-O1 in the asteroid field in the blown up Infographic? It’s to the left of the Captains Delta Shield. Look closely!

Where was the red cross badge used? I don’t recall seeing it. You would think that by the 22nd, 23rd or 24th century they would understand that not all cultures use the cross in their medical simbology, e.g., red crescent, red star of David,…

Nurse Chapel wore it in TOS.

They also left off the “Security” badge from the original CAGE pilot, which would have been used during this period.

The cross in the red cross isn’t a religious icon, so it shouldn’t be a problem. Rather, it was intended to be a universal symbol that would be easily recognisable at a distance as representing medical personnel. That’s why it’s red on white, as both colours are highly visible. The red crescent was introduced because it was feared in the 19th century that some Muslim soldiers might interpret the red cross as a religious symbol, but it would be nice to think that we’d moved beyond that sort of thing by the 23rd century.

Very professional-looking infographic. Wow.

Notice the NX-O1 when you enlarge the Infographic? Look on the right side of the Infographic where the Captains Delta Shield is. Then look to the left. The USS Discovery is closing in on what appears to be a badly damaged NX ship stranded in the asteroid field. You can tell it’s an NX ship by its nacelles and configuration.

I wondered if anyone would see that!

In the recently released picture Captain Lorca has silver stripes though. If that infographic is right, shouldn’t they be gold?

He doesn’t though – if you notice that image is WAY blown out and the white balance is off (unless he is an alien with a bluish pallor) the material rarely appears that bight cerulean blue. This also does hint at an issue with using reflective metallic highlights – colors can get tricky!

Here’s a properly white balanced image in comparison with the released image:

Looks better corrected. Thank you. The darker shade is definitely better.

It’s a nice, rich blue, much better. Thanks Aaron!

I really hate these uniforms. They’re way too ornate to be Starfleet. Star Trek has always spend with the exception of the WoK style, Starfleet uniforms have always been simple, as though we’ve grown out of the need to decorate ourselves. These are far too overtly militaristic and decorative to really feel like they belong in Star Trek when compared to every other series, including Enterprise.

If you really mean “with the exception of “WoK” style, you’re talking about a style that basically lasted, what, 70 years? So…it would seem that design was the longest served design in Star Fleet history.

I agree, the weird shoulder stripes..I think someone from Starfleet uniform R&D went into the 1940s and said they liked the old Flash Gordon/Buck Rogers uniform look from the serials and just recreated those.

Too much unnecessary details, the deltas all over, the stripe on the boots in the infographic, the ribbing, the stripe on the sides of the torso..just too much.

CBS, TPTB, the showrunners, anyone that understood how uniforms have looked in Trek for 50 plus years should have tried harder.

They look nice, but I wouldn’t go so far as to say they’re the “most intricate” of any & all Trek uniforms to date. Unless you’re ignoring Star Trek Beyond.

Beyond doesn’t count because it’s in the Kelvin Universe. I can’t say I love everything about these uniforms. I like the metal color coding scheme, but I’m not crazy about the excessive use of the delta shield pattern, nor the liberal use of braiding. It’s far too much bling for a BDU. I could see the dress uniforms with all this extra trim and decoration, but otherwise it’s too much IMO.

Curious, It does look verrrry dressy.

@Marja — no denying that. However, I’d say TWOK uniforms look even more formal and dressy, despite the lack of shiny things. I’m eager to see these in practical application.

I’m just confused with the use of the Delta shield. In original Star Trek, only the Enterprise has the Delta and it was explained that the Delta shield was adopted by the whole of Starfleet to honour the Enterprise after its 5 year mission (being the only ship to make it home), however if this series is set before Original Trek, then all the different uniforms in original trek now have a continuity error. (or there was a coincidence that the Enterprise crew just happened to use the symbol which Starfleet dropped and then take it back up again). I think this might already be discussed in the chain. Personally, I think they could have left the Delta shield “on the shelf” and used something else.

Nah, they couldn’t really drop the delta shield – that’s literally the most identifiable symbol of the franchise — and let’s be real: CBS is looking to build a strong franchise brand, and a little retcon to preserve that goal is a small price to pay.

The question I have is whether we’ll see the original 4th division symbol created for the Cage:

http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/File:Starfleet_security_badge,_2250s-60s.jpg

There are some fans that would rather have a series that never makes it off the ground ore gets cancelled quickly then one that takes creative license and attempts to create something that is successful

Really? did you read any other comments before posting? We’ve addressed this a few times in the comments. The idea of the delta being Enterprise only is “fannon”.

https://trekmovie.com/2017/06/22/a-close-up-look-at-star-trek-discovery-uniforms-infographic/#comment-5346294

“Tactical” – still uses 21st century plastic buckle.

Looks like they should be playing a tuba in that outfit. All that’s missing are hats. So many problems on so many levels…

I hope we get some detailed information about the back soon as well! The two pictures available are not too clear. I make my own uniforms, so that’s a detail I need to get started. The rest I already got by watching the trailer frame-by-frame.

There really doesn’t seem to be much on the back. Everything stops at the center seam except for the striping from the armpit down the top and onto the pants….3 on one side 3 on the other and four course the bands around the shoulder. The rest is plain. There might be some stitching we can’t see (and some we can) but there doesn’t seem to be any design elements unless it’s the women’s variant top….well we’ve seen 2 women wear it, there maybe be a mens version we just haven’t seen.

Here’s an image I compiled:

I really, really love how the gold, silver and bronze division colors more closely match the “Cage”-era division colors of gold (command), blue (science/medical) and tan (ops). I know: silver isn’t blue, but blue isn’t an option.

Also, I’m so glad they decided to stick with the rank/pip system that’s been in place since TNG, rather than reverting to the Kirk-era system. It’s still a continuity problem, of course, introduced when Enterprise decided to use the TNG rank/pip system 2 centuries earlier. That means the Kirk-era stripes from the series/medallions from the movies are radical rank departures that Starfleet takes for about a century. Whatever … some yahoo in the quartermaster’s office got antsy in the mid-23rd century, I guess.

It’s good. A tad overcomplicated at places, but good.

I don’t understand the idea of color-coded boots, though. What purpose does it serve? To allow a hidden enemy crouching under a table to tell an engineer from a science officer?

And these are supposed to evolve into the uniforms of Kirk’s era? I see a complete lack of effor to make them appear like anything that came before. Nothing but typical gimmicky science fiction design. Might as well have flames shooting out of the back of the engine pods. Should have looked to Abrams movies, at least they got that right over there.

Are you for real? You don’t see any evolutionary nods to Enterprise, Kelvin? They do look like that which came before in the sense it could evolve.

You must still be really upset with how drastically the uniforms changed between TOS, TMP and WoK…

I know this would be a crazy departure from continuity, but the way high tech “wearables” are going, there’s really no excuse for uniforms in the 23rd C to be just plain fabric and metal with no intelligence built in to do the stuff you’d want them to do: deflect energy weapons, provide breathable atmosphere and pressure (including automatically activating in emergencies), heads-up displays built into visors/goggles, monitor vital signs, etc. Uniforms in the 23rd C should basically be like walking around wearing a very sophisticated and unobtrusive computer that encompasses your entire body.

How do you know they’re not?

These look like they were reused from Galaxy Quest. Wouldn’t it make more sense to do something similar to the uniforms from Captain Pike era? That’s about the same time as this series is going on , correct?

They don’t really look like Galaxy Quest. GQ was very much playing up on the TNG uniforms, so in as much as that Trek DNA is there, they look like Discovery, but not really. They are much closer to say Babylon 5 or the BSG reboot.

The Troy, 7 0f 9 and T’pol catsuits always looked out of place to me, especially that white, with the cameltoe outfit that T’Pol wore on the desert planet.

BSG Uniforms were great. They had TWOK film era look to them, which works so well to express the mood of he character by unbuttoning the flap. The DSC uniforms have a bit of that as well.

Have you not seen the uniforms from Pike’s era? People have to think like a 25 year old whose never watch much Star Trek before. To you it may look normal. To a lot of people who never watched it, it looks like something from the 60s. I know you are saying not to use the exact look, maybe update it a bit like the KT films did but even those looked too retro. I have a feeling why they got a nicer change up in Beyond.

The delta shield was the symbol for the Enterprise in TOS and each ship had their own. It was adopted for all Starfleet after the 5 year mission. Why does Discovery have the Delta shield?

Are you serious? Read other comments before blindly posting… this has been bitched about and answered many times already.

This is the stupidest complaint that keeps getting repeated.

Here Rob: https://trekmovie.com/2017/06/22/a-close-up-look-at-star-trek-discovery-uniforms-infographic/#comment-5346377

Horrifying.

This drama is set during the same time period as the Talos IV Incident. While I would understand upgrading Discovery and Shinzou, they could have at least used Fifties era fatigue uniforms with some upgrades.

Enterprise could’ve been testing a new line of uniforms – much like they already used those black collar uniforms while other ships still had The Cage ones. Or, like DS9 started using those new jumpsuits before Enterprise-D did.

I am so massively tired of everyone doing some form of the overly on the nose micro printed pattern. Superman’s S didn’t need it in Superman Returns, the uniforms didn’t freaking need them in the first two nuTrek movies, and they don’t need them here.

@will — I actually kind of agree with this as a practical matter. And it’s certainly not as subtle here as it was in the first two BR movies, which makes me dislike it any more. From a marketing, branding, franchise perspective it makes a lot of sense, and let’s face it, that’s what this is. But as a life-long Trek fan, I find it kind of annoying. But they would have gotten a lot more love from me if they’d been a mono-chromatic texture and not such a garish metallic print.

Starfleet uniform (mirror)

View history

Service members of Starfleet wore a common uniform that facilitated the individual's needs as soldiers of the Terran Empire . The uniforms were used to display an officer or crewman's current status, rank , divisions, and decorations awarded over the course of their service. Throughout the history of the Starfleet uniform, there were distinctive difference between commissioned and enlisted personnel as well as male and female service members.

2 22nd century
3 23rd century
4 Fictional
5.1.1 22nd century uniform
5.1.2 23rd century uniform
5.1.3 Fictional uniform
5.2 Background
5.3 External links

Overview [ ]

Officers and crewmembers wore Starfleet uniforms and rank insignia similar to the counterpart universe Starfleet . The uniforms and ranks, while similar, displayed some striking differences, such as standard sidearms ( phase-pistols in the 2150s and phasers from the 2160s onward) and daggers, military decorations , and shoulder braces or sashes . Some officers wore a Sam Browne belt.

22nd century [ ]

During the 22nd century , Starfleet uniforms were similar to their counterpart universe's Earth Starfleet. In 2155, the standard officer uniform was a navy blue jumpsuit with division color (red, aqua, or gold) stripes at the shoulders. The insignia of the Terran Empire was worn on a patch on the right shoulder, and an assignment patch based on the posting of the officer was worn on the left shoulder. Decorations and medals were worn on the left breast and shoulder brace. Female uniforms were simpler, with a pants and top combination with the same arrangement of markings, but a bare midriff. Rank insignia was displayed on epaulets. ( ENT : " In a Mirror, Darkly ", " In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II ")

23rd century [ ]

By 2256 , the uniforms were similar to those in the prime universe, but were altered to allow for some of the exceptions mentioned below. ( DIS : " Despite Yourself ", " The Wolf Inside ") In 2256, the uniform were black with a division color (copper, silver, or gold). The insignia of the Terran Empire was worn on the right shoulder. Decorations and medals were worn on the left shoulder. Captains wore a gold chest piece, gold shoulder pads and a gold thick belt. The tactical gear was more heavily protected than the prime universe.

By 2267 , the uniforms were similar to those discovered aboard the USS Defiant in 2155 , but were altered to allow for some of the exceptions mentioned below. ( ENT : " In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II "; TOS : " Mirror, Mirror "). In 2267, the standard officer uniform was black trousers with a division color (red, blue, or gold) tunic. The insignia of the Terran Empire was worn on the right breast. Decorations and medals were worn on the left breast. Female uniforms were simpler, with a skirt and top combination, but a bare midriff. Rank insignia was displayed as gold braid on female uniform tops and command officer jackets and vests, and sleeve stripes for junior line officers.

Fictional [ ]

In the holopod simulation Mirror Universe Encounter , the crew of the ISS Cerritos wore uniforms that greatly resembled the ones worn in 2267, though the colors for the command and operations divisions had seemingly been switched to reflect those of the Starfleet uniform . ( LD : " I, Excretus ")

Brad Boimler in a male command division uniform

Appendices [ ]

Appearances [ ], 22nd century uniform [ ].

" In a Mirror, Darkly " ( Season 4 )
" In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II "

23rd century uniform [ ]

" Despite Yourself " ( Season 1 )
" The Wolf Inside "
" Vaulting Ambition "
" What's Past Is Prologue "
" Terra Firma, Part 1 " ( Season 3 )
" Terra Firma, Part 2 "
TOS : " Mirror, Mirror " ( Season 2 )

Fictional uniform [ ]

LD : " I, Excretus " ( Season 2 )

Background [ ]

The Terran Empire uniforms in Star Trek: Discovery were designed by Gersha Phillips , who explained they were intended to echo the asymmetrical appearance of the Star Trek: The Original Series uniforms. She also wanted it to be in keeping with the aesthetic production designer Tamara Deverell had settled on for the Terran Empire, which is heavily influenced by the art deco movement as well as brutalist architecture. Phillips revealed that she had designed a red medical uniform planned for the show, "which would've been kinda cool." [1] This design eventually appeared, worn by Hugh Culber , in " Terra Firma, Part 1 " and " Terra Firma, Part 2 ".

External links [ ]

Starfleet uniform (mirror) at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
Starfleet uniform (2155) at Spike's Star Trek Page
Starfleet uniform (2267) at Spike's Star Trek Page
22nd and 23rd century Starfleet uniforms at Ex Astris Scientia
2 ISS Enterprise (NCC-1701)

IMAGES

Star Trek Rank Insignia
Star Trek: Beyond Magnetic Insignia Badge
Star Trek Ranks In Order
Star Trek Rank Insignia and Combadges Digital Download
Anovos Unveils Star Trek Beyond Uniforms
Star Trek Beyond Magnetic Insignia Badge

VIDEO

SMALL RANK 20 LEAKS!!!
Star Trek Online Dicovery Enterprise Uniform
Star Trek 11
Star Trek Beyond
Star Trek Online captain's uniform variant
USS Athena 25th Century

COMMENTS

Starfleet ranks
Gold shoulder trim of a flag admiral, captain, and officer (left to right). By 2239, Starfleet had adopted a uniform where officer rank was denoted by the number of raised or indented pips on a Starfleet delta.(ST: "The Brightest Star") The admiralty wore a Starfleet insignia surrounded by a wreath made up of smaller golden or black Starfleet insignia on a dark disc; the more of them are gold ...
Star Trek uniforms
There are other ranks mentioned in the movies (Kirk himself is offered the rank of Vice-Admiral in Star Trek: Beyond). If the rank scheme is similar to NATO ranks they would be: commodores wear 1 paired gold pip, Rear Admirals wear 2 paired gold pips, vice-admirals wear 3 paired gold pips, and admirals wear 4 paired gold pips.
Starfleet insignia
Two variants of the Starfleet Insignia based on rank and division, seen aboard the USS Enterprise (). By the mid-2270s, while some installations such as Epsilon IX station, maintained their individual assignment patches, Starfleet Command began adopting the Starship arrowhead design for all of Starfleet.(Star Trek: The Motion Picture; Star Trek; Star Trek Beyond) Specifically, the command ...
Star Trek's Ranks In Order: How Starfleet Officers Get Promoted
A promotion in Star Trek is usually a reward for exceptional performance, with many Starfleet officers being promoted in response to the valor and bravery demonstrated in the line of duty. Sometimes, a field promotion can also be handed to Starfleet officers in exceptional circumstances, such as with the Maquis officers in Star Trek: Voyager or ...
Every Starfleet Rank In Star Trek, Explained
Star Trek Ranks, Explained. Though primarily peaceful, Starfleet follows a quasi-military protocol, which means a chain of command that ensures all runs smoothly. Starting with the original series, Star Trek has adopted a quasi-military series of ranks and protocols for its characters. Starfleet is ostensibly a peaceful organization dedicated ...
Starfleet uniform (mid 2270s)
These uniforms bore rank insignia on the sleeve or on shoulder tabs. The delta shield emblem was adopted as the Starfleet insignia and was worn on the chest by shipboard personnel and flag officers. Some base personnel, like those on Epsilon IX, continued to wear duty badges unique to their assigned base. (Star Trek: The Motion Picture)
The Starfleet Insignia Explained
The delta insignia was first drawn in 1964 by costume designer William Ware Theiss with input from series creator Gene Roddenberry. The delta — or "Arrowhead" as Bill Theiss called it — has evolved into a revered symbol and one that's synonymous with Star Trek today. The delta also conveys information about the wearer's duties aboard ship using a series of division symbols.
How to Read The Secret Language of Starfleet Uniforms
The original crew in their tri-color uniforms. In the original Star Trek series, which ran from 1966-1969 (or roughly from 2254 to 2269, in universe), there were three standard uniform colors ...
Wikipedia:WikiProject Star Trek/Comparative ranks and insignia of Star
WikiProject Star Trek/Comparative ranks and insignia of Star Trek. Comparative ranks and insignia of Star Trek are hierarchical titles and badges of office which appear in the science fiction universe of Star Trek presented here in a comparative manner. The ranks and insignia of Starfleet are based on the historic titles used by the United ...
Uniform Guide
Rank: Raised bumps on the insignia badge identify an officer's rank. The captain's shoulders features additional gold highlights. ... In Star Trek Beyond, the top is a heavier jacket with a high collar. 2270s. Where It Was Seen: Star Trek The Motion Picture. Description: Muted blue, white, beige, or grey uniforms. These uniforms came as ...
Beyond-Inspired Dresses & Tunics
ANOVOS has just unveiled new Star Trek Beyond-inspired uniforms that are ... The identical style fabric has been custom dyed to match the distinctive dual tone color panels seen in the Beyond uniforms. Further, the rank bands feature a metallic fabric construction and the Starfleet delta insignia badge has been correctly replicated in its new ...
Get A Closer Look At The 'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' Starfleet
A closer look. Looking closer at the uniforms reveal some fine details, including how division insignia are woven into the shoulders and arms. The men's trousers also have subtle stripes. The ...
Voyager and the Pips: Starfleet Ranks in the Delta Quadrant
Fictional centuries — and real-time decades — may separate all of the Star Trek incarnations, but there is a consistency in how Starfleet ranks are shown from the 22nd to the 24th centuries. Star Trek: Voyager's premiere in 1995 introduced new characters, new aliens, and new worlds, but still showed the familiar Starfleet rank insignia ...
Let's Revisit the History of the Starfleet Insignia
StarTrek.com. Spotted on the lapel of time-traveling 29th-century Starfleet officer Captain Braxton in Voyager, this combadge shows that the Starfleet insignia truly has some staying power. Of course, the 29th century was previously the farthest ahead we've ever gotten in the Trek timeline, but with the upcoming season of Discovery we'll ...
Ex Astris Scientia
In the records seen in "Star Trek Beyond", set in the year 2164, the crew can be seen with what is possibly the very first Federation Starfleet uniform. ... two solid and one hollow for the lieutenant commander, and so on. The supposedly existing lower ranks on the Enterprise have no insignia, a visual identification is impossible. Most ...
Starfleet ranks (officers)
For Starfleet enlisted ranks, see Starfleet ranks (enlisted). For Starfleet cadet and warrant officer ranks, see Starfleet ranks (miscellaneous). The Starfleet rank system has a long history dating back to early space explorers of the Earth Starfleet and its predecessor naval and military forces. Commander-in-Chief The commanding officer of the entire Starfleet who holds the actual rank of ...
First Full Look At Strange New Worlds Uniforms. : r/startrek
Rank insignia on Discovery has always been frustrating. Reply reply ... Star Trek Beyond Ehh... I suppose as far as the flatter color but design wise, it feels more like the first two JJ movies, with the colored shirt over a black undershirt to mimic the TOS black collar. ... with the exception of the printed insignia on the shoulders - they'd ...
Officer Rank Insignia
The article on Pilot Uniforms - Insignia examines rank braid as it first appeared in the TOS pilot episodes ("The Cage" [0x01] & "Where No Man Has Gone Before" [1x01]). Acknowledgements. Rank Insignia Chart images created by Kuro-chan of Kuro-RPG. Dialogue quotations from Chrissie's Transcripts Site. Star Trek: TOS screencaps from TrekCore.
Starfleet uniform (alternate reality)
At some point after the destruction of the USS Kelvin in the alternate reality, Starfleet introduced a new Starfleet uniform design that implemented a red/gold/blue color scheme: gold being for command division, red for operations, and blue for science. The rank insignia was displayed by silver bands on the sleeve, but with a thinner secondary band, for the ranks of lieutenant commander and ...
Rank & Uniforms
Rank & Uniforms. 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. Aside from rank, all officers also held a position in a department, which could be said ...
Ratings and Enlisted Men
This is a remedial article to dispel the widely-held belief that enlisted men (or "enlisted ranks" or "enlisted uniforms") were present onboard the U.S.S. Enterprise during Captain Kirk's 5-year mission in STAR TREK: The Original Series.. Efforts to catalogue TOS uniforms & insignia frequently suffer from significant inaccuracies: often-times attempting to justify the presence of an "enlisted ...
A Close-Up Look At 'Star Trek: Discovery' Uniforms [INFOGRAPHIC]
One quick note on the ranks: If we assume TNG system of rank pips then the trailer images indicate that Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) is a Commander and Saru (Doug Jones) is a Lt ...
Starfleet uniform (mirror)
Overview []. Officers and crewmembers wore Starfleet uniforms and rank insignia similar to the counterpart universe Starfleet.The uniforms and ranks, while similar, displayed some striking differences, such as standard sidearms (phase-pistols in the 2150s and phasers from the 2160s onward) and daggers, military decorations, and shoulder braces or sashes. ...

Screen Rant

Star Trek: Every Captain of the Enterprise

Lowest of the Lower Deckers

8 Lieutenant Junior Grade

7 Lieutenant

Star Trek: Every Version Of The Starship Enterprise

5 Commander

The rank most Starfleet Officers dream of

3 Vice Admiral

Try not to become a Badmiral

1 Other Notable Starfleet Ranks

Star Trek Ranks, Explained

9 Cadets Are Officers in Training at Starfleet Academy

8 Enlisted Personnel/NCO Are Starfleet's Worker Bees

7 Ensigns Hold The Lowest Rank

6 Lieutenant, Junior Grade Have More Responsibility Than Ensigns

5 Lieutenants Lead the Away Teams and More

4 Lieutenant Commanders Head up Departments

3 Commanders Aid and Can Take Over the Captain's Dutires

2 Captains Command Starfleet's Various Starships

1 Admirals Possess The Greatest Rank and Come to Represent Starfleet Itself

Uniform Guide

Types of Uniform

Early 2360s

2360s (Variant)

2390s (Alternate)

2410s (Potential)

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Let's Revisit the History of the Starfleet Insignia

THE EARLY YEARS

AIR FORCE SPACE COMMAND

THE BEGINNINGS OF STARFLEET

INCORPORATING THE MACOs

THE U.S.S. FRANKLIN

THE U.S.S. DISCOVERY

KIRK'S ENTERPRISE

THE FUTURE'S FUTURE

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Uniform & Rank Inconsistencies

Starfleet's Uniform Chaos

Earth Starfleet uniform

Franklin uniform

Kelvin uniform

Kelvin Timeline Enterprise uniform

TOS Pilots uniform

TOS uniform

TMP uniform

Movie uniform

TNG I uniform

TNG II uniform

DS9/Voyager uniform

First Contact uniform

Lower Decks and Prodigy uniforms

Post-Nemesis uniform

Picard I uniform

Picard II uniform

Alternate uniforms

The Color of the TOS Command Uniform Shirt

The Arrowhead as a General Starfleet Emblem

Age of the arrowhead symbol

The "boomerang" symbol

Starfleet Rank Oddities

O'Brien and other non-commissioned officers

Tom's and Tuvok's ranks

Chakotay's rank

Jet Manhaver's rank

Starfleet ranks (officers)

Flag officers [ ]

External links [ ]

Rank & Uniforms

Division Colors

Starfleet Uniforms

Flag Officers

Provisional Officers

Civillian Personnel

Chain of Command

Crew Quarters

Uniforms & Costumes : Ratings and Enlisted Men