Captain Scott, the youngest Starfleet captain in TNG early season (I think 2). Admiral Nechayev. Admiral Sati. TNG's chief engineer in "The Naked Now."
Nobody said that Scott was the yougest captain. I quote from "Conspiracy":
KEEL: Captain Picard, meet Captain Rixx.
PICARD: I believe we've met. The Altairian conference.
KEEL: And Captain Scott.
PICARD: Tryla Scott. It's said you made Captain faster than anyone in Starfleet history, present company included. Are you that good?
TRYLA: Yes, I am.
PICARD: Starfleet's finest. Fancy meeting you here.
Nobody said that Scott became captain at the youngest age. It was said that she made captain faster than anyone in strafleet history. Which means that Scott made captain in the least amount of time since an unspecified event.
If that unspecified event was birth, then Scott would have been the youngest captain (until "Conspiracy" at least). But possibly that unspecified event was entering Starfleet Academy, or being graduated and commissioned, or some other milestone in the careers of Starfleet captains. In which case she might not be the youngest captain n Starfleet history.
Other potential candidates for being the youngest captain include:
Christopher Pike, who Mendez said was about Kirk's age (in his eyes at least) and who was in command of the
Enterprise, though not necesarily a captain in rank, 13 years before "The Menagerie".
Garth of izar, who didn't look very old, but who was the model that all cadets looked up to when Kirk was at the Academy at least 15 years before "Whom Gods Destroy".
James T. Kirk.
The Making of Star Trek and probably the TOS writers guides say that: "Captain Kirk has been in command of the
Enterprise for more than four years" and was the youngest Academy graduate to have been assigned as Starship Command Captain." So there is a semi canonical source to back fans who claim that he was the youngest starship captain.
Willard Decker. He was Captain Decker of the
Enterprise for a brief time in
Star Trek: The Motion Picture while looking very young..
Jean-Luc Picard. According to some non canon sources, Picard commanded the
Stargazer for 22 years, though perhaps not with the rank of captaiin all that time, which ended 9 years before the second season of TNG, when Picard was still under 60 years old.
Will Riker. Riker certainly seemed to be on track to become an exceptionally young captain in the first seasons of TNG. But because "Status Quo is God" in television
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StatusQuoisGod riker became content to be a commander and second officer for the rest of the series. However, Riker might have accepted offi ers of promotiona dnhis own command in many alternate universes.
And Paul Rice, commander of the
Drake, may have been a very young captain:
In the first seaon episode "Arsenal of freedom":
PICARD: You know Captain Rice?
RIKER: We were at the Academy together.
So Rice was either a captain by courtesy as the commander of a vessel, or a captain in rank. And he was in the Academy with Riker and so might have been close in age to him.
WORF: Commander, weren't you offered the Drake?
RIKER: Yes.
TASHA: You gave up your own command to take this assignment?
So if Paul Rice became a captain because a ship the size of the
Drake must be commanded by someone of captain rank, Riker would have become a captain in rank if he had accepted command of the
Drake.
So in any alternate universes where Riker ccepted command of the
Drake Riker would have been a very young commander of a Starfleet ship, and thus possibly also a captain. and if Paul Rice was not much older than Riker he was also very young to become the commander of a Starfleet ship and perhaps a captain.
