Starfleet Captain's, their command's

[James Wright]

How many Starfleet Captain's do you suppose are commissioned each year?(Late 24th century)
Off topic for a moment, how long does a Captain in the U.S. Navy command a ship, be it either a surface ship(all types included) or a submarine?
Knowing how long Captain's have commanded each of the Enterprise's from the NX-01 to the E-E, is it possible other Starfleet Captain's "afloat" also retain their command's just as long?

James

 

[Admiral Shran]

I'd say it has to be a large number, considering how massive an organization like Starfleet has to be.

 

[Timo]

Knowing how long Captain's have commanded each of the Enterprise's from the NX-01 to the E-E, is it possible other Starfleet Captain's "afloat" also retain their command's just as long?

That long, or longer. Our various hero starships have hosted the same group of heroes for something like 30 years on a stretch. The TOS heroes sailed together for said 30 years, E-nil from "Where No Man" to E-A in ST6; Picard was aboard the Stargazer for more than two decades. Neither Kirk nor Picard were at retirement age when we last saw them: Kirk in ST6 was about to retire, yes, but TAS "Time Trap" suggested he had till his 75th birthday if he wanted - and Picard was still going strong at 70+ in ST:NEM. Mark Jameison thought he should still have been a starship captain at 80+, if not for his rare, crippling ailment.

Putting this together, it doesn't sound impossible, nor exclusive, for somebody to stay Captain for three or four decades - and to do so in command of just one or two starships in a row.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[C.E. Evans]

I think how long an officer stays a captain varies on the individual captain or the particular assignment he or she is on. As Timo mentioned, you probably can have captains who have stayed at that rank for more than 20, 30, and even 40 years.

Then you can also have captains who are in and out in four years (or less) and may be admirals before their fortieth birthday.

Because of a mix of long-timers and short-timers, the number of captains in the fleet in any one time may be rather large, but not all of them may have a permanant (i.e., long-term) command. Some captains may bounce from ship to ship every few years or even every few months, IMO...

 

[T'Girl]

Captain Edward Jellico held his Enterprise command rather briefly.

 

[James Wright]

Captain Edward Jellico held his Enterprise command rather briefly.

His posting to the Enterprise was temporary, if I remember correctly it was because he had experience dealing with the Cardassian's and to buy time for Picard and his team to carry out their mission, which was a setup if memory serves.
I wonder how Commander Riker would have done, had he been given the chance to command the Enterprise for the mission?

James

 

[Timo]

His posting to the Enterprise was temporary

Quite possibly, in light of the events of the episode. Yet if so, this was never told to the crew or the audience. Starfleet Command kept that possible knowledge to itself, and it did seem like Jellico was there to stay.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[SpyOne]

How many Starfleet Captain's do you suppose are commissioned each year?(Late 24th century)

That's one of those questions that can't be answered without answering a bunch of other questions, like how many ships are there.
Or, it can be answered abstractly: Starfleet maintains enough Captains to fill all the jobs it wants filled by Captains, and promotes enough new ones each year to replace those who retire or die (and to fill new jobs created by expansion, if any). Not very satisfying, was it?

Off topic for a moment, how long does a Captain in the U.S. Navy command a ship, be it either a surface ship(all types included) or a submarine?

I don't know the answer, but I know some valuable clues:
Generally, promotion to O-6 (Captain in the Navy) is limited to people who have been in the service for at least 22 years.
Unless you get promoted to O-7 (Admiral), you have to retire after 30 years of service.
So, with the exception of rare exceptional individuals, nobody gets to be a Captain for more than 8 years.
Now, you don't need to be a Captain to command a ship: the US Navy has plenty of Commanders running cruisers, and probably some Lieutenant Commanders commanding smaller ships, so it is possible to command a ship for much longer than that: a Lieutenant Commander may have been in the Navy for as little as 10 years.

Note also that an officer in the US military must retire at 62, regardless of rank or time in service, unless he has obtained a waiver signed by both the Secretary of Defense AND the President (IIRC)

So, we can see right away that Starfleet does things a bit differently: they let people stay Captains longer, they raised the maximum age (Tuvok was 112 and still on active duty), and they certainly don't force people out after just 30 years (Jean Luc Picard had been in Starfleet for longer than that before TNG began). One thing they apparently do the same is let Commanders have command of smaller ships.

 

[Trekker4747]

You don't make words plural with a friggin' APOSTROPHE!!!

 

[A beaker full of death]

Starfleet Captain's, their command's
How many Starfleet Captain's do you suppose are commissioned each year?

I' d'o'nt k'n'o'w.

 

[James Wright]

You don't make words plural with a friggin' APOSTROPHE!!!

Excuse me, so I make more mistakes than anybody else around here when posting, do you check to see if everyone screws up?

James

 

[James Wright]

How many Starfleet Captain's do you suppose are commissioned each year?(Late 24th century)

That's one of those questions that can't be answered without answering a bunch of other questions, like how many ships are there.
Or, it can be answered abstractly: Starfleet maintains enough Captains to fill all the jobs it wants filled by Captains, and promotes enough new ones each year to replace those who retire or die (and to fill new jobs created by expansion, if any). Not very satisfying, was it?

Off topic for a moment, how long does a Captain in the U.S. Navy command a ship, be it either a surface ship(all types included) or a submarine?

I don't know the answer, but I know some valuable clues:
Generally, promotion to O-6 (Captain in the Navy) is limited to people who have been in the service for at least 22 years.
Unless you get promoted to O-7 (Admiral), you have to retire after 30 years of service.
So, with the exception of rare exceptional individuals, nobody gets to be a Captain for more than 8 years.
Now, you don't need to be a Captain to command a ship: the US Navy has plenty of Commanders running cruisers, and probably some Lieutenant Commanders commanding smaller ships, so it is possible to command a ship for much longer than that: a Lieutenant Commander may have been in the Navy for as little as 10 years.

Note also that an officer in the US military must retire at 62, regardless of rank or time in service, unless he has obtained a waiver signed by both the Secretary of Defense AND the President (IIRC)

So, we can see right away that Starfleet does things a bit differently: they let people stay Captains longer, they raised the maximum age (Tuvok was 112 and still on active duty), and they certainly don't force people out after just 30 years (Jean Luc Picard had been in Starfleet for longer than that before TNG began). One thing they apparently do the same is let Commanders have command of smaller ships.

The way the navy does things actually makes room for officers coming up. Even though Starfleet is a pretty sizeable organization it has a certain number of ships and star bases not every Captain or Commander is is going to be given a ship to command because of Starfleets practice of letting Captains command ship for so long.

James

 

[A beaker full of death]

In the navy one doesn't have to be a captain to be the captain of a ship, depending on the type of ship, of course. Similarly, TOS made clear that Starships are elite, as opposed to other commissioned ships and land commands.

 

[SpyOne]

The way the navy does things actually makes room for officers coming up. Even though Starfleet is a pretty sizeable organization it has a certain number of ships and star bases not every Captain or Commander is is going to be given a ship to command because of Starfleets practice of letting Captains command ship for so long.

James

Actually, that's only a given if the number of ships is fairly static (as it is in the US Navy). Starfleet, however, appears to be growing steadily. It seems that the number of total ships (and the size of Federation Space) has changed significantly between TOS and TNG.
If the number of ships in Starfleet is increasing by 10% per year, then there are positions for new Captains every single year, even if no existing Captains retire or get promoted (or die).
If Starfleet's response to the Dominion War is to replace the ships that were lost and then some, there will be plenty of positions for Captains once those ships are built.