Cavit > Why only Lt. Cmdr?

[Sec31Mike]

As a US Navy vet, here is my take on ranks.

My squadron CO when I arrived was a CDR (Commander) but was promoted to Captain (Full Bird, in slang) while I was there, and the XO or First officer was a CDR. Later my Capt was replaced as CO by another CDR with the XO remaining.

Naval officers have something called Time in Grade and commission date to determine seniority and elegibility for promotion. Rank only becomes a real problem at the top echelons (CO & XO) and when the time comes they will reorganize the command structure to accomodate promotions to Capt and CDR.

It is true that the size and importance of a ship/facility would accomodate lower ranked officers in the command structure. For Example Lt being in command of a PT boat and a LCDR being in command of a frigate. Destroyers and Carriers are always commanded by a full bird Captain, and in the instance of an aircraft carrier there would be at least 2 Admirals on board 1 being the fleet Admiral, and the other being an Admiral who is in command of operations in the theatre(region or battle) and who interfaces with fleet command directly. If the battle group were large enough, there could be more Admirals with other positions on hand.

As far as Starfleet operations go, anything designated as a Starfleet combat ship would be commanded by a Captain, most likely with a full CDR as first officer. Some escorts and support vessels would mostly be commanded by CDRs or LCDRs.

Hope this answers some questions.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Cmdr said: And Kira held the rank of 'Major' in DS9, which is the army/air force equivilent of Lieutenant Commander today. Of course, that's assuming Bajoran ranks are equal to modern ranks, but that seems likely.

AFAIK, they are. The only difference is that the Bajoran term for a Lt. Colonel is "Field Colonel". (Kira, interestingly enough, never had that rank; she was promoted two steps at once, from Major to full Colonel. At least that's what her insignia in S7 shows)

 

[Timo]

The only difference is that the Bajoran term for a Lt. Colonel is "Field Colonel".

Now where the hell does Memory Alpha get this "field colonel" thing? It's not in any episode AFAIK.

It must be some sort of a misunderstanding based on the S2 opening trilogy, but the dialogue there doesn't seem to cater for such a misunderstanding. Colonels are Colonels even in Bajoran Militia, regardless of whether they are "full" colonels or Lieutenant Colonels.

And most probably Kira was a Lieutenant Colonel, while Colonel Day from "The Siege" was a full Colonel, considering that the insignia of the two were different and that Kira had been promoted from Major rank. No real reason to think that they skipped a rank when promoting Kira.

Especially considering that Colonel Kira is dressed up as a Starfleet Commander during her Cardassian stint, and Commander is equal to Lieutenant Colonel specifically. Since the purpose of the masquerade was to make people hate Kira less, surely the uniform didn't falsely promote or demote Kira!

(Edit: Ah, it seems the script for "The Siege" at TrekCore has this Field Colonel thing. But it's strictly noncanon, that is, it is in no way supported by the aired version of the episode.)

Timo Saloniemi