Finally watching season 3

[fireproof78]

The Kelvin movies have a literal cadet become Captain

He's a lieutenant at rank, billeted as a cadet.

 

[Noname Given]

He's a lieutenant at rank, billeted as a cadet.

The fictional character of James T. Kirk was very much modeled on this previous fictional character:

Horatio Hornblower - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Mudd]

The fictional character of James T. Kirk was very much modeled on this previous fictional character:

Horatio Hornblower - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

So Roddenberry claimed. After you get past the obligatory "courageous" bit, there's not much of Hornblower in Kirk - either Roddenberry's or Meyer's.