How did Kirk make Captain so fast
- Thread starter ThatsMrCaptaintoyou
- Start date
Going by the 1945 Navy Register (regular navy), the average birth year was 1900, so 44-45 years old. The youngest was 37, the oldest 64.
Thanks, that’s interesting. Do you know what it is was before the war? I’d look it up myself but am not familiar with the Register.
On the basic question of how Kirk made Captain so fast, I'll go with what several other posters have already said: Kirk is really, really good at his job. It's not for nothing that he's a good ten years younger than most of the other Captains we see on TOS.
As to the specifics, here's how I've worked it out in my head:
2250 - James T. Kirk (age 16) enters Starfleet Academy.
2254 - Kirk (age 20) graduates from the Academy with the rank of ensign, finishing in the top five percent of his class (as per The Making of Star Trek).
2254 - Ensign Kirk logs an error made by Ben Finney while on board the USS Republic. The incident brings him to the attention of Captain Garrovick.
2255 - Ensign Kirk (age 21) is promoted to lieutenant junior grade.
2255 - Lt. J.G. Kirk transfers over to the USS Farragut along with Captain Garrovick.
2257 - Kirk (age 23) is promoted to full lieutenant.
2257 - The Farragut disaster. Lt. Kirk returns to the Academy to teach and attend Command School.
2258 - Lt. Kirk (age 24) beats the Kobayashi Maru scenario in Starfleet Command School. He is awarded a commendation for original thinking.
2258 - Kirk graduates from Command School with high honors and is put on the fast track for promotion.
2259 - Kirk (age 25) is promoted to lieutenant commander.
2260 - Lt. Commander Kirk (age 26) takes a posting as first officer on the USS El Dorado.
2262 - Kirk (age 28) is promoted to commander
2263 - Commander Kirk (age 29) takes command of the USS Saladin, a Destroyer class vessel.
2265 - Kirk (age 31) is promoted to Captain, breaking the record of Christopher Pike, who made Captain at age 32.
2265 - Captain Kirk takes command of the USS Enterprise.
I think that gives Kirk an impressive, yet still realistic, career progression, that allows him to be an experienced commander by the time of TOS.
As to the specifics, here's how I've worked it out in my head:
2250 - James T. Kirk (age 16) enters Starfleet Academy.
2254 - Kirk (age 20) graduates from the Academy with the rank of ensign, finishing in the top five percent of his class (as per The Making of Star Trek).
2254 - Ensign Kirk logs an error made by Ben Finney while on board the USS Republic. The incident brings him to the attention of Captain Garrovick.
2255 - Ensign Kirk (age 21) is promoted to lieutenant junior grade.
2255 - Lt. J.G. Kirk transfers over to the USS Farragut along with Captain Garrovick.
2257 - Kirk (age 23) is promoted to full lieutenant.
2257 - The Farragut disaster. Lt. Kirk returns to the Academy to teach and attend Command School.
2258 - Lt. Kirk (age 24) beats the Kobayashi Maru scenario in Starfleet Command School. He is awarded a commendation for original thinking.
2258 - Kirk graduates from Command School with high honors and is put on the fast track for promotion.
2259 - Kirk (age 25) is promoted to lieutenant commander.
2260 - Lt. Commander Kirk (age 26) takes a posting as first officer on the USS El Dorado.
2262 - Kirk (age 28) is promoted to commander
2263 - Commander Kirk (age 29) takes command of the USS Saladin, a Destroyer class vessel.
2265 - Kirk (age 31) is promoted to Captain, breaking the record of Christopher Pike, who made Captain at age 32.
2265 - Captain Kirk takes command of the USS Enterprise.
I think that gives Kirk an impressive, yet still realistic, career progression, that allows him to be an experienced commander by the time of TOS.
That's very close to what I have in my ST Chronology.
Yea if you cook in Destroyer experience, especially if he did quite a few tours against the Klingons, it's sort of jumps you up the ladder. Especially more so if there was high attrition. In Starfleet Museum he's in command of a Avenger & Predator class, running around behind the DMZ, or he might had had a Saladin, or somesuch.
As well you can command a ship, a small ship, from LT CMDR, CMDRs too have their own ships at times, and then there are CAPTs.
As well you can command a ship, a small ship, from LT CMDR, CMDRs too have their own ships at times, and then there are CAPTs.
I have deduced the most probable course of Kirk's career iand posted it in several posts in this site and others.
It is mostly similar to that in JonnyQuest037's post # 25, though with more uncertainty about the dates.
The chapter on Captain KIrk in the semi-canonical The Making of Star Trek says:
and:
Of course some people don't think that is canonical, and it is ambiguous whether Kirk's age record is for being in command of a starship or for having the rank of captain. And it it leaves open the possibiity that there have been younger starship command captains who did not graduate from starfleet academy.
Note that in "Court Martial" Kirk's status is
http://www.chakoteya.net/StarTrek/15.htm
The totally canonical facts about the age when Kirk became a starship captain are that in "The Deadly Years" Kirk said that he was 34 years old.
http://www.chakoteya.net/StarTrek/40.htm
If someone abandons any preconcieved ideas about the order that TOS episodes happen in, and decides that the five year mission lasted for four to six years, "The Deadly Years" could happen at the beginning of the five year mission and Kirk could be as old as 40 at the end of the five year mission, or "The Deadly Years" could happen at the end of the five year mission and Kirk could be as young as 28 at the beginning of the five year mission.
If someone abandons any preconcieved ideas about the order that TOS episodes happen in, and decides that Kirk
s age range during the five years mission could be from 28 to 34, or from 34 to 40, or anywhere n between those extremes, and decides that "Shore Leave" could happen any time during the five year mission, they can deduce KIrk's age range at Starfleet Academy.
If Kirk is aged 28 to 40 in"Shaore Leave", and his first year at Starfleet Academy was f"ifteen years" earlier, or 14 t o 16 years, Kirk's age in his first year at the Academy would have been in the range of about 12 to 26..
It is mostly similar to that in JonnyQuest037's post # 25, though with more uncertainty about the dates.
The chapter on Captain KIrk in the semi-canonical The Making of Star Trek says:
and:
Of course some people don't think that is canonical, and it is ambiguous whether Kirk's age record is for being in command of a starship or for having the rank of captain. And it it leaves open the possibiity that there have been younger starship command captains who did not graduate from starfleet academy.
Note that in "Court Martial" Kirk's status is
http://www.chakoteya.net/StarTrek/15.htm
The totally canonical facts about the age when Kirk became a starship captain are that in "The Deadly Years" Kirk said that he was 34 years old.
http://www.chakoteya.net/StarTrek/40.htm
If someone abandons any preconcieved ideas about the order that TOS episodes happen in, and decides that the five year mission lasted for four to six years, "The Deadly Years" could happen at the beginning of the five year mission and Kirk could be as old as 40 at the end of the five year mission, or "The Deadly Years" could happen at the end of the five year mission and Kirk could be as young as 28 at the beginning of the five year mission.
If someone abandons any preconcieved ideas about the order that TOS episodes happen in, and decides that Kirk
s age range during the five years mission could be from 28 to 34, or from 34 to 40, or anywhere n between those extremes, and decides that "Shore Leave" could happen any time during the five year mission, they can deduce KIrk's age range at Starfleet Academy.
If Kirk is aged 28 to 40 in"Shaore Leave", and his first year at Starfleet Academy was f"ifteen years" earlier, or 14 t o 16 years, Kirk's age in his first year at the Academy would have been in the range of about 12 to 26..
Yet Kirk's studies are associated with him being a "Cadet" (in two timelines!), while Saavik is never anything but "Lieutenant". So perhaps our hero rushed into command studies while undergraduate, and the Vulcan held back in a fashion typical of her culture?
I'm still partial towards the model were Kirk never left the Academy until after teaching Mitchell at Lieutenant (jg?) rank. That is, he graduated, and then stayed as an instructor who occasionally worked on starships, but only ever stopped instructing when joining Captain Garrovick on the Farragut.
This gives Kirk extra motivation in "Obsession" to speak about "the day he left the Academy". I mean, the emphasis must be on the leaving, because the subsequent adventures aren't consistent with the other part of Kirk's declaration being the significant one: sticking with Captain Garrovick isn't that big a part of what Kirk is. So essentially Kirk is thanking Garrovick here for finally putting an end to Kirk's distressingly long stint at the Academy!
Timo Saloniemi
Good question. In peacetime there was a tighter range as you would expect. In 1941 the average birth year for a captain was 1888, so age 52-53. The earliest year was 1878 (age 62-63), the latest 1895 (age 45-46).
http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/AMH/USN/Naval_Registers/
For comparison, in the 1968 register, the birth years for Captain ranges from 1913 to 1926, with a lone 1927 (on page 48 block 4 of the pdf). That would be a range of 41 to 55.
One thing occurred to me: it's fairly well-known that the character of Kirk was in part based upon Horatio Hornblower, from the Forster novels.
So I looked that up, and found that in the first published novel, Hornblower (in that story already a captain) is described as being 37 years old. In one of the later novels, set 2-3 years earlier than the first novel, it is told that Hornblower first achieves the rank of captain (and command of his own ship), therefore he must have been perhaps 34 or more likely 35 on promotion.
Hornblower diagram landscape rev 1 gradients - Horatio Hornblower - Wikipedia
Horatio Hornblower - Wikipedia
There, as much as for any other reason, is how Kirk became captain at such an early age: because Horatio Hornblower (and maybe--being James T. Kirk, plus on television and in space--he's just a tiny bit better than that.)
The big problem with the Hornblower comparison is that the TV format doesn’t quite lend itself to depicting his constant fussiness and internal insecurities as he’s nevertheless trying to excel at his job and behave like he’s expected to in public. I have a hard time imagining Kirk with the same sort of internal monologue, but maybe Pike would’ve been a closer match originally.
He slept his way to the top
I take 34 years old over 25 years old
I take 34 years old over 25 years old
I don't think he's supposed to be Hornblower in every respect.
In my headcanon, Where No Man is the end of the first year, and seasons 1-3 are actually year 2-4. Don't know if that helps though. Heh.
I'm pretty sure that I remembered to say "the character of Kirk was in part based upon Horatio Hornblower" in my post, rather than making a claim for it being exclusively so, but whatever. I do suspect, though, that the Hornblower aspect of the character is a large part of the reason for Kirk's relative youth (and probably Pike's, as well.)
Precisely.
I finally just figured out what happened here: Kirk was trying to nail the guy with a flying drop kick, but he missed badly, and uselessly bounced off the wall.
It makes perfect sense as fight staging, but it mystified us for decades because it portrays Kirk making a mistake that leads to disaster. That isn't "supposed" to happen, so it confused us.
I was just pointing pointing out to Boris that not everything about Hornblower will be true of Kirk.
The age thing definitely is.
I like that he made a mistake.
I was watching TNG where they're in an anthropology watching post whose holo hidey device is broken. A resident climbs up and looks in. NO ONE was posted, scanning for residents coming up to take a peek at the crazy thing that now appears on the Vazquez rock. Huge mistake!
People err.
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