Just curious to learn who everyone's favorite Starfleet Admiral is (not including main characters that become Admirals in the movies like Kirk and Janeway). My favorite is Admiral Cromwell of Discovery. She was a really strong character and definitely one of the toughest Admirals that we saw on screen. Afterwards, I would probably chose Admiral Forrest (Enterprise) or Admiral Ross (DS9 Admiral that we see during the Dominion War).
Admiral Ross. Especially his interactions with Sisko and Martok. Second place: Admiral Owen Paris. I wasn't fond of Nechayev onscreen. I came to like her better in the novels. I guess that Norah Satie is not very high on the list of favorite admirals.....I quite dislike her..
Forrest, of course. For several reasons: - He's definitely not the stereotypical "evil admiral". He only gets on your bad side if he has a damn good reason. (Such as, the bit in "First Flight" when he chews out Archer and Robinson.) - He's a good man in BOTH universes, prime and mirror. Sure, the MU Forrest is more of a hardass, but in the end, he's just as much a man of honor as the regular version is. Maximilian Forrest cares as much about the crew serving under his command as Maxwell Forrest does about his. And you'll notice that both Forrests ultimately sacrifice their lives to save others - that's almost unheard of in the MU, so that's why Mirror Forrest deserves as much recognition as his RU counterpart. - And he's played by my favorite actor of all time, Vaughn Armstrong. Cornwell as a runner-up, though. She's definitely in the same spirit that Forrest is. Tough, but caring. And her mirror universe counterpart (assuming one exists) is probably as good a person, at heart, as the regular Cornwell is. In fact I wouldn't be at all surprised if Cornwell is a descendant of Forrest, as they are very similar in terms of temperament, command ability, and personal integrity.
Jellico as Admiral in the novels was more entertaining than Captain Jellico - he had to deal with Calhoun after all.
Cromwell and Ross are obviously the most well defined admirals on Star Trek. Nechayev was also well defined as a character and worked well as a foil for Picard without being a villain. J.P. Hansen from Best of Both Worlds. A good, competent officer. Very professional, but still with his humanity in tact. Admiral Hayden, but mostly because I've always liked the actor, John Hancock.
I’d like to know more about Cornwell’s background. She’s a physician, but she clearly attended Starfleet Academy before attending medical school, as she has bridge officer training (similar to Crusher and Bashir), as well as command experience. Did she command a medical ship before the series (like Crusher in “All Good Things...” or Charissa Glenn from the Voyager relaunch novels)? Did she transfer from the science to the command division mid-career?
I always liked Admiral Nechayev. I'd share a plate of Bularian canapes with her, even though they are fattening.
No votes for Kirk so far. Of course, I guess it would have helped his cause if he had acted like an admiral instead of using the Enterprise as his flagship.