Rear admiral (also known as rear admiral upper half or two star admiral) is a rank of flag officer in naval services and space forces, most notably Earth Starfleet and its Federation counterpart. Rear admiral is the second most basic flag officer rank, a grade higher than a commodore or one star admiral and a grade below vice admiral and other admiral grades in most rank structures. This rank is roughly equivalent with the authority of a major general of military forces. (ST reference: The Star Trek Encyclopedia; Decipher RPG module: Starfleet Operations Manual)

In military parlance, is it acceptable and normal to refer to a rear admiral simply as "admiral" in most forms of address.

Starfleet[]

In the Starfleet uniform insignia used in the mid-23rd century, an upper half rear admiral wore a service uniform rank insignia of a thick sleeve stripe of gold with braided edge (a commodore's insignia) with another separate braid above. This was slightly modified in the 2270s to the form of three grouped rank braids (again like a commodore's), with one stripe above. (TOS movie: The Motion Picture)

In the Starfleet uniform insignia introduced in the mid-24th century, a rear admiral wore a triangular rank braid with one pip underneath as their service uniform rank insignia. (TNG episodes: , "Conspiracy")

The correlation between this second lowest admiral rank and the uniform insignia worn in TNG season 1 is because other admirals were shown wearing higher and lower rank insignia, and the single braid insignia was the most basic one shown.

In a redesign of the admiral's service uniforms of 2365 and 2366, a new insignia of two gold pips enclosed in a rectangular gold border was worn by rear admirals, showing the origin of the "two star" name. This insignia continued into later uniform designs of the 2370s. (ST reference: The Star Trek Encyclopedia; TNG episodes: "The First Duty", "The Pegasus")

The Star Trek Encyclopedia shows the insignia in a small rectangular pin, while canon appearances depict a wider rectangular pin. It is possible the insignia changed over the years between the mid 2360s and the later 2360s when those references took place, respectively.

Rear admiral insignia[]

Starfleet rear admiral insignia
era	general wear	command division				operations division				sciences division
		command	tactical/military		flight-engineering (admin, pilot, engineer)		security	special services	sci-ops (ops, sci & tac ops)		medical
Earth Starfleet ranks
Federation Starfleet ranks (2160s) (insignia for all flag grades)
Federation Starfleet ranks (2250s) (insignia for all flag grades)
Federation Starfleet ranks (2260s)
Federation Starfleet ranks (2270s) (epaulet insignia for all admiral grades)
Federation Starfleet ranks (2270s-2350s)
Federation Starfleet ranks (2350s-2366)
Federation Starfleet ranks (2366-2373)
Federation Starfleet ranks (2373-2386)
Federation Starfleet ranks (2386-2410)

Alternate rear admiral insignia[]

Starfleet alternate rear admiral insignia
era	command division				operations division				sciences division
Federation Starfleet ranks (2250s) alt
Federation Starfleet ranks (2386-2410) alt

Positions and lists[]

It should be noted that some admirals who were referred to as "rear admiral" but did not have visible insignia might actually have held the one star admiral rank of rear admiral lower half.

United States Navy[]

• David Farragut (19th century)

Earth Starfleet[]

• Leonard (prior to 2151)

Federation Starfleet[]

• Bennett (2370s)
• Andrea Brand (2360s)
• Lance Cartwright (2260s)
• Chan (2250s)
• Coburn (2370s)
• James T. Kirk (2270-2286)
• Alynna Nechayev (2340s)
• J. Potgieter (2260s)
• Presley (prior to 2376)
• Erik Pressman (prior to 2370)
• Gregory Quinn (prior to 2371)

  

  

  

• Rollman (2360s)
• Norah Satie (prior to the 2360s)
• Savar (2360s)
• Hajime Shoji (2370s)
• Sitak (2370s)
• Tuvok (2409)

Appendices[]

Connections[]

Background[]

The United States rank scheme that Starfleet was adapted from is also the origination of the insignia, background information, and alternate name for this rank. In the United States armed forces, rear admirals of the US Navy wear a pin insignia of two stars on their uniforms and hold an officer grade equivalent to a major general of other services.

In ST video game: Conquest, rear admiral is used for new Starfleet commanders who have completed their commodore experience points in Federation gameplay, with the graphic reflecting the "two-star" rank insignia dating back to the US military forces and the Earth Starfleet. The game proceeds these characters to vice admiral after their rear admiral experience points are complete.

External link[]

• Rear admiral article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.