Memory Beta, non-canon Star Trek Wiki

A friendly reminder regarding spoilers! At present the expanded Trek universe is in a period of major upheaval with the finale of Picard and the continuations of Discovery, Lower Decks, Prodigy and Strange New Worlds, the advent of new eras in Star Trek Online gaming, as well as other post-56th Anniversary publications such as the new ongoing IDW comic. Therefore, please be courteous to other users who may not be aware of current developments by using the {{spoiler}}, {{spoilers}} or {{majorspoiler}} tags when adding new information from sources less than six months old. Also, please do not include details in the summary bar when editing pages and do not anticipate making additions relating to sources not yet in release. 'Thank You

READ MORE

Memory Beta, non-canon Star Trek Wiki
Register
Advertisement

Ensign is a rank of officer in many naval services and space forces, most notably Earth Starfleet and its Federation counterpart.

Standing[]

An ensign is the most basic officer rank, a grade above than any enlisted person or non-commissioned officer, and a grade below lieutenant junior grade in most rank structures, although some organizations will advance to another lieutenant rank. The Federation also has used ranks below and above ensign, ensign junior grade and ensign first class. The ensign rank is roughly equivalent with the authority of a second lieutenant of military forces and service organizations. The Romulan Star Empire has two ranks, antecenturion (erein in the Romulan language) and equitoriam, that are analogous to an ensign's standing. In the Cardassian language, gil is a Cardassian officer rank title which, in translation to Federation Standard, is approximately equivalent to an ensign. In Klingonese, an ensign is referred to as lagh. (TOS - Rihannsu novel: The Romulan Way; TLE - Terok Nor novel: Day of the Vipers; ST references: The Klingon Dictionary, Klingon for the Galactic Traveler)

Starfleet ensigns[]

22nd century[]

In the Earth Starfleet uniforms of the 22nd century, ensigns wore pin insignia of a single rectangular pip. (Star Trek: Enterprise)

23rd century[]

By the era of the early 23rd century Federation Starfleet, ensigns wore standard duty uniforms with no sleeve stripes. (ST movie: Star Trek)

By the middle of the 23rd century, a new tunic was worn by Starfleet all line officers wore the same single-stripe sleeve insignia, including ensigns. (TOS episode: "The Cage")

By the 2260s, a new uniform design once again featured no discernable insignia for ensigns on everyday uniforms. This also occurred in an alternate reality uniform design used around 2258. (TOS, ST movie: Star Trek)

By the uniform redesign of the 2270s, ensigns wore a broken gold braid stripe on class A uniform sleeves and a similar broken band as an embroidered epaulet insignia. (TOS movie: The Motion Picture)

In the uniforms of the 2280s, ensigns wore pin a single V-shaped insignia. (ST reference: The Star Trek Encyclopedia)

Before The Star Trek Encyclopedia depicted a fairly accurate version of Robert Fletcher's rank pin designs used in canon, other sources presented differing ensign insignia, such as Shane Johnson's ST reference: Mr. Scott's Guide to the Enterprise, which specified ensigns wear no insignia.

24th century[]

In the uniform insignia introduced in the mid-24th century, an ensign wears one circular gold pip as their rank insignia. This style continued through several uniform styles before being replaced by a rectangular stylized pin. (FASA RPG module: Star Trek: The Next Generation Officer's Manual; Star Trek: Countdown, STO video game: Star Trek Online)

Ensign insignia[]

Starfleet ensign 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 Sleeve insignia. Sleeve insignia. Sleeve insignia.
Federation Starfleet ranks (2160s) Sleeve insignia. Sleeve insignia. Sleeve insignia. Sleeve insignia.
Federation Starfleet ranks (2230s) Sleeve insignia. Sleeve insignia. Sleeve insignia.
Federation Starfleet ranks (2240s)
(insignia for all officer grades)
Sleeve insignia. Sleeve insignia Sleeve insignia Sleeve insignia. Sleeve insignia. Sleeve insignia.
Federation Starfleet ranks (2260s) Uniform shoulder. Uniform shoulder. Uniform shoulder. Uniform shoulder. Uniform shoulder. Uniform shoulder.
Federation Starfleet ranks (2270s) Uniform sleeve. Uniform sleeve. Sleeve insignia. Sleeve insignia. Sleeve insignia. Sleeve insignia. Sleeve insignia. Sleeve insignia.
Federation Starfleet ranks (2270s-2350s) Sleeve insignia. Sleeve insignia. Sleeve insignia. Sleeve insignia. Sleeve insignia. Sleeve insignia. Sleeve insignia. Sleeve insignia.
Federation Starfleet ranks (2350s-2366) Uniform shoulder. Uniform shoulder. Uniform shoulder. Uniform shoulder.
Federation Starfleet ranks (2366-2373) Uniform shoulder. Uniform shoulder. Uniform shoulder. Uniform shoulder. Uniform shoulder. Uniform shoulder. Uniform shoulder.
Federation Starfleet ranks (2370s-2380s) Uniform shoulder. Uniform shoulder. Uniform shoulder.
Federation Starfleet ranks (2386-2410) Uniform shoulder. Uniform shoulder. Uniform shoulder.
Federation Starfleet ranks (2800s) Uniform shoulder. Uniform shoulder. Uniform shoulder.

Alternate ensign insignia[]

Starfleet alternate ensign insignia
era command division operations division sciences division
Federation Starfleet ranks (2250s) alt Sleeve insignia. Sleeve insignia. Sleeve insignia.
Federation Starfleet ranks (2386-2410) alt Uniform shoulder. Uniform shoulder. Uniform shoulder.

Bajoran ensigns[]

Bajoran ens-2

Bajoran staff ensign's uniform collar.

The Bajoran Militia used ensign as their lowest officer rank. A Bajoran ensign wore an insignia of a stylized Bajoran insignia, with part of the symbol removed. (ST reference: The Star Trek Encyclopedia)

Klingon ensigns[]

The naval forces of the Klingon Defense Force used ensign as their lowest officer rank. A Klingon ensign wore an insignia of a stylized circle with a symbol of two connected slashes. (FASA RPG modules: The Klingons: Star Fleet Intelligence Manual, The Klingons: Game Operation Manual)

US ensigns[]

US o-1 rank sleeve

US ensign sleeve insignia.

The US Navy of Earth's United States of America nation used ensign as their lowest officer rank. An American ensign wore a pin insignia of a gold rectangular bar and a single gold stripe on uniforms with sleeve insignia.

US o-1 rank pin

US ensign pin insignia.

The American insignia are derived from real-life sources and are known to have been used in Star Trek canon productions.

Positions and lists[]

Starfleet[]

see category:Starfleet ensigns.

Klingon[]

see category:Klingon ensigns.

Appendices[]

Connections[]

Enlisted ranks Commissioned ranks Flag ranks
Earth SF CREW PO2

PO1

CPO

SCPO


MCPO

ENS LT CMDR CAPT

FCAPT


VICE CDORE

CDORE RADM / 2ADM VADM / 3ADM 4ADM FADM / 5ADM

GADM

Starfleet & SFMC ENS JG

ENS


ENS 1C

LT JG LT LT CMDR CDR CDORE

1ADM

PVT CPL SGT

MASTER SGT

SUBLT

2ND LT

1ST LT CAPT MAJOR LT COL COL BRIG GEN
US military
(& US Navy)
PVT CPL SGT

MASTER SGT

2ND LT 1ST LT CAPT MAJ LT COL COL BRIG GEN MAJ GEN LT GEN GEN
CREW PO CPO

SCPO


MCPO

ENS LT JG LT LT CMDR CMDR CAPT RADM LH RADM UH VADM ADM FADM
Bajoran DEPUTY, TECH CPL SGT ENS LT JG

LT

CAPT MAJ FIELD COL COL GEN
Klingon Defense Force
naval & marine
ENL (bekk) PO/LDR (DevwI')

CPO/TROOP LDR (QaS-DevwI')

ENS (lagh) LT JG LT (Sogh) LT CMDR CMDR (la') CAPT (HoD) CDORE (totlh) ADM ('aj) FADM
ENL (mang) 2C

ENL (mang) 1C


LCPL

CPL (Da') SGT (bu')

SGT MAJ

LT JG LT (Sogh) CAPT MAJ LT COL COL BRIG ('ech) MAJ GEN GEN (Sa')

External link[]

Advertisement