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Brand

Andrea Brand wearing rear admiral insignia.

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[]

Yel RAdm 2266

2260s uniform sleeve insignia.

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)

2270s-2350 radm sleeve

2278-2350s uniform sleeve insignia.

2350s-2360s radm

2350s-2360s uniform lapel insignia.

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.
RAdmUp 2364

2360s uniform collar insignia.

Red RAdmUp 2373

2370s uniform collar insignia.

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
Earth radm
Federation Starfleet ranks (2160s)
(insignia for all flag grades)
Sleeve insignia. Sleeve insignia. Sleeve insignia. Sleeve insignia.
Federation Starfleet ranks (2250s)
(insignia for all flag grades)
Sleeve insignia. Sleeve insignia. Sleeve insignia. Uniform shoulder. Uniform shoulder. Sleeve insignia.
Federation Starfleet ranks (2260s) Uniform shoulder. Uniform shoulder. Uniform shoulder. Uniform shoulder. Uniform shoulder. Uniform shoulder.
Federation Starfleet ranks (2270s)
(epaulet insignia for all admiral grades)
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.
Federation Starfleet ranks (2366-2373) Lapel insignia.
Federation Starfleet ranks (2373-2386) Uniform shoulder. Uniform shoulder. Uniform shoulder.
Federation Starfleet ranks (2386-2410) Uniform shoulder. Uniform shoulder. Uniform shoulder.

Alternate rear admiral insignia[]

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

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[]

Earth Starfleet[]

  • Leonard (prior to 2151)

Federation Starfleet[]

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

Background[]

US o-8 rank pin

US insignia.

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[]

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