Fleet admiral

Fleet admiral insignia
FADM pin	FADM sleeve stripe
Starfleet pin and sleeve insignia, late 23rd century
File:Mirror adm.png
Terran Starfleet epaulet insignia (admiral and fleet admiral)

Fleet admiral is a military rank, the equivalent of which is used by the service organizations of many civilizations. As a traditional grade, fleet admiral is the most senior flag officer rank of a naval organization, above all the flag admiral grades save for commander-in-chief. In comparison to army ranking systems, this rank is equivalent to the most senior general rank, such as Field Marshal or General of the Army.

In Starfleet, fleet admiral exists as a separate rank, but has also been used as a title awarded and referring to officers wearing insignia of vice admiral or admiral, such as Fleet Admiral Shanthi. (TNG: "Redemption II")

In these situations when an officer refers to an admiral as "fleet admiral" they could simply be calling them fleet admiral because they are acting as the head of a fleet. Field promotion is another possibility.

Fleet admirals

Klingon Defense Forces

• Krell, a Klingon admiral

Starfleet

The following admirals wore the insignia for the "fleet admiral" rank.

• Commander in chief named Bill
• Commander, Starfleet Harry Morrow
• Commander, Starfleet Cartwright
• Commander, Starfleet Robert Bennett

The following vice admirals were referred to in title as "fleet admiral".

• Brackett
• Alynna Nechayev
• Shanthi

Mirror Starfleet

• Gardner (Gardner was fleet admiral in title, but his insignia were not clearly specified as signifying his grade)

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This chart shows only general equivalencies based on the ranks used by many governments on Earth, as well as the rest of the galaxy.

Appendices

Background

The first time that the rank of fleet admiral was mentioned in Star Trek was during TOS: "Space Seed" when Leonard McCoy, observing a dinner set for Khan Noonien Singh, commented that the ship must be expecting a fleet admiral for dinner. An actual fleet admiral was not seen on camera until the appearance of Fleet Admiral Morrow in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock.

Currently, in the United States Navy, the rank of fleet admiral (FADM) is inactive and has not been awarded since World War II. It is the equivalent of the United States Army's rank of general of the army (GA) with both ranks' insignia appearing as five stars arranged in a pentagonal shape.

Ranks senior to fleet admiral

There has never been a rank shown in a live action production senior to the Starfleet position of fleet admiral; however, there have been at least two senior ranks mentioned in non-canonical comic books and reference materials.

The first rank, that of "flag admiral", makes an appearance in the Klingon Covert Operations Manual. The rank is shown as being a six pointed starburst insignia similar to the four-point starburst of a regular Starfleet admiral from the motion picture timeframe. This rank appears again when it is mentioned as held by Admiral Morrow in the USS Enterprise Officer's Manual.

The rank pin for flag admiral which later appears as an on-screen medal

Of interest is the insignia from the Klingon Covert Operations Manual later is actually seen on camera when it appears in Data's medals case during "The Most Toys".

A senior rank of grand admiral has also appeared in Star Trek comic books, making its first mention in "The Wormhole Connection". The rank of grand admiral is said to have existed in 2285 and has a special uniform with shoulder boards worn on the red maroon jacket uniform. Grand admiral is far better known in the Star Wars franchise, where it is held by the character of Grand Admiral Thrawn.

The title of Commander Starfleet, seemingly also senior to the rank of fleet admiral, appears to be more of a position than actual rank. This title has only ever been used canonically in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock.

External links

• Fleet admiral at Wikipedia
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