Here is every Star Trek Captain who was promoted to Admiral throughout the franchise. Currently spanning nine TV series and 13 feature films, the main heroes of Star Trek are primarily the Captains of the various starships, like the U.S.S. Enterprise, or a space station in the case of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. However, when a starship Captain’s service has been so distinguished, they are often promoted to the rank of Admiral, which has happened to some of Star Trek’s greatest leaders.
Admittedly, Admirals in Starfleet have a rather spotty record. The military and exploratory arm of the United Federation of Planets, Starfleet is a generally benevolent organization with lofty ideals, which include a strict code of honor and the responsibilities of seeking out new worlds and new civilizations. But there have been numerous cases throughout Star Trek where Starfleet Admirals have behaved dishonorably or even illegally, even as they claim to serve the Federation’s interests. Corrupt or outright evil Admirals include the trio in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Conspiracy”, the treasonous Admiral Cartright (Brock Peters) in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Admiral Leyton (Robert Foxworth) in DS9, Admiral Doherty (Anthony Zerbe) in Star Trek Insurrection, and Admiral Marcus (Peter Weller) in Star Trek Into Darkness‘ Kelvin Timeline.
However, there have also been many heroic Admirals in Star Trek, including TNG’s Admiral Nechayev (Natalia Nogulich), DS9‘s Admiral Ross (Barry Jenner), and Star Trek: Discovery‘s Admiral Cornwell (Jayne Brook). But some Star Trek heroes also didn’t become Admirals, in spite of their stellar Starfleet records. In the Prime Timeline, Captain Christopher Pike (Jeffrey Hunter/Anson Mount), never became an Admiral; the former Enterprise commander was Fleet Captain when he was critically injured by delta rays and spent the rest of his life on Talos IV. In addition, Captain Spock (Leonard Nimoy) left Starfleet to become Ambassador to Romulus.
Other Star Trek legends became Admirals without serving as a starship captain; in TNG‘s series premiere, “Encounter at Farpoint”, the aged Admiral Leonard McCoy was given a tour of the U.S.S. Enterprise-D by Lt. Commander Data (Brent Spiner). But as far as the Star Trek heroes who have headlined the TV series and movies, these are the fabled starship Captains who were promoted to the rank of Admiral and how they fared.
Admiral Jonathan Archer
Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula) was not only the first Captain of the Enterprise, but he was also the first who was promoted to Admiral. Archer’s command of the NX-01 Enterprise ended in 2161, ten years after the first Warp 5-capable United Earth starship launched on its historic voyages. As seen in Star Trek: Enterprise‘s series finale, “These Are The Voyages”, Archer signed the charter establishing the Coalition of Planets in 2161, which would birth the United Federation of Planets. Archer was then promoted to Admiral and became Chief of Staff in the Federation’s Starfleet.
The Star Trek: Enterprise episode “In a Mirror Darkly, Part II” established that Admiral Archer later became Federation Ambassador to Andora in 2169, a Federation Councilman from 2175 to 2183, and he was elected President of the United Federation of Planets from 2184-2192. Archer’s career would have also been the same in the Kelvin Timeline, which didn’t diverge from the Prime timeline until 2233. Admiral Archer and his “prized beagle” were mentioned by Montgomery Scott (Simon Pegg) in J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek 2009 movie.
Admiral James T. Kirk
Perhaps no Star Trek Captain proved to be less suited to be an Admiral than James T. Kirk (William Shatner), who held that rank in the first four Star Trek movies. After his historic five-year mission commanding the Constitution-class U.S.S. Enterprise, Kirk was promoted to Rear Admiral and accepted a posting as Chief of Starfleet Operations in San Francisco, which he held for roughly 2 1/2 years. When Spock left Starfleet to undergo the Vulcan Kolinahr ritual, Kirk recommended Willard Decker (Stephen Collins) to become the new Captain of the Enterprise, which underwent an extensive refit. But Kirk yearned to command a starship once more and he used his rank to take over the Enterprise, demoting Decker to his First Officer, during the V’Ger crisis in Star Trek: The Motion Picture.
In Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Captain Spock yielded command of the Enterprise to Admiral Kirk, frankly telling his best friend that it was a mistake for him to accept promotion. “Commanding a starship is your first, best destiny,” the wise Vulcan said to the Admiral. “Anything else is a waste of material.” After Spock’s death, Kirk led a mutiny when he and his crew stole the Enterprise (and destroyed it) in order to reunite Spock’s katra with his body on the volatile Genesis Planet. At his court martial after he and the Enterprise crew saved the Earth from the whale probe in Star Trek: IV: The Voyage Home, Kirk’s only punishment was being demoted back to the rank of Captain, and he was given command of the U.S.S. Enterprise-A.
Admiral Christopher Pike (Kelvin Timeline)
Unlike the Prime Timeline’s Captain Pike, the Christopher Pike (Bruce Greenwood) of the Kelvin Timeline did receive a promotion to Admiral. In Star Trek 2009, Captain Pike briefly commanded the Federation flagship U.S.S. Enterprise when he was taken prisoner by the time-displaced Romulan named Nero (Eric Bana). Pike was injured during the events where Acting Captain James. T. Kirk (Chris Pine) saved Earth from Nero. Afterward, Kirk was promoted to Captain of the Enterprise, relieving the now-wheelchair-bound Pike of the starship’s command.
In Star Trek Into Darkness, Admiral Pike demoted Kirk to Commander after he violated the Prime Directive on Nibiru. Pike was given back command of the Enterprise and planned to make Kirk his First Officer but he was assassinated by Khan Noonien Singh (Benedict Cumberbatch), who was posing as Starfleet Officer John Harrison as part of the overall scheme by Admiral Alexander Marcus to militarize Starfleet into a war with the Klingons.
Admiral Hikaru Sulu
Hikaru Sulu (George Takei) was helmsman of the Starship Enterprise during Captain Kirk’s five-year mission and from Star Trek: The Motion Picture to Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. Before Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, which was set in 2293, Sulu was promoted to Captain and given command of the U.S.S. Excelsior. At the start of Star Trek VI, the Excelsior had just finished a three-year mission cataloging gaseous anomalies in the Beta Quadrant when the crew witnessed the destruction of the Klingon moon Praxis. Sulu would lead the Excelsior to help save the Federation/Klingon peace treaty in Camp Khitomer, helping Kirk and the Enterprise crew expose the conspiracy to prevent peace and the assassins of Chancellor Gorkon (David Warner).
According to Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew), Sulu was honored with his holographic portrait placed in Starfleet Headquarters; her Science Officer, Tuvok (Tim Russ), served with Sulu on the Excelsior decades before he joined the crew of the U.S.S. Voyager. The book Star Trek: Federation – The First 150 years records the pinnacle of Sulu’s Starfleet career: it contains an audio introduction by George Takei as Admiral Hikaru Sulu, Commander-in Chief of Starfleet Command.
Admiral Jean-Luc Picard
After 20 years as Captain of the U.S.S. Stargazer, Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) was given command of the Federation flagship, the Galaxy-class U.S.S. Enterprise-D, in 2364. Picard commanded the Enterprise-D for seven years of historic voyages before the starship was destroyed at Veridian III during Star Trek Generations. Picard then took command of the Sovereign-class U.S.S. Enterprise-E in Star Trek: First Contact; in total, Picard was Captain of the Enterprise for 21 years, spanning the TV run of Star Trek: The Next Generation and the four TNG movies.
The backstory of Star Trek: Picard, which includes the canonical tie-in novel Star Trek: Picard: The Last Best Hope by Una McCormack, established that Jean-Luc accepted a promotion to Admiral in 2385 in the wake of the Romulan sun going supernova. Admiral Picard took command of the U.S.S. Verity and led the Federation’s rescue fleet built to save the Romulan people from the catastrophe. However, Picard quit Starfleet in protest when the Federation abandoned the rescue mission in the wake of the attack on Mars and the ban of synthetics throughout the Alpha Quadrant in 2385. In Star Trek: Picard season 1, which is set in 2399, the Admiral is retired but Picard goes on one more mission to save the galaxy.
Admiral Kathryn Janeway
Captain Kathryn Janeway took command of the Intrepid-class U.S.S. Voyager in 2371 but she and her starship were lost in the Delta Quadrant for seven years. Star Trek: Voyager‘s series finale, “Endgame”, established an alternate timeline where Vice Admiral Janeway from the future helped Captain Janeway lead Voyager home through a Borg transwarp hub in the Delta Quadrant, although Admiral Janeway sacrificed her life and her own future timeline to do so.
Voyager returned to Earth in 2378 and Janeway was promoted to Vice Admiral, taking a position at Starfleet Command. Admiral Janeway’s lone canonical appearance was in Star Trek: Nemesis, when she contacted Captain Picard and gave him orders to conduct a diplomatic mission to Romulus at the request of the new Romulan Praetor named Shinzon (Tom Hardy). Admiral Janeway joked to Captain Picard that he “seems to get all the easy assignments”.
Admiral William T. Riker (“All Good Things…” Timeline)
Star Trek: The Next Generation‘s series finale, “All Good Things…”, showed an alternate future of 2395 that showed Admiral William T. Riker (Jonathan Frakes) in command of Starbase 247. Later, Admiral Riker leads the refitted U.S.S. Enterprise-D (complete with a third warp nacelle) to save the aged Jean-Luc Picard. Riker says the Enterprise-D was supposed to be decommissioned five years prior but one of the advantages of being an Admiral is “you get to pick your own ship”. Admiral Riker also has lingering tensions with Worf (Michael Dorn) over the death of Counselor Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) years prior.
Star Trek: Picard established that Riker hasn’t (yet) become an Admiral by 2399. Captain Riker took command of the U.S.S. Titan after marrying Troi in Star Trek: Nemesis but they both left the ship and settled on Nepenthe a few years later, hoping that the planet’s regenerative properties would help their terminally-ill son Thaddeus. Semi-retired, Acting Captain Riker took command of the U.S.S. Zheng He to rescue Jean-Luc and the synthetics living on the planet Coppelius from a Romulan invasion fleet in Star Trek: Picard‘s season 1 finale, “Et in Arcadia Ego, Part II”.
