Here's how every Captain gained command of a starship throughout the Star Trek TV series and movies. Starting with Star Trek: The Original Series in 1966, most Star Trek projects revolve around a starship (or a space station), with the Captain as the primary protagonist. The exceptions are Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, where Commander Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks) wasn't promoted to Captain until season 3, Star Trek: Discovery, which centers on Commander Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green), and Star Trek: Lower Decks, which focuses on the junior officers aboard the U.S.S. Cerritos.
For most Starfleet Officers, achieving the rank of Captain and command of their own starship is the ultimate goal and the pinnacle of their careers. While many high-achieving Starfleet Officers go onto the rank of Admiral or even higher, the general consensus is that being Captain of a starship is the most desirable posting of all because, in the words of Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner), "While you're sitting in that chair, you can make a difference". And while Starfleet operates hundreds of starships across the generations of Star Trek, the most coveted Captaincy of all is the U.S.S. Enterprise, thanks to the legendary voyages of its two greatest Captains, Kirk and Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart).
Star Trek is a vast franchise that spans over 50 years of real-world popularity and over 200 years of in-universe canon. As a result, Star Trek has introduced countless characters, including numerous Captains. But the most distinguished of all are the Captains who have been at the forefront of the various Star Trek movies and TV series, which go beyond the adventures of the many incarnations of the Starship Enterprise. The Captains of the U.S.S. Voyager, Defiant, Discovery, Shenzhou, and other vessels have also indelibly contributed to Star Trek's eternal story, and here's how each Starfleet hero across the TV shows and films came to sit in the big chair of their own starship.
Captain Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula) commanded the Enterprise NX-01, Starfleet's first warp 5-capable starship. Archer's father, Dr. Henry Archer (Mark Moses), helped develop the warp 5 engine, which drove Archer's desire to command the Enterprise. Although Archer's rival A.G. Robinson (Keith Carradine) was also in contention to command the NX-01, Admiral Maxwell Forrest (Vaughn Armstrong) selected Archer as Captain of the Enterprise following an encounter with a Klingon who was attacked by a Suliban in Oklahoma, as seen in Star Trek: Enterprise's series premiere, "Broken Bow".
Following a distinguished Starfleet career, Captain Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh) was given command of the U.S.S. Shenzhou sometime prior to 2349. Georgiou was a star pupil at Starfleet Academy from 2220-2224, where she met the future Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount). Lieutenant Georgiou served aboard the U.S.S. Archimedes where, in 2239, she made first contact with Saru (Doug Jones) from Kaminar and convinced the Kelpien to go to the stars with her. Georgiou's impressive accolades include the Star Cross and the Legion of Honor. Shortly after she became Captain of the Shenzhou, Georgiou traveled to Vulcan to welcome Michael Burnham to her ship - a tragically ill-fated pairing since, as First Officer seven years later, Burnham would instigate the Klingon War of 2256-2257, which resulted in Georgiou's death.
The Captain Gabriel Lorca (Jason Isaacs) fans met in Star Trek: Discovery season 1 was his Mirror Universe doppelganger, who accidentally switched places with the Prime Universe's Lorca at some point in 2256. The Mirror Lorca was given command of the U.S.S. Discovery on the onset of the Klingon War. But little is known about the original Prime Lorca and how he took command of the U.S.S. Buran prior to 2256. However, Prime Lorca was very close with Admiral Katrina Cornwell (Jayne Brook). The Buran was destroyed one month into the Klingon War but this was after the Mirror Lorca had switched with the Prime Lorca.
After a stellar Starfleet Academy career (except for an F in Astrophysics), Christopher Pike (Jeffrey Hunter/Anson Mount) served aboard three Starfleet ships, the U.S.S. Antares, the U.S.S. Chatelet, and the U.S.S. Aryabhatta. Captain Robert April then recruited Pike to serve aboard the brand-new, Constitution-class U.S.S. Enterprise as his First Officer. In 2250, Pike was then made Captain of the Enterprise, a command he held for 15 years (with a stint commanding the U.S.S. Discovery in 2257) before he was promoted to Fleet Admiral.
The Christopher Pike (Bruce Greenwood) of the alternate Kelvin timeline had a very different Starfleet career path. From what's known about the Kelvin Universe's Pike, he was an instructor at Starfleet Academy and he wrote a dissertation on the heroic actions of Lieutenant George Kirk (Chris Hemsworth) aboard the U.S.S. Kelvin in 2233. While the U.S.S. Enterprise was under construction at Riverside Shipyard in Iowa in 2255, Pike encountered James T. Kirk at a local bar and convinced him to enlist in Starfleet.
In 2258, Pike was then assigned command of the Enterprise, the Federation flagship, and he led the Starfleet armada to rescue Vulcan from the time-displaced Romulan Nero (Eric Bana). Pike was critically injured after Nero took him prisoner; following Kirk's defeat of Nero, he was made Captain of the Enterprise while Pike was promoted to Admiral and took a position at Starfleet Headquarters.
After joining Starfleet Academy in 2252, Cadet James T. Kirk entered the Command Training Program (where he infamously cheated to beat the Kobayashi Maru no-win scenario). Paradoxically gaining a reputation as someone who went strictly "by the book", Ensign Kirk served aboard the U.S.S. Republic, where was promoted to Lieutenant. Kirk then became an instructor at Starfleet Academy before he joined the crew of the U.S.S. Farragut. Kirk had a rapid rise through the ranks and, at only 32 years old, he was promoted to Captain and assumed command of the U.S.S. Enterprise in 2365, a starship which Kirk became synonymous with. With the exception of the Enterprise-A, Captain Kirk would not command any other starship in his legendary career.
Cadet James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) experienced a meteoric rise to become Captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise in the Kelvin Timeline. As seen in J.J. Abrams' Star Trek 2009, Kirk was not originally assigned to join the Starfleet armada mobilized to rescue Vulcan from an attack by Nero. After he sneaked aboard the Enterprise thanks to Dr. Leonard McCoy (Karl Urban), Kirk was made Acting First Officer by Captain Christopher Pike, which came with a field promotion to Lieutenant. Acting Captain Spock (Zachary Quinto) banished Kirk from the Enterprise, but when Kirk returned, he proved Spock was too emotionally compromised to command the starship. Kirk then promoted himself to Acting Captain and led the defeat of Nero. As a result, Starfleet Command promoted Kirk to Captain and gave him the Enterprise, relieving the injured Captain Pike.
After serving as Science Officer under Captain Christopher Pike, Commander Spock (Leonard Nimoy) held the dual-rank of First Officer and Science Officer during the U.S.S. Enterprise's five-year mission under Captain James T. Kirk. Spock resigned his commission to undergo the Vulcan Kolinahr ritual but he returned to Starfleet following the encounter with V'ger as seen in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Spock was promoted to Captain and assigned to Starfleet Academy wherein he took over command of the Starship Enterprise, which became a training vessel. Captain Spock then relinquished command to Admiral Kirk in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Following his death and resurrection, Captain Spock's next and final time commanding the Enterprise was during the events of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, when he led the mission to rescue Kirk and Dr. Leonard McCoy (DeForrest Kelley) from the Klingon penal colony Rura Penthe.
Lieutenant Hiraku Sulu was the helmsman of the Captain Kirk's U.S.S. Enterprise during its original five-year mission, where he specialized in weapons and navigation in the Command Division. Sulu remained at the helm of the refitted Enterprise during the mission to intercept V'Ger in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Sulu then entered the Command Training Program while continuing to serve as helmsman of the Enterprise and the U.S.S. Enterprise-A from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan to Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. In 2290, Sulu was promoted to Captain and given command of the U.S.S. Excelsior, where he led a three-year mission cataloging gaseous anomalies in the Beta Quadrant. Captain Sulu and the Excelsior then joined Kirk's Enterprise to save the Klingon/Federation peace conference at Camp Khitomer in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.
Captain John Harriman (Alan Ruck) took command of the newly-commissioned Excelsior-class U.S.S. Enterprise-B in 2203. As seen in Star Trek Generations, Harriman's shakedown cruise for his new starship, which included the media and special guests Captain James T. Kirk, Montogomery Scott (James Doohan), and Pavel Chekov (Walter Koenig), was ill-prepared to encounter the energy ribbon called the Nexus. The inexperienced Captain Harriman's inaugural outing resulted in the supposed death of Kirk. While the circumstances of how Harriman became Captain of the Enterprise were never mentioned on-screen, Star Trek producer Rick Berman offered the character's intended backstory: Harriman was from a wealthy, politically connected family and they bought him command of the Enterprise-B as a stepping stone to a political career.
The only female Captain of the Enterprise, Rachel Garrett commanded the Ambassador-class U.S.S. Enterprise-C, which was caught in a temporal anomaly in 2344 and met Captain Picard's U.S.S. Enterprise-D in 2366, as seen in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Yesterday's Enterprise". Captain Garrett also perished in that episode. Since this was Captain Garrett's lone canonical appearance, the circumstances of how she became Enterprise Captain aren't known, but the apocryphal Star Trek novels developed Garrett's backstory: She served as a Lieutenant on the U.S.S. Argo and as First Officer on the U.S.S. Carthage before Garrett was made Captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise-C in 2332.
While Captain Jean-Luc Picard is closely associated with the U.S.S. Enterprise-D and E, the Federation flagship was not his first starship command. Rather, Picard was Captain of the U.S.S. Stargazer before he was given the Enterprise. After being transferred "dozens of times" (in his own words), Picard was the helmsman aboard the Stargazer in 2333 when his captain was killed on the bridge. Picard assumed command of the vessel, and Starfleet later assigned him the Stargazer's Captaincy. Captain Picard led the Stargazer for over 20 years, and this experience is what prompted Starfleet to assign Picard command of the Galaxy-class Enterprise-D in 2364. Picard would remain Captain of the Enterprise for 21 years before his promotion to Admiral in 2385.
The first lead of a Star Trek series who wasn't a Captain, Commander Benjamin Sisko took over the former Cardassian space station Terok Nor, which was rechristened by Starfleet as Deep Space Nine, in 2369. Prior to his DS9 posting, Sisko served on the U.S.S. Livingston, the U.S.S. Okinawa, and he was the First Officer of the U.S.S. Saratoga during the Battle of Wolf 359 against the Borg, where his wife Jennifer (Felicia M. Bell) was killed. After three years as DS9's commander, Sisko was finally promoted to Captain in 2371 and he was given command of the U.S.S. Defiant (NX-74205). The unique starship, which Sisko helped design, was built to fight the Borg, and it served Captain Sisko well during the Dominion War.
Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) took command of the U.S.S. Voyager in 2371 but on her first mission to find a missing Maquis vessel, but both starships were swept in a displacement wave that stranded them in the Delta Quadrant. Janeway courageously led Voyager on a seven-year voyage back to Earth, which earned her a promotion to Vice Admiral in 2379. Prior to her tenure on Voyager, Lieutenant Janeway served as Science Officer on the U.S.S. Al-Batini, and then she transferred to the U.S.S. Billings with the rank of Commander, experiences which primed Janeway to become the Captain of the U.S.S. Voyager.
Commander Will Riker (Jonathan Frakes) served as the First Officer on the U.S.S. Enterprise-D for 15 years and he famously turned down several promotions to command his own ship, including the U.S.S. Drake, the U.S.S. Aries, and the U.S.S. Melbourne. But by 2379, with Jean-Luc Picard still having no intention of relinquishing command of the Enterprise-E, Riker made pivotal life decisions: He married his Imzadi, Counselor Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis), and it was finally time for Will to accept a long-delayed promotion to Captain. Riker moved on to command the U.S.S. Titan, which he and Troi took over after Star Trek: Nemesis. In Star Trek: Picard's era 20 years later, Riker is semi-retired but he 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.
The newest Star Trek TV series, Star Trek: Lower Decks introduced Captain Carol Freeman (Dawnn Lewis), who commands the California-class U.S.S. Cerritos. Since the animated comedy centers on the junior officers of the Cerritos, including Freeman's daughter Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome), Star Trek: Lower Decks has yet to reveal how Freeman gained command of the Cerritos, which specializes in Second Contact missions, but she feels her and her starship are deserving of better things.
Although it hasn't been seen or spoken of in a Star Trek TV series (yet), Worf (Michael Dorn) is the new Captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise-E in Star Trek: Picard's era according to the CBS All-Access series' canonical tie-in novel Star Trek: Picard: The Last Best Hope by Una McCormack. When the Romulan sun went supernova, Jean-Luc Picard accepted a promotion to Admiral in order to lead the Federation's rescue fleet to save the Romulan people. Picard relinquished command of the Enterprise to his First Officer, Worf, despite Starfleet's objections due to a black mark on his record the Klingon obtained during his time on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
Cristobal Rios doesn't command a Starfleet ship but he was a former C0mmander who served on the U.S.S. ibn Majid. After a tragedy where his Captain, Alonzo Vandemeer, murdered two synthetic ambassadors from the planet Coppelius, and then committed suicide, Rios covered up the incident and was subsequently discharged from Starfleet. Rios took over the starship La Sirena as her Captain but he later took on a motley crew, including retired Admiral Jean-Luc Picard, as seen in Star Trek: Picard season 1.
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