Starfleet Flag Officers

Starfleet Flag Officers are the senior-most Starfleet officers, so-named for the old Earth naval tradition of hoisting a command flag to designate the lead ship in a group of ships, the flagship. Flag Officers in Starfleet command groups of ships (from task groups to entire fleets) and important starbases, and also serve in staff roles at various levels of the Starfleet hierarchy. There are five flag officer ranks.

Fleet Admiral

Fleet Admiral Kirsten Clancy is the current Commander, Starfleet, and one of the few fleet admirals on active duty.

Fleet Admiral is the highest rank in Starfleet, held by an extremely select few, including the Commander-in-Chief, the Chief of Starfleet Operations, the Starfleet Chief of Staff, and the most senior commanders of the most important Numbered Fleets. Promotion to this rank requires a nomination by the President of the United Federation of Planets and confirmation by the Federation Council. As a matter of course, only members of the Command Division are ever promoted to this rank.

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Admiral

Admiral is the second most senior flag rank, held by many of the Starfleet Joint Chiefs, who head fleet-level departments, as well as the commanders and deputy commanders of many of Starfleet's numbered fleets. Officers of this rank also are occasionally assigned to command extremely important starbases or sectors within the Federation, but this is exceedingly rare.

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