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. As a title, "fleet admiral" can also refer to an admiral in command of a fleet, and so it is often used to refer to "mere" admirals and vice admirals.

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Notable Fleet Admirals

Name	Position
Fleet Admiral Kirsten Clancy	Commander-in-Chief, Starfleet
Fleet Admiral Teylas Ramar	Commander, Fourth Fleet

Admiral

Admiral Jean-Luc Picard is the current Chancellor of Starfleet Academy, and one of the most experienced and decorated Starfleet officers in history.

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.

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Vice Admiral

Alynna Nechayev is an example of a vice admiral who was referred to as a fleet admiral, as she commanded a fleet.

Vice Admiral is the third most senior flag officer rank and it is held by officers in a wide range of positions, ranging from the command of smaller fleets to large starbases to departments within Starfleet Command. Vice admirals are often assigned as very senior field commanders, such as Vice Admiral William Ross who had operational control over much of Starfleet's assets during the Dominion War.

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Rear Admiral

Rear Admiral is the fourth most senior flag officer rank, and the first rank referred to as "admiral." Officers with this rank are much more common than more senior flag officers, and they hold a wide variety of roles across the fleet, but especially commanding starbases or divisions of numbered fleets.

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Commodore

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