Crew Rank Insignia?

[Chaos Descending]

One thing that's tripping me out about this show is that everyone (except Captain Pike and Cadet Uhura) seems to have two rank braids on their sleeve, indicating that they are a Commander.

Anyone else notice this? Lot's of people running around with Commander stripes even though they are just a Lieutenant or what-have-you.

 

[Donald G]

One thing that's tripping me out about this show is that everyone (except Captain Pike and Cadet Uhura) seems to have two rank braids on their sleeve, indicating that they are a Commander.

Anyone else notice this? Lot's of people running around with Commander stripes even though they are just a Lieutenant or what-have-you.

Yes, it has been noticed and commented upon. We've just largely stopped talking about it by now.

 

[Timofnine]

Maybe they are commanders of different departments? Not the ship?

 

[TRON JA307020]

One thing that's tripping me out about this show is that everyone (except Captain Pike and Cadet Uhura) seems to have two rank braids on their sleeve, indicating that they are a Commander.

Anyone else notice this? Lot's of people running around with Commander stripes even though they are just a Lieutenant or what-have-you.

Yeah I have. It's the people producing it that don't understand the rank stripes.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

I'm not sure the TOS rank stripes were ever understood by anyone, much less anyone associated with the show.

They should have gone with US Navy sleeve rank insignia, the way TNG did (in it's own way with the pips).

 

[UssGlenn]

Two stripes, but La'an and Ortegas have a wide stripe and a narrow stripe. So they have lieutenant commander stripes but are refered to as lieutenants. Did I hear right in the Illyria episode Una called a Lieutenant Commander? And she has the two wide stripes of a Commander.

 

[fireproof78]

One thing that's tripping me out about this show is that everyone (except Captain Pike and Cadet Uhura) seems to have two rank braids on their sleeve, indicating that they are a Commander.

Anyone else notice this? Lot's of people running around with Commander stripes even though they are just a Lieutenant or what-have-you.

Yup. Slightly irritating but reminds me of the two TOS pilots.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

Two stripes, but La'an and Ortegas have a wide stripe and a narrow stripe. So they have lieutenant commander stripes but are refered to as lieutenants. Did I hear right in the Illyria episode Una called a Lieutenant Commander? And she has the two wide stripes of a Commander.

See, USN has one wide stripe and one narrow stripe as a Lt. JG. Lt. Cdr. is two wide and one narrow.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Yep. WNMHGB. Captains had two and every one else had one.

 

[Chaos Descending]

Yep. WNMHGB. Captains had two and every one else had one.

And in “The Cage”, senior officers wore one stripe. Everyone else had none.

 

[Chaos Descending]

Yes, it has been noticed and commented upon. We've just largely stopped talking about it by now.

I didn’t see a thread on it. Sorry.

 

[fireproof78]

I didn’t see a thread on it. Sorry.

Wasn't really a thread. Mostly random comments on all the individual character threads and uniforms seen in promotional stills.

 

[C.E. Evans]

Isn't it just a case that the rank stripes in SNW are wrong for most of the cast? They got Pike and Number One right, but almost everyone else has one stripe too many?

 

[The Wormhole]

Something I noticed with the ranks, nearly everyone on the show is a Lieutenant. The only exceptions are Pike, who is a Captain. Number One, a Lt. Commander and Uhura, a Cadet. Gray areas for M'Benga, who I don't think his had his rank established yet, and Chapel, who shouldn't have a rank since they said she's a civilian, but she wears a uniform with rank insignia anyway.

But regardless, Spock, La'an, Ortegas, Hemmer and Sam Kirk are all confirmed to be Lieutenants. Seems kind of odd, the flagship with a crew of over 200 has so many Lieutenants in key positions. Seems like they're compensating for the fact that Disco, a science ship with a crew of only 130 (while they were in the 23rd century) had a majority of its personnel ranked Lt. Commander and above.

 

[C.E. Evans]

I think it depends on the billet of a particular ship and its mission. The Enterprise may only warrant a handful of officers of lieutenant commander grade and above--at this time. That may change later down the road if the ship gets a larger crew or its mission profile changes, IMO.

 

[farbeyondthestars]

Pike: Captain w/Captain stripes
Una: Lt Cmdr w/ Cmdr stripes
Spock: Lt w/ Lt stripes
La'an: Lt w/ Lt Cmdr stripes
Ortegas: Lt w/ Lt Cmdr stripes
Uhura: 4th year cadet w/ 4th year cadet badge and no stripes
M'Benga: Cmdr stripes
Chapel: Cmdr stripes
Hemmer: Cmdr stripes

My headcanon: Lt Cmdr is abbreviated as Lieutenant instead of Commander for some reason. Still doesn't explain Una.

 

[Avro Arrow]

It is confusing, at least compared to what we've seen before. But then again, there have been a number of errors around costuming and dialogue related to rank in previous series, too.

Pike has the two wide, one narrow that we've come to expect for captains.

Una has two wide, but is a lieutenant commander. Not sure if this is a "mistake", or a deliberate callback to TOS season 1, when they did the same thing for Spock, Finney and Giotto. (But McCoy and Scotty had one-and-a-half for the same rank.) Una had one wide, one narrow in Discovery season 2, but I don't remember if her rank was mentioned in dialogue.

Kirk is a lieutenant, and has one wide. (This matches full lieutenant from TOS.)

Spock, Ortegas and La'an are all lieutenants and have one wide, one narrow. Possibly this is a change in the system from what we saw from TOS, and it now represents full lieutenant, while one stripe is lieutenant J.G.? Spock only had a single wide stripe in Discovery season 2, and was also called a lieutenant.

Hemmer is apparently also a lieutenant, and he has two wide, like Una. This one is harder to explain, unless he is also a lieutenant commander who was accidentally called lieutenant, like Shelby was once.

As mentioned above, M'Benga and Chapel both have two wide, but AFAIK their ranks haven't been mentioned in dialogue. As @The Wormhole mentioned, the first episode implied Chapel may be a civilian, but it's also possible she got some kind of provisional rank, similar to the Maquis on Voyager.

Ensign Christina appears to have no stripes, just like in TOS. I had thought that maybe if they bumped up each of the higher grades, they might have given ensigns a narrow stripe to differentiate them from non-officer crew, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

If lieutenant J.G, lieutenant, and lieutenant commander were all bumped up one level from what we saw in TOS, then I'm not sure what would represent full commander. They could have made it two wide, one narrow, if they had given Pike three wide.

(Also, I find the red and blue stripes hard to see, but that's neither here nor there. )

 

[Donald G]

Two stripes, but La'an and Ortegas have a wide stripe and a narrow stripe. So they have lieutenant commander stripes but are refered to as lieutenants. Did I hear right in the Illyria episode Una called a Lieutenant Commander? And she has the two wide stripes of a Commander.

I didn't hear anyone in "Ghosts of Illyria" refer to Una as Lieutenant-Commander. The only reference to her rank I recall was the line, "Commander Chinn-Riley to Transporter Room, what's going on?"

Was there another reference to her rank in that episode (or others) that I missed?

 

[The Wormhole]

Una had one wide, one narrow in Discovery season 2, but I don't remember if her rank was mentioned in dialogue.

I didn't hear anyone in "Ghosts of Illyria" refer to Una as Lieutenant-Commander. The only reference to her rank I recall was the line, "Commander Chinn-Riley to Transporter Room, what's going on?"

Was there another reference to her rank in that episode (or others) that I missed?

Not dialogue, or Disco in the strictest sense, but IIRC, her computer pad in the Q&A Short Trek did list her as "Lt. Commander Una."

 

[Donald G]

Not dialogue, or Disco in the strictest sense, but IIRC, her computer pad in the Q&A Short Trek did list her as "Lt. Commander Una."

"Q&A" was set sometime before "The Cage" and at least five years before SNW Season One if the 2259 date for SNW holds true. She could easily have gone up a grade in the intervening years.