2270's-2340's
2271-2277 : Ranks and Insignia : Page 1

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YELLOW ALERT This page relates to 2271-2277, the period up to USS Enterprise NCC-1701's retirement in 2277 from exploratory services and its assignment to Starfleet Academy. The events of [Star Trek: The Motion Picture] take place in 2271.

 

When Starfleet revises its uniform pattern in the early 2270's, the change is prompted in part by a re-alignment of duty divisions and a wholesale change in the concept of the visual system used to identify the different departments.

Previously, Starfleet personnel has been assigned to only three divisions: command, science, and operations. The revisions of 2271 re-orders these three divisions into six in order to identify training and assignments more specifically. The move requires a change in how each department is identified; uniform colours are now used to identify specific assignments rather than the wearer's overall role, so that an officer may wear uniforms of several different colours during the course of their duties (which cannot be but burdensome and time-consuming).

Traditional duty divisions retain their own colour, but rather than comprising the entire tunic it is reduced to part of the woven chest insignia patch and epaulets on routine Class-A and Class-B uniforms, and the armbands of landing party field jackets. The chest patch itself undergoes an important redesign. In the new scheme, the symbol used for the ship or facility is layered onto a circle of background colour that identifies the wearer's division.

The colour used for Starfleet's command department switches from mustard-yellow to white. The old science department changes from blue to orange. The medical division is split off and given a green hue for its dedicated insignia. In addition, wearers of medical garments can sport the caduceus on the white surgical uniforms, which are worn as an alternate to their regular outfit. The former operations division is divided into three separate groups: engineering, security and operations. Engineering retains the classic red, while security changes to grey. The operations division is now designated with a pale gold background to its insignia. Badges and division colours are illustrated on the next page.

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ADMIRAL For the first time, the Starfleet rank system of the 2270's distinguishes between the ranks held by flag officers, providing separate insignia for all levels from rear admiral to fleet admiral e.g. Admiral Kirk wears a triple-width embroidered gold braid with a single solid braid behind it on each cuff; on the shoulder epaulets an 8-pointed star denotes his rank. CAPTAIN On uniform shoulder epaulets, this rank is denoted by 3 gold lines, the middle one being broken; this is the same on the cuff insignia of the previous uniform. The basic design is also retained on the cuffs; single-width unbroken gold braids sit each sid of a single-width broken braid. Captains usually wear their rank indicators on a white background.   COMMANDER This rank remains unchanged from the 2260's uniform insignia, and is thus identified by 2 unbroken, single-width gold lines on the shirt cuff and epaulets. Officers of this rank in more hands-on roles e.g. Chief Engineer Scott, wear righter-fitting cuffs to ensure that loose sleeves do not snag on equipment while they are working.   LIEUTENANT COMMANDER This rank also retains the same insignia as in the old system; a single unbroken gold band is worn on the shirt cuff closest to the wrist, with a broken band of equal width behind it. This is reflected on the shoulder epaulets.

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LIEUTENANT All lieutenants wear a single, unbroken gold band on their shirt cuffs and shoulder epaulets, as they had in the 2260's. Unlike later systems of rank indicators, there is no differentiation between junior and senior grade lieutenants, if indeed a distinction is made at all in this period. The major change is that this is no longer the lowest rank to have insignia. ENSIGN This rank is differentiated for the first time in the 2270's system (in the old system, ensigns had blank cuffs, as did non-commissioned officers and enlisted crew). An ensign now has a single-width, broken gold braid, on the shirt cuffs, and epaulets, but this was not as intricately woven as the solid bands of superior officers.   CHIEF Non-commissioned officers are also given a specific rank indicator for the first time in this system. Rather than the gold lines used to differentiate the ranks of officers, an NCO wears a gold square on a duty-division specific, colour-coded shoulder epaulet. Unlike commissioned officers, however, the NCO does not have the design repeated on the cuffs of the uniform sleeves. LANDING PARTY If a landing party has to wear additional clothing it is still important that rank be identifiable at a glance. Therefore the landing party jacket has a thin band on the upper arm of the left sleeve. The band is colour-colded to display duty divisions, and specifies the wearer's rank in a series of vertical, slanting gold lines that match the system of rank indicators worn on the duty uniforms.