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The USS Malinche is a Proud Member of

Starfleet Rank Structure

Flag Officers

Grade	Naval Rank	Marine Rank
O-10	Fleet Admiral	Field Marshall
O-10	Admiral	General
O-9	Vice Admiral	Lieutenant General
O-8	Rear Admiral	Major General
O-7	Commodore	Brigadier General

Commissioned Officers

Both the naval and marine ranks follow the U.S. navy with one noted exception. The marine rank of O-3 is 'Lieutenant-Major' rather the USMC rank of 'Captain.' (Cpt.) Basically, this is to get around the 'honorary' brevet of 'Major' of said marines while on naval vessels, which is done to avoid confusion with the naval Captain of the ship. In other words, we are skirting the problem altogether with the usage of the LTM rank.

Grade	Naval Rank	Marine Rank
O-6	Captain	Colonel
O-5	Commander	Lieutenant Colonel
O-4	Lieutenant Commander	Major
O-3	Lieutenant	Captain/Lieutenant-Major
O-2	Lieutenant, Junior Grade	First Lieutenant
O-1	Ensign	Second Lieutenant

Enlisted Crewmen

Grade	Naval Rate	Marine Rank
E-11	Master Chief Petty Officer of Starfleet	Sergeant-Major of Starfleet
E-10	Master Chief Petty Officer of Intel. Fleet	Sergeant-Major of Intel. Fleet
E-9	Master Chief Petty Officer	Sergeant-Major
E-8	Senior Chief Petty Officer	Master Sergeant
E-7	Chief Petty Officer	Gunnery Sergeant
E-6	Petty Officer First Class	Staff Sergeant
E-5	Petty Officer Second Class	Sergeant
E-4	Petty Officer Third Class	Corporal
E-3	Crewman	Lance Corporal
E-2	Crewman Apprentice	Private First Class
E-1	Crewman Recruit	Private

Limited Duty Officers

All warrant officers have an enlisted background (with the occasional ranking of exchange personnel from foreign services as such). They are selected from among the most highly skilled petty officers in a variety of fields with an eye towards providing experienced officers to perform highly specialized tasks. Their service is generally limited to the area of their enlisted expertise. While they are subordinate to commissioned officers, they very much rate 'sir' from enlisted personnel and are generally afforded a great deal of respect for their experience and valued for their role. Fairly rare, warrants compose less than 5% of the overall service.

Grade	Insignia	Naval Rank
W-4		Chief Warrant Officer
W-2		Warrant Officer

Cadets

Insignia	Naval Rate	Marine Rank	Insignia
	Cadet 4th Year	Cadet 4th Year
	Cadet 3rd Year	Cadet 3rd Year
	Cadet 2nd Year	Cadet 2nd Year
	Cadet 1st Year	Cadet 1st Year

Forms of Address

The game standard is that of Her Majesty's Navy. It is relatively simple and nearly reflects that of Star Trek: The Next Generation. It implies:

Flag officers: All flag officers are called 'Admiral,' in direct address, regardless of grade.
The Captain is called 'Captain' in direct address, regardless of grade. Some smaller ships have captains which are not Captains (O-6); however, while on their vessels they are addressed as 'Captain.'
Any other officer is called either by rank or 'Mister.' Note below on truncation of Naval O-4/O-2 and the marine ranks.
'Mister' is an appropriate form of address both for superiors and subordinates. You may call a superior upto the rank of O-4 'Mister' without giving offense. Courtesy dictates calling the XO 'Commander,' if he is an O-4 or O-5.

U.S. Naval Protocol for some vessels: (CO's will advise)

Flag Officers (O-7/F-1 through O-11/F-5)
All admirals, regardless of their rank, are addressed as 'Admiral,' not 'Branch Admiral,' 'Senior Admiral,' 'Fleet Admiral,' etc.
Senior Naval Officers (O-4 to O-6)
Captains and full commanders are addressed as 'Captain' and 'Commander,' respectively. A lieutenant commander is addressed as 'Commander.' At his pleasure, an O-6 and above may address an O-4 (LCDR) as 'Mister,' but he should know that he is giving offense to the officer, by implying that he is a junior officer.
Junior Naval Officers (O-1 to O-3)
Junior officers are addressed either by their ranks or as 'Mister Smith.' They should refer to each other in this manner. At the pleasure of senior officers, female junior officers may be called 'Ms. Smith.'

Should we encounter any cadets, midshipmen, or officer-candidates, they are addressed as 'Mr./Ms. Smith.'

Additional Protocol (USN and RN)

Limited Duty Officers
Warrant Officers are properly addressed as 'Mr. McGuinn,' etc. They are not to be called 'Chief' in the NAVY. They very definitely rate 'Sir,' from enlisted crewman and NCOs.
Marine Ranks
Marines are addressed by their rank. They are not called 'Mister.' Obviously, in direct address, LMaj and LCol's are called 'Major' and 'Colonel' respectively.
NCOs and Enlisted crewmen
NCOs are addressed solely by their rank. All chief petty officers regardless of grade are called 'Chief.' Likewise, all 'Corporals' and 'Sergeants' are called such, regardless of their grades. A 'Sergeant-Major' is called such, unless an officer wants his teeth knocked out. Enlisted crewman are typically called by last names, *without* 'Mister' attached or as 'Yeoman.'
Ways to report
There are two 'accepted' ways to report:

"Smith, John, *Master Chief Pettty Officer* reporting for orders, Sir."

(preferred by hard core old liners and NCOs AND marines.)

"Ensign John Smith reporting for orders, Sir."

(preferred by most junior officers.)

webpage design and original layout courtesy of Joshua D. Smith, (c) 2000
used by permission