Star Trek: How EVERY Captain Became Captain

To be the captain of a starship, an officer must usually undergo years of training. Only the valuable experience gained from years in the field can leave a commanding officer ready to be responsible for the lives of their crew.

Though there are command training programs, this does not guarantee the rank of captain. Nor, it seems, is the rank of captain exclusive to those who have won the most battles or made the most first contacts with alien species. The rank of captain can be held in various fields, an example of which being Captain Montgomery Scott, promoted while placed in command of the engineering department on the USS Excelsior.

While many of the captains on this list have commanded a certain ship named Enterprise, they are not the only ships in the fleet. The names here are listed in chronological order, beginning before the founding of the Federation and leading up to the current incarnation of Starfleet.

The wealth of experience listed here has come, not simply from the actions seen on screen, but from details of further exploits across other media. Star Trek has a wealth of apocrypha to its name, allowing for a deeper understanding of the years both before and after we meet the stars of the shows.

As the first Captain in the NX test program, Archer had a lot of history weighing on his shoulders. The Earth-Vulcan alliance was looking to Enterprise as the test run on Human Space Exploration.

Archer was selected based on a varied career, both in academics and practice. He had entered flight school at a very young age, as he had been able to seek advice from his father, who passed away when Jonathan was twelve. His father had been one of the minds behind the Warp Five Engine.

A young Archer met Zefram Cochrane, further inspiring him to continue with his dream of space flight. Eager to get into space, before Starfleet was chartered, he considered serving aboard a cargo ship, though decided against it.

With the rank of Commander, he enrolled in the NX program and became rivals with A.G. Robinson. Robinson beat him to becoming the first pilot in the NX Alpha, a test ship with engines designed by Archer's father. A flaw led to the ship's destruction, though Robinson survived. He returned to Earth and he and Archer came to blows over that flaw, which Archer didn't want to believe.

However, the pair (along with Trip Tucker) worked to improve the engine quality on the NX-Beta, which Archer piloted this time. They solve the issue with the engine, receiving a reprimand for their efforts. Almost directly as a result of this, Admiral Maxwell Forrest gave Archer the captaincy of the NX-01 Enterprise.