captain of a ship or military rank

[QoghtlhIH'u']

Hi there,

The title "captain"  is a military rank, higher than lieutenant and lower than ??
But a captain is also the commander of a ship, a boat, a Terran sea faring vessel or a Klingon space ship. Can anyone explain to me how this ambiguity of the term "captain"  is resolved in the Klingon Defence Force or is there another term used for one of the two different meanings? Surely there must be lots of spaceships with officers that rank higher than captain, yet these ships must have a ship's commander of their own.
I guess the same "problem" exists on aircraft carriers or even lesser navy vessels.

QoghtlhIH'u'

[K'Voth]

I think it depends on the rank structure of the organisation. As far as i am aware captain is not equivalent between the navy and the army in the UK. They are completely different ranks and responsibilities. Naval captains have command of vessels. (In the case of the Merchant navy [My dad was a captain] The captain holds a master mariners qualification and is in command of a vessel) Any rank above this may hold command if that is what their orders state.

In the case of the star trek universe, Although i am not certain in starfleet terms, captain is both a rank and an honorific. In rank terms it is given to the overall commander of a vessel, it is possibly the minimum rank for an officer to be given direct command. Although Admirals, commodors and fleet captains have existed over the years. With varying responsibilities and amounts of ships under their authority. Used as an honorific it has been used for whomsoever regardless of rank is in command at that time. As for the Klingon defense force, the rank structure is somewhat difficult to find equivalence for as it seems to be a mix of Army and Navy terminology.

[QoghtlhIH'u']

Hi Kvoth,

Klingon for the Galactic Traveler lists all the ranks in the Klingon Defense Force, but that does not really answer the question.
My uncle was Main Mechanic on Dutch cargo ships and he was succeeded in rank by the First, Second and Third Mechanic (or Engineer if you like, I do not remember how this was called in English). At least on Dutch ships the First Helmsman and the Second Helmsman succeed the captain, this I know because I was a passenger crossing the Atlantic a few times before flying became cheaper. As far as I know the Admiral is the one who is in charge of several captains in the navy. I can imagine that when an Admiral is actually on a ship, the captain still is the boss of the ship, although there also is a"boatswain" who is actually bossing the deckhands around.

QoghtlhIH'u'