Rank & role
First Navigator
The captain-equivalent of a T-class vessel: commands the ship and the traversal decision, and answers for the drift calculation and the crew. The most-used rank in the franchise (179 occurrences in published prose); abbreviated FN.
Table
Rank & role
Ladder
Navigation — a licensed technical qualification
Canon status
Confirmed
About the rank & role
Two ladders run in parallel and are frequently confused: a NAVIGATION ladder, which is a licensed technical qualification, and a COMMAND ladder, which is an institutional appointment. A ship can carry a highly-rated navigator who commands nothing, and the rank of Captain did not exist at all until it was created mid-voyage in 2192.