The Original Series’ Chain Of Command, Explained

As all Trekkies can tell you, Captain Kirk (William Shatner), the captain of the USS Enterprise, would regularly — and unwisely — go on away missions. The captain of the Federation flagship could, on a whim, beam down to dangerous, unknown worlds where he could easily be killed by salt vampires, rock monsters, and God knows what else. What’s more, Kirk often brought his chief medical officer Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley), and his first officer, Spock (Leonard Nimoy). It’s a well-worn, incredulous joke among Trekkies that a large portion of the Enterprise’s senior staff would so often leave the ship behind to check out, say, the poison dart flower planet.

When Kirk and Spock were off the ship, the Enterprise was often put in the command of Scotty (James Doohan), the chief engineer. One might wonder if Scotty wanted Kirk and Spock to run into a mishap on an away mission to receive a sudden career bump. Which then leads one to wonder what the actual chain of command was on “Star Trek.” We all know Kirk was the captain, and Spock was his first officer, and Scotty was his second officer. But Starfleet is a militarily-structured space navy, and would no doubt have a long line of succession extending down through the ranks, listing each officer that would become captain, should the previous one die in a horrible accident.

There are a few things we can infer from the positions in which certain Enterprise bridge officers worked, and some fans have published their theories on the matter. There are no canonical sources, although one might be able to delve into expanded universe lore — and their knowledge of the ranks and positions on a starship — to find out just who is in charge on the USS Enterprise.

On the Sci-Fi & Fantasy website, a fan posited that the line of succession changes depending on who is working on the bridge at any given time. For instance, if Captain Kirk is injured or incapacitated while he’s on the bridge, the line of succession would be dictated by rank and rank alone. Because Spock is the second highest-ranked officer on the bridge, he would take command. Of course, as the first officer, one can assume he would take command no matter what his rank was. He is a Commander (although he was referred to as a lieutenant commander early in the series).

Scotty may be the second officer, but he rarely works on the bridge, spending most of his time in main engineering. Hence, next in line after Spock would, during an emergency, be Lieutenant Sulu (George Takei). Although he shares a rank with Lieutenant Uhura (Nichelle Nichols), he seems to be the more natural selection for a command position by dint of his uniform color. He wears the golden tunic, indicating that he is on the command career track. Uhura, who wears a red uniform, is on the operations career track. Uhura, though, would take over if Sulu was taken out.

Below them would be Ensign Chekov (Walter Koenig, who knew “Star Trek” was doomed early on), who, while only an ensign, seems to be a member of the ship’s senior staff. If Kirk, Spock, Sulu, and Uhura were all unable to perform their duties, Chekov would have his time to shine. If he, too, were taken out, then the highest-ranked officer on the bridge at the time would take command.

But what’s the actual chain of command on paper?

In a 1996 interview with Cinefantastique Magazine, Nichelle Nichols pointed out that Uhura was fourth in command after Scotty. This played out in the episode of “Star Trek: The Animated Series” (the second-best “Star Trek” animated series) called “The Lorelei Signal,” wherein all of the men on the Enterprise had been incapacitated, and Uhura became the commander. It was the only time in “Star Trek” history that her character was expressly in charge of the ship.

So, on paper, the commander structure seems to be, in descending order, Kirk, Spock, Scotty, Uhura. This stands in contrast, however, to the ranking system above. Uhura would take command before Sulu. There is, of course, some debate on the matter, and Reddit threads don’t seem to have come up with one definitive answer. If Uhura was indeed the fourth in command, however, she would indeed take control of the Enterprise before Sulu.

Of course, even that chain of command goes out the window if the captain expressly assigns someone else to be in command while they’re away. If Kirk turns to, say, Ensign Ramirez and says, “You are to take command while I go on this mission to Death World,” then Ensign Ramirez will captain the Enterprise, even if Spock is also on the bridge. Spock might question why Kirk is ignoring the ordinary chain of command — it would be an unusual order — but if Kirk explains himself well enough, then Spock will have to follow Ensign Ramirez’s orders until Kirk returns.

So the chain of command is clear, but it’s not set in stone. It all seems to be based on which officer is the most trusted, the highest ranked, and also where they fall in the official chain.