rank

Ranks and Positions

Commodore

Starfleet Commodores were senior officers who could be assigned to starships or starbases, where they acted as Starfleet Command’s representatives in the field.	A Commodore is essentially a senior captain with some additional responsibilities.
	Some Commodores, such as Matthew Decker, were still assigned to starship command and had the same duties as captains. However, most Commodores were assigned to starbases, where they had administrative duties.
	For example, in 2267, Commodore Stone was the commanding officer at Starbase 11, and was responsible for the deployment of the starships in his sector, which included the USS Enterprise NCC-1701.
	The captains under his command made regular visits to the starbase, where their ships were scheduled for routine maintenance. Among his other duties, the Commodore was responsible for prioritizing any repair work.
Investigating officer	Whenever a captain visited the starbase, regulations required him to submit a full report of his activities to the Commodore, who was obliged to investigate any deaths that had occurred during the ship’s mission. This was normally a routine task, since the ship’s logs were used to confirm the captain’s sworn statement about the circumstances.
	However, if any evidence of wrongdoing was uncovered, the Commodore could convene a court-martial panel to investigate the events in question.
	Commodores assigned to a starbase acted as Starfleet Command’s representative for the region, providing a direct link between the captains and the admiralty. As befitted their rank, they had wide discretionary powers.
	In emergencies, they organized Starfleet’s response to any threat. For example, when a sector of the Galaxy apparently ceased to exist for a few seconds in 2267, Commodore Barstow ordered most starships to withdraw from the affected region and sent the Enterprise to investigate the source of the disturbance.
	Commodores also organized activities that involved several starships, such as the battlefield testing of the M-5 computer in 2267, which was coordinated by Commodore Robert Wesley.
Varied backgrounds	Most Commodores had experience of starship command, but some were promoted from other divisions. Commodore Stocker, for instance, had never commanded a starship and had relatively poor understanding of the practicalities of deep space exploration.
	In contrast, Commodore Wesley was an admired tactician who saved hundreds of lives when he realized that the malfunctioning M-5 computer had been disabled and broke off his attack on the Enterprise.