Outline · [ Standard ] · Linear+ Starfleet's Worst Captain

A spin off from Ken's thread. Which Starfleet Capt. would you least want to serve under?
These are the only ones I could think of. If you've got others, feel free to add them.

Captain Maxwell, USS Phoenix - In the TNG ep "The Wounded" he was waging his own little private war against the Cardassians.

Captain Styles, USS Excelsior - The ship's first CO from ST III. I not sure about him. He was definitely a pompous @ss, but that didn't neccessarily make him a bad leader. I don't think there's enough to go on with him.

Captain Ransom, USS Equinox - Just an evil guy. He thought his actions were justified, but I'm sure Hittler thought his own action were justified too.

Captain Esteban, USS Grissom - The science ship from ST III. The guy was just completely useless. There's a line in Band of Brothers that sums up Esteban, "He wasn't a bad officer because he made bad decisions, he was a bad officer because he made NO decisions"

Captain Sulu, USS Excelsior - I'm sure this'll be controversial here. On Voyager we learned that Sulu tried to rescue Kirk and McCoy on his own. During this attempt Excelsior was attacked by Klingons and Lt. Valtane was killed. We also learn that this battle was not in the ships logs and Sulu had falsified the logs. I have no problem with him trying to rescue his friends, but lying about an unauthorized mission which resulted in the death crewmember just to cover his own @ss is pretty low in my opinion. Did he lie about it to Valtane's parents too?

The Enterprise B captain from Generations was pretty clueless too

Did he go straight from the Academy to the captains chair?

Nominations for worst captain (great topic by the way):

1. Captain John Harriman USS Enterprise-B (STG)
A total stooge. Kes would make a better Starfleet Captain than this guy. "Leadership and Decision Making 101??? Class doesn't commence until Tuesday..."

2. Captain Ronald Tracy USS Exeter (TOS)
An evil, self-serving murderer. He destroyed his own crew and tried to murder the Enterprise crew, as well as breaking the Prime Directive. Kirk should have left him for dead.

3. Captain Erica Benteen USS Lakota (Ds9) A robotic puppit controlled by politics and her own ambition. Nearly destroyed the Defiant crew serving those elements.

4. Captain Robert Pressman USS Pegasus (TNG) Responsible for the death of his crew while committing high treason in an illegal experiment. Nearly succeeded again using the Enterprise.

AND THE ULTIMATE MORON:

5. Captain JP Estaban USS Grisson (ST3-TSFS)
It's like putting the boss from "Office Space" in command of a starship. At least some of these other people have fortitude or some type of inner strength. This guy's best manuver for an attacking Klingon ship is to, "Stand by for evasive!". I guess he skipped the class at the academy on raising shields.

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

USS Saratoga Captain <no name given> (ST4-TVH)
Hey, lets fly in really close to this thing that's like 5 miles long and making scary, ominous sounds. Oh no, we have no power!

Captain Clark Terell USS Reliant (ST2-TWOK)
Our science department failed to recognize that we beamed down to Ceti Alpha 5, not 6. Don't even ask me how we failed to scan the remains of an exploded planet. Oh, hi Khan! Now why wouldn't I call the ship and have them beam us up before we get captured?? Oh no, we have bugs in our ears!

Commodore Matt Decker USS Constellation (TOS)

There's a big thing that eats planets up ahead. Let's go in for a closer look. OH NO, my ship is blasted up pretty bad, but it's still habitable. Let's beam my crew down to a nearby planet. Oh rats! I forgot that that thing EATS nearby planets! That's okay, the Enterprise is here now...I'll comandeer her and try to make these same mistakes again.

I'm going to defend some of these Captains.

Captain Ransom was doing the only thing he thought was available to get his crew home, and I realize that doesn't make it right, but before the end he was the one that did the right thing, and then went down with his ship.

This episode of Voyager bugged me for another reason. They kill Valtane before the Excelsior shows up at the end of the movie to help the Enterprise, and yet Valtane is standing on the bridge of the Excelsior at the end of the film as the two crews say good-bye to each other.

I have to admit, I would picture a more, sure of him self Captain, being given command of the Enterprise, but, in his defense, he was standing in the presence of 3 of his childhood heroes, on a ship that wasn't ready for anything.

She was given command during a difficult time right after Earth had been attacked, and trusted the word of the Admiral. She too, made the right decision in the end. She thought for herself, and stopped what was happening before it cost more lives. If she was wrong, she would have been risking her lives to a ship controlled by Changelings.

If a Passenger plane after September 11th, were heading toward New York City, and a fighter pilot was told to shoot it down, he/she wouldn't have thought, "Is this the right thing to do? Maybe my commander is just trying to make kill a bunch of inoccent people." No, he/she would have followed orders.

This one I have to agree with. Conspiring to take matters into there own hands, rather then follow the laws that were agreed to by the Federation council, and then have the gall to take the moral high ground.

Cadet Tim Watters, USS Valiant - As acting Captain of the Valiant, he leads his small ship in a foolish attack against the Dominion's equivalent of a Super Star Destroyer. There are only three survivors from the Valiant.

Bingo!

I had forgotten about him. Cocky kid in over his head who should have taken his ship home, but instead thought he could take on the universe without any experience.

The sad thing is, that with a few more years of growing up and learning, he may very well have become one of the greatest Captains in Starfleet.