You were demoted?"
"Yes."
"For insubordination?"
"On occasion, I have disobeyed orders.Chang and James T. Kirk
A demotion was when an individual within a military or other hierarchical structure was given a reduction of rank or position by a commanding officer. A demotion was by definition the opposite of a promotion.
Punitive cases
In most cases, a demotion was a form of punishment for a failure to follow orders or other forms of gross negligence, short of a court martial.
After his less-than-impressive dealings with the Nausicaans in 2151, First Officer Matthew Ryan of the Earth Cargo Service freighter ECS Fortunate was demoted to able crewman in order to have to earn back Captain Keene's trust. (ENT: "Fortunate Son")
The same year, Commander Trip Tucker threatened Lieutenant Malcolm Reed that he was going to "bust your ass back to crewman second class for insubordination," though Reed countered, "Be my guest. I could use a little less responsibility." (ENT: "Shuttlepod One")
The next year, Captain Jonathan Archer gave Reed the same warning, heeding that, "If I were the kind of captain you think I should be, I'd bust your ass back to crewman," after Reed had tried to disconnect his EV suit's air supply. (ENT: "Minefield")
In 2259 of the alternate reality, James T. Kirk was demoted from captain to the rank of commander after he had violated the Prime Directive on the planet Nibiru. Later, Kirk was assigned as first officer of the USS Enterprise under Admiral Christopher Pike who had successfully petitioned Admiral Alexander Marcus for Kirk to be demoted to first officer rather than being sent back to Starfleet Academy. Following the attack by Khan Noonien Singh, Marcus reinstated Kirk's rank and command. (Star Trek Into Darkness)
In 2266, Decius was demoted two steps in rank by his commanding officer for sending an unauthorized transmission to the praetor on Romulus. (TOS: "Balance of Terror")
In 2269, Janice Lester (posing as James T. Kirk) and Leonard McCoy discussed the service record of Arthur Coleman, who had lost his post as chief medical officer. Lester told McCoy that promotions and demotions were subject to political maneuvering, but McCoy stated this wasn't the case either at Starfleet Headquarters or the Surgeon General's office. (TOS: "Turnabout Intruder")
In 2286, Rear Admiral Kirk was demoted to captain by the Federation Council for disobeying a direct order from the Commander, Starfleet, Morrow. (Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home; Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country)
Following an incident on Garon II in the 2360s, Ro Laren was demoted to ensign. Several years later, in 2368, Captain Jean-Luc Picard thought she would have made lieutenant commander by that time, if not for her actions. (TNG: "The Next Phase")
In 2372, Dukat was demoted from chief military advisor of the Detapa Council to a position commanding the Cardassian military freighter Groumall. Dukat later thought about demoting his rival Gul Marratt and assigning him to the Cardassian embassy on Breen, when it seemed Dukat could return to power. (DS9: "Return to Grace")
In 2374, when Damar was manning the security office on Deep Space 9 instead of Odo, Major Kira Nerys sarcastically asked him if Dukat had demoted him to security detail. (DS9: "Behind the Lines")
The same year, Seven of Nine reassigned Harry Kim to chamber maintenance and gave him the new designation Two of Ten, essentially demoting him. When Kim protested, Seven claimed this was a useful Starfleet protocol she had adapted. (VOY: "The Omega Directive")
In 2375, Tom Paris was demoted from lieutenant junior grade to ensign for disobeying orders by Captain Kathryn Janeway. (VOY: "Thirty Days") After a year of exemplary performance, Paris' rank as lieutenant junior grade was reinstated. (VOY: "Unimatrix Zero")
The following year, Phlox mistakenly informed his superiors that The Doctor was in command of the USS Voyager. Fearing demotion, he asked the Voyager to maintain that illusion to a number of Hierarchy Assault-class vessels. (VOY: "Tinker Tenor Doctor Spy")
Prior to 2380, Beckett Mariner held a higher rank, but her disregard for Starfleet's bureaucracy lead her to being demoted back down to ensign. (LD: "Second Contact") In 2380, in a plot to get her removed from the USS Cerritos, Captain Carol Freeman had Mariner promoted two steps to full lieutenant and moved to Operations division. However, Mariner was ultimately demoted back to ensign when she makes fun of Admiral Vassery due to his pronunciation of the word "sense-oars". (LD: "Moist Vessel") The following year, having been promoted to lieutenant junior grade (LD: "Twovix"), Mariner attempted to force Commander Jack Ransom to demote her after overhearing him telling lieutenant Shaxs that soon she would be "out of [his] hair", but he clarified that he meant that he wanted her to stop her self-sabotaging and that she was much better than she was making herself out to be. (LD: "I Have No Bones Yet I Must Flee") It was later revealed that Mariner was self-sabotaging due to survivor guilt between the death of her friend Sito Jaxa and being a survivor of the Dominion War, rationalizing that if Sito was fine dying as an Ensign, then she would, too. Ma'ah, hearing this, convinced her that Sito would not like her dishonoring her memory like that. (LD: "The Inner Fight")
In 2380, Ensign Fletcher was promoted two ranks to full lieutenant for his "heroics" against the Drookmani. However, Fletcher's promotion lasted for only six days after which Fletcher was demoted back to ensign, fired from his position aboard the USS Titan and sent back to Earth for dumping garbage into the warp core rather than properly disposing of it. (LD: "Terminal Provocations")
In an alternate timeline 2404, Captain Harry Kim worried that Starfleet Command would demote him back to ensign once they learned about him and Kathryn Janeway attempting to alter the timeline. (VOY: "Endgame")
Commander Michael Burnham was stripped of all rank for the charge of mutiny. (DIS: "Battle at the Binary Stars") Her rank was later restored after Burnham was pardoned for her crimes. (DIS: "Will You Take My Hand?") She was promoted to first officer, (DIS: "Die Trying") but was stripped of this role for disobeying a direct order, although her rank was not reduced. (DIS: "Scavengers", "Unification III")
Non-punitive cases
In other cases, a reduction in rank or responsibility could be given to an officer as a non-punitive formality, or as a political move.
In the early 2270s, Rear Admiral James T. Kirk replaced Captain Will Decker as the commanding officer of the USS Enterprise. This resulted in Kirk receiving a temporary grade reduction from rear admiral to captain. Kirk, in turn, gave Decker a temporary grade reduction to commander and had him stay on as the ship's executive officer. (Star Trek: The Motion Picture)
Commander William T. Riker was granted a field commission to captain of the USS Enterprise-D following the capture of Captain Jean-Luc Picard by the Borg in 2366. After the return of Picard to the Enterprise, Riker resumed his role as first officer and returned to his previous rank of commander. (TNG: "The Best of Both Worlds", "The Best of Both Worlds, Part II", "Family")
Late in the Dominion War in 2375, General Martok was honored by Chancellor Gowron with the Star of Kahless, who described the general as "the most famous warrior in the Empire." Following the ceremony, Gowron took over Martok's command with the preface that "I can't ask you to carry this weight forever. It's time for me to take a more active role in this war," before announcing that "I'm assuming direct command of our forces." Gowron sugar-coated the demotion by telling Martok to "Be happy. You're a warrior again. No more meetings, no more reports to file. You'll be out there, savoring the heat of battle. I envy you." In reality, according to Worf, this was a political move made by the chancellor because he wished to be the savior of the Empire himself. (DS9: "When It Rains...")
In 2381, after a transporter accident lead to a transporter duplicate of Lieutenant junior grade Brad Boimler being created, Riker, now captain of the USS Titan, told the two that Starfleet forbade clones from working on the same ship and that one of them had to return to the USS Cerritos with a demotion back to Ensign. The duplicate tricked Boimler into taking the demotion, sending him back to his former ship and rank. However, Boimler later earned another promotion back to lieutenant junior grade. (LD: "Kayshon, His Eyes Open", "Twovix")
In 2399, retired Starfleet admiral Jean-Luc Picard made a request to Fleet admiral Kirsten Clancy that she temporarily reinstate him for one mission. In his appeal, he said that he would "be content with being demoted to Captain." This did not come to pass, however, as the Flag officer angrily denied Picard's request. (PIC: "Maps and Legends")
In 2401, following the compromising of Starfleet by the Borg, and the reactivation of the rebuilt USS Enterprise-D, Picard happily accepted a "field demotion" back to the rank of Captain after the Enterprise's computer authorized him under his former rank due to the ship's long-outdated crew manifest. (PIC: "Võx")
In 3191, Captain Rayner was approached by Michael Burnham, now a captain herself, to be her first officer to replace the retiring Saru instead of being put into early retirement. Rayner took the offer, but had to be demoted to Commander, an act that upset Rayner until Starfleet Academy teacher Sylvia Tilly confronted him over it. (DIS: "Under the Twin Moons", "Jinaal")
These latter forms of "demotion" are also commonly known as "reversion", but this was never explained as such on screen.
See also
External links
- Demotion at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
- Demotion at Wikipedia
- Reduction in rank at Wikipedia