Captain/Legends

Captain, as a military rank, has two distinct meanings. In ground-based military organizations, such as the Imperial Army or the Stormtrooper corps, a captain was an officer ranking just above a lieutenant and below a major. In the Imperial military, an army captain was equal to a senior lieutenant in the Imperial Starfleet.

Captains in spacecraft-based military organizations, such as the Imperial Starfleet, were more senior officers, ranking above commanders and below admirals. This rank was equivalent to an army colonel. Typically, a naval rank of captain denoted command of a capital ship. In the Imperial Starfleet, there were two grades of captain. The senior grade, line captains, were usually responsible for the command of a "line of battle" consisting of five to twenty smaller capital ships. There were exceptions to these rules. Captains and Line Captains, for example, could have staff positions on planetary bases and space stations, or even as second-in-command on a large capital ship. Holding such a position, even as a line captain, was often considered less desirable than sole command of even a single gunship at a lower rank. Admirals often acted as "captains" of large capital ships such as Star Destroyers, though they were usually still addressed as "Admiral".

The rank of captain was also used in starfighter corps. However, as some starfighter corps used naval ranks while other used army ranks, it is not always clear which sense of captain was meant in a given reference.

Civilians in command of a vessel, even a light freighter such as the Millennium Falcon, were also addressed as "Captain".