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Summary
obstinate to popular belief , Star Trek ’s first female Captain was n’t Captain Janeway ( Kate Mulgrew ) or even Captain Batel ( Melanie Scrofano ) . The title of respect of first female Captain is a complicated issue within theStar Trekfranchise , with different reply depending on how the concept is view . From an outside stand , Star Trek : Voyager ’s Captain Janeway often gets stuck with the title , since she was the first female confidential information of a series , succeeding characters like Captain Kirk ( William Shatner ) , Captain Picard ( Patrick Stewart ) , and legion of other almost exclusively male Captains that had come before her .
Of course , when looked at chronologically , the interrogative of the first female Starfleet Captain becomes more complex . Other series before and afterVoyagerhave include appearance by distaff Captains , and with newer prequels likeStar Trek : DiscoveryandStar Trek : unknown New Worldsproviding a looking at the Federation before Kirk ’s daylight on the endeavor , the number of charwoman the dealership had depicted in the big chair continues to grow . However , neitherDiscoverynorStrange New Worldsgave Star Trek its earliest - known example of a distaff Captain .
Before Captain Janeway and Captain Burnham , the tardy actress Madge Sinclair played Star Trek ’s first female Captain , and she did it again in TNG .
Star Trek’s First Female Starfleet Captain Is From Enterprise’s Era
In terms of chronology , Star Trek ’s genuine first distaff Captain was Captain Hernandez ( Ada Maris ) fromStar Trek : initiative . Hernandez was first introduce inEnterpriseseason 4 , episode 3 , " Home " as the former love interest ofCaptain Jonathan Archer ( Scott Bakula)and the newly - minted Captain of the Columbia NX-02 . Hernandez and Columbia helped Archer and his crew during the Klingon Augment Virus crisis in theEnterpriseseason 4 episodes " Affliction " and " Divergence . " The Columbia was the second Starfleet ship ever launched , make Hernandez the univocal first distaff chieftain in theStar Trekuniverse since the only Starfleet Captain before her was Archer .
However , Hernandez is systematically overlooked in the discussionofStar Trek ’s first distaff police chief , mainly because of name like Janeway or even raw characters like Captain Batel . Although an argument for Janeway can be made , Voyagerwas set in the 24th century , over 200 years afterEnterprise . Likewise , Strange New Worldsis set up over 100 years afterEnterpriseand shows likeDiscoveryintroduced Captains like Phillipa Georgiou ( Michelle Yeoh ) even earlier in the timeline thanSNW . The fact that Hernandez ’s report was n’t draw until the franchise was well - established does n’t take off from her status asStar Trek ’s first distaff Captain .
Why There Is Confusion About Star Trek’s First Female Captain
The on-going discombobulation about Starfleet ’s first distaff Captain add up from a variety of factors . One of the main ones is how Captain Janeway was advertised whenVoyagerwas first send . Calling Janeway the dealership ’s first female Captain was n’t exactly wrong , at least from one standpoint . Janeway was technically the first female Captain not introduce as a side graphic symbol . However , this nicety often gets lost in the word , leading the sobriquet to be most close associated with Janeway to the detriment of other characters who existed before her chronologically .
The fact that theStar Trektimelinecontains many retcons , with new shows and character being introduced out of order , has n’t helped either . Hernandez herself is a sound exampleof this , since she was introduced well after a multitude of other distaff Captains had been , and fresh female Captains have been introduced since her . However , even though Hernandez was a comparatively minor character onEnterprise , the fact that she is trulyStar Trek ’s first distaff Captain should not go along to be ignored .
