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| Number One (2254) | |
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| Commander William T. Riker (2366) |
Number one is a title affectionately given to an officer who is second in command, literally because the first officer is, in name, the commanding officer's "number one" man (or woman). This stems from an ancient human naval tradition from the days when sails were state-of-the-art propulsion systems.
Notable Uses of "Number One"
- Christopher Pike referred to his first officer as Number One. (TOS: "The Cage")
- Captain Picard typically referred to his first officer, Commander Riker, as number one. (TNG: "Encounter at Farpoint", et seq.)
- Doctor Beverly Crusher once referred to Commander Riker as "number one." (TNG: "The Battle")
- Rear Admiral Mark Jameson also once referred to Riker as "number one" while he sat in the first officer's customary chair on the bridge. (TNG: "Too Short a Season")
- In 2365, when the crew prepared their ruse against the Ferengi, Picard said "Are you ready, number one?" and both Riker (on the Hathaway) and Data (as acting first officer) answered him. (TNG: "Peak Performance")
- After his assimilation by the Borg, Picard (as Locutus) chillingly referred to Riker as "number one." (TNG: "The Best of Both Worlds, Part II")
- While he was trapped in the turbolift with the three 2368 Primary School Science Fair winners, Captain Picard referred to Marissa Flores as "number one." Some confusion came about later when both she and Riker responded to the title on the bridge. (TNG: "Disaster")
Appendices
Background Information
When Crusher and Jameson referred to Riker as "number one" during the first season of TNG, the producers probably weren't yet sure how they wanted to use the term.
Apocrypha
In Peter David's novel Vendetta, Captain Morgan Korsmo, captain of the USS Chekov referred to his first officer, Commander Shelby, as "number one."
In her novel "Vulcan's Glory", TOS writer D.C. Fontana suggested Captain Pike called his first officer this because she was an Ilyrian colonist who was named "Number One," because she was the best intellect among her generation. There has been no on-screen evidence to this as canon, however.