Which captain really is the worst when it comes to protecting crew member’s lives

Star Trek captains lose crew members like they are coins in a couch but who is the worst offender?

Star Trek is constantly killing off characters who have no names. It’s become such a gag in the series we refer to them as redshirts, and they always die. Allegedly. It’s actually more perception than reality but it’s still pretty comical to talk about.

Yet these are real lives, real fictitious, don’t actually exist lives. Somebody must take responsibility for the bits of dialogue that kill off so many men and women. Thankfully, GameRant did the hard work, and the real research, and figured out just how many imaginary people were killed at the hands of these captains.

For starters, they claim that Captain Benjamin Sisko lost the most lives and that’s hard to dispute. He acted as fleet commander on occasion, and most of those fleets got wrecked. Each of those lives would technically count against him, so that’s pretty fair.

They also cite that Jean-Luc Picard is the most callous, constantly willing to sacrifice ship and crew at a moment’s notice. That’s fair, and while Picard likes to talk a big game, I’ve always felt he was all command and no heart. Just look at how he treated poor Wesley Crusher.

Lastly, there’s Jonathan Archer, who lost the most percentage-wise. They did the math and found that Archer lost a staggering 67% of his crew, while Kirk (22%), Janeway (37%), and Picard (7%) all lost far less.

Who really is the worst Captain when it comes to protecting lives

When it comes down to the brass tax, the best captain is clearly Kathryn Janeway (huzzah), as she kept 63% of her crew alive with minimal resources and constant danger. That’s what we call a banger of captain.

As for the worst? Picard. Is it because I find his show to be utterly insufferable, no, but I do. It’s because despite only losing 7% of his crew, he still somehow lost 420 people. So while Archer’s 67% sounds bad, that’s only 83 people.

83 people during an era where they were the only Federation ship, constantly dealing with allies and adversaries with far better weaponry.

Picard got a lot of people killed, and was always willing to throw others in harm’s way. Yes, that’s the duty of the captain but so is making decisions that best protect the crew. One could argue that Picard didn’t do a great job of that.