10 Worst Ever Captains In Star Trek
6. Captain Tim Waters - USS Valiant
For Tim Waters, school ended rather suddenly, and his crew were the worse for it. Caught behind enemy lines on a training cruise as the Dominion War broke out, Waters and the rest of Red Squad found themselves given field commissions when the officers on board were killed.
One tries to be fair to Waters. He couldn't have any experience, bar what he learned on the go. Perhaps if he had the opportunity to serve as an officer on another starship, observing seasoned commanders in their day to day - but that was not to be his fate. Emboldened not just by his situation, but also by his previous special treatment as part of Red Squad, Waters truly believed he was ready to command.
By the time Jake and Nog arrived on the Valiant, Waters was barely sleeping, using stimulants to remain active in his role. Already breaking under the pressure, he foolishly ordered an attack on the much larger, much more powerful Jem'hadar battleship, sealing both his and most of his crew's fates in the process.
Nog sums it up perfectly as he tries to console Dorian Collins:
He may have been a hero. He may even have been a great man. But in the end, he was a bad captain.