How would a Bridge actually work?

[Scarecrow]

How would a Bridge actually work?

I'm thinking more of a crew rota, than anything else.

How long is the Captain actually on duty? 8 hours? More? How long would he actually spend in the center seat, and how much time in his ready room/office or on other duties? Who has the seat when he's off duty? Same for the 1st officer.

What about Helm and Conn? Is that 8 hours per shift for three shifts? I assume there's a lunch break. Who covers that?

Not sure why this is important but it just occured to me on the way home this evening. Sulu and Chekov wouldn't always be on the bridge. In fact for most of a 24 hour period they wouldn't be there atall.

The only real example of a crew shift I can recall is in Data's Day when Mr Data took the night shift, which he appeared to do every night.

Crow

[Tomcat]

All you need do is look up any modern day naval warship (a larger ship i.e. a carrier is probably the best subject to research) to find out the bridge staffs' rotation and then apply it to a future starship vessel. Albeit, there may be less of a sense of wartime footing for Trek, but the idea is the same.

The Enterprise had more than one helmsman and one navigator. We saw this most frequently with Chekov's position always having a different person sitting in that seat. But no matter, the ship would have a rotation of helmsmen and navigators to cover various shifts and days. Same would be said for every department on a starship. This is something I am trying to impress upon my players that are writing up PC's - they will be the department heads and have a small staff of junior officers subordinate to them. They of course will answer to the First Officer and the Captain.

Now in the above example, Sulu may have been the Flight Control superior officer and he would get the ship's helm at key shifts - probably when the captain was on deck - and he would rotate his staff through the rest.

The Captain probably works an 8 to 10 hour day rotating from the bridge to his office, to other parts of the ship, as the work demands. There would be paperwork on mission assignments and approvals, crew needs, etc. Most of this stuff would filter through the First Officer to the Captain based on the level of urgency and authority.

Days would pass in this manner until something big happened and then the whole ship would go to alert and officers and crew man their stations. They might come from the gym, the holodeck, or their cabins.

Fortunately for Captain Kirk and company, the Enterprise encounters always seemed to occur when the prime officer pool was manning the bridge. But this was a TV show with a cast of regular characters and so were always seen. The same should apply to your game.

[The Tatterdemalion King]

Fortunately for Captain Kirk and company, the Enterprise encounters always seemed to occur when the prime officer pool was manning the bridge. But this was a TV show with a cast of regular characters and so were always seen. The same should apply to your game.

Well, at least half of them started once Kirk was on the bridge, having recorded a pithy log summarizing the situation of the weird glowwy thing they've encountered. I always assumed they called him up there once craziness popped up on the monitor.

[WarriorKnight]

Well, at least half of them started once Kirk was on the bridge, having recorded a pithy log summarizing the situation of the weird glowwy thing they've encountered. I always assumed they called him up there once craziness popped up on the monitor.

Unless McCoy finally got him to take his physical.

[Calastir]

The three shift rotation schedule is common in the Federation Starfleet. (Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country; DS9: "The Assignment"; TNG: "Chain of Command, Part I")

For a brief period of time while Captain Edward Jellico was in command of the USS Enterprise-D in 2369, the ship was put on a four shift rotation. Each shift was designated by a Greek letter: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta. (TNG: "Chain of Command, Part I")

Check out Memory Alpha for more info:
http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Duty_shift

[JALU3]

There's also a good discussion regarding this in another part of the boards

[spyone]

Two other significant facts from Data's Day, given that the Enterprise seems to run 3 shifts of 8 hours:
Data is relieved in the morning by Riker.
Data relieves Worf.

This means that Captain Picard is not part of a regular duty shift on the Bridge.
We often see a central character, Data or Geordi for instance, arrive on the Bridge after the action has started and smoothly take the place of whoever was manning their station. Ostensibly, the guy warming the chair was the guy on duty for this shift, but it is understood that in a crisis the Captain wants his first-string team in those chairs.

Which means it kinda sucks to be a Senior Officer: you have your own duty shift, you probably have a lot of duties to attend to when you aren't on the Bridge too, and then you are on-call should any crisis come up on a shift other than your own.

[The Tatterdemalion King]

Which means it kinda sucks to be a Senior Officer: you have your own duty shift, you probably have a lot of duties to attend to when you aren't on the Bridge too, and then you are on-call should any crisis come up on a shift other than your own.

What season is it that we see Beverly take a shift? 6? Senior Officers might rotate out with regards to who takes command of each shift.

[Tomcat]

Which means it kinda sucks to be a Senior Officer: you have your own duty shift, you probably have a lot of duties to attend to when you aren't on the Bridge too, and then you are on-call should any crisis come up on a shift other than your own.

That's why the pay them the big bucks! Er.. wait... it is a utopian society that everyone works for the pleasure of working. Hmmm... guess it does suck to be a Senior Officer.

[Pericles]

That's why the pay them the big bucks! Er.. wait... it is a utopian society that everyone works for the pleasure of working. Hmmm... guess it does suck to be a Senior Officer.

But if they work for the pleasure of working, being a senior officer means they get to work more and thus derive more pleasure from the opportunity, creating even more utopia. Seeing as how senior officers always seem to have about a thousand days of leave that they never seem to want to take, I guess they must really get a lot of pleasure out of their work.

[spshu]

What season is it that we see Beverly take a shift? 6? Senior Officers might rotate out with regards to who takes command of each shift.

The season 6/7 bridging episodes Descent, Part I & II she takes command of the Enterprise all together. In Thine Own Self episode of season 7, Crusher fills in for Data on the third shift. It the same episode as Troi's bridge officer test passage that gets her promoted to full commander.

[Calastir]

Seeing as how senior officers always seem to have about a thousand days of leave that they never seem to want to take, I guess they must really get a lot of pleasure out of their work.

Just ask captain Kirk.

[The Tatterdemalion King]

The season 6/7 bridging episodes Descent, Part I & II she takes command of the Enterprise all together. In Thine Own Self episode of season 7, Crusher fills in for Data on the third shift. It the same episode as Troi's bridge officer test passage that gets her promoted to full commander.

Ahh right, that should've been obvious...

[Nuclear Fridge]

The season 6/7 bridging episodes Descent, Part I & II she takes command of the Enterprise all together. In Thine Own Self episode of season 7, Crusher fills in for Data on the third shift. It the same episode as Troi's bridge officer test passage that gets her promoted to full commander.

That's right. "Thine Own Self" was the story where Troi realised she could do more than just say 'the Romulan Admiral is lying to us'.

Watching Deanna butt heads with Ro Laren when they're cut off on the Bridge with O'Brien in "Disaster" is a bit painful. Ro was in the right, but Deanna won out because she's the sympathetic regular cast member.

[spyone]

I have known for some time that the Navy actually uses 4 hours shifts: they found that giving people a 4 hour break in the middle of their shift helps with attention and such. But I recently found this about the Merchant Marine on wikipedia (which means it all could have been made up for all I know) (also, I can't find it now):
On ships that have a Third Officer, the Captain does not stand a watch.
If the Captain stands a watch, it is generally 8am to noon, and 8pm to midnight.

Might also like this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watch_system