I'll have to agree with you Scott. A carrier configured Akira Class cruiser, with attached RRT brings the manpower discussion into a whole new realm, and almost worthy of a Commodore/Rear Admiral Command.
As I see it, it would be best if one of us were to get their hands on the FM(Field Manual), or whatever the USN calls it, on Carrier Operations and Manpower allocation.
Furthermore, there are technically three commands onboard.
Starship
'Air' Wing
RRT
The latter two being attached to the Starship, but able to operate independently, and not permanently attached as part of the Starship command.
Thus onboard the Vanguard, there'll be overlapping areas of responsability. Starship Security for instance is covered by the Security Division and the attached RRT group. Shuttle operations are still under the command of the Starship, however, the Air Wing controls all extraStarship opps concerning the use of Shuttles, Fighters, etc.
However, I will have to quote this and ask, once more, where did all these go?
From the new Star Trek Starship Spotter (and thus Canon):
Akira Class
Embarked Craft (Typical):
10 Work Bee General Utility Craft
40 Fighters (various classes)
10 Shuttlecraft (various classes)
5 Shuttlepods (various classes)
(Just got my copy via the mail less then three hours ago)
But back to the subject at hand. Honestly, under the Carrier configuration, 500 some odd crew members seems rather small. I was imagining more like 650, utilizing those Sparce crew quarter configuration. But that would be off set by multiple Holodecks, recreational areas, and mess halls. Comments? Suggestions?
For with 650 persons, you can get far more done, and the commands will have more then enough support personnel to go around (for 'Planes' don't fix themselves, and paperwork doesn't get done magically (oh, how I wish it did, otherwise Lipumano wouldn't have such a high Admin skill rating (OOG))).