chain of command discrepancies

[ghosty]

As far as I'm concerned, the chain of command was what the writers (many of whom had no military experience whatsoever and didn't seem to check their facts properly) said it was and hence it tended to be story driven and retconed whenever they wanted. Okay bitch over.

In my game, the chain of command below the CO and XO are the First Lieutenant (the department head of the command branch) and then down through the Strategic Ops and Ops officers. After that its just seniority and qualification. I prefer to use a more free form command structure, the officer with the most experience in the mission and equipment should be in charge even if another officer on the mission team outranks him at least thats how the CO and XO run it in the game.

[Captain Zymmer]

I use Chief of the Boat as well, I love the idea of a Non-Com XO

also I make on larger ships Tactical a serperate department, with red tunics

So for my ship it goes...

CO
XO/1st
2nd Officer
Chief of the Boat

Everyone else, with Medical, Sciences and Counseling not in the chain of command. They are advisory posistions. If one Ensign in red remains alive, then they are command before anyone in teal.

[Perrryyy]

What the heck is a "captain of the boat" (or "chief of the boat")? I've seen this thrown around in some games & don't have a clue what it is.

[First of Two]

What do they call the guys who are in the Captain's seat in the off shifts?

I mean, if your Capt. and XO are on "Alpha" shift, like they seem to usually be on TNG and in most games where players are also Captains, they SURELY don't want to pull double shifts all the time, so...

In my game I created imaginary NPC's to fill in during 'off screen' time.. just as placeholders and to give names to the people killed off during combat.

I assumed 'Second and Third Officers,' ranking no higher than Commander / Lt. Commander, ran the ship during the off shifts.

[Perrryyy]

I figure whoever is in command at the moment is "Captain". We've seen Jadzia called by that rank when she was in charge of the Defiant, as well as the ship run by Red Squad members.

[SIR SIG]

Well in TNG, we saw Data pulling alot of night duty command shifts.

So being the 2nd officer seems to have netted him 3rd watch? Or because he didn't need the sleep?

This could mean that 'officially' Riker commands 2nd watch then. And obviously Picard does first watch. Still the crew are still active outside their duty hours so mabye the command crew do pull a few extra shifts?

[calguard66]

The officer in command of a particular watch is call the Officer of the Watch (OOW)... even if the Captain's duty cycle is on the 1st watch, there will be an officer of the watch for that watch, because the Captain has better things to do with his time.

There will also be an Officer of the Deck (OOD) for each watch, who actually commands the bridge during the watch... the OOW is often doing paperwork or running inspections or just walking around the ship to see what's going on.

The OOW and OOD often have an junior officer assigned as their assistant. (Known as the JOW and JOD)... these are usually officers in training to qualify to stand watch as OOW and OOD.

None of the officers/ petty officers standing as OOW/ OOD are usually the Captain, XO, Department Head or COB... they have better things to do with their time. OOWs are usually full Lieutenants, OODs are usually LT (JG)s... or CPOs. It is seen as a leadership development opportunity.

In the US Navy senior petty officers often are qualified as OOD and sometimes as OOW. In the US Coast Guard it is common to have an all-enlisted watch.

Less experienced (not always more junior) OOW and OOD usually stand the main duty watch due to the immediate availability of senior officers. You do NOT put your junior ensign in charge of the night watch, where it may take over five minutes for a senior officer to arrive.

[ghosty]

Originally posted by Perrryyy
I figure whoever is in command at the moment is "Captain". We've seen Jadzia called by that rank when she was in charge of the Defiant, as well as the ship run by Red Squad members.

Oh sacrilege...there can only be one "Captain" onboard a ship that is the person in overall command of the particular ship...the boss...the main man...you know what I mean. Anyone else sitting in the centre seat is a OOW or OOD (as Calguard points out).

The command structure of the Defiant is a bit odd because it has no permanent crew, its crew is drawn from the crew of DS9 which means there is no permanent commanding officer, just whoever the DS9 CO assigns to command a particular mission/sortie of the Defiant.

[ghosty]

Originally posted by Perrryyy
What the heck is a "captain of the boat" (or "chief of the boat")? I've seen this thrown around in some games & don't have a clue what it is.

The Chief of Boat is a species of NCO found in the American submarine services...it is the title accorded the senior enlisted man who is the link between the officers and the crew.

On surface ships, he is accorded the title of Command Master Chief.

In the British (and British derived services) the senior enliste man is addressed as Bosun.

But no matter what his name, he is the senior enlisted man and like the Sergeant Major in an army unit, he is well respected for his experience both by the officers and the enlisted men.

THe COB is seen as the Keeper of the Tribal Wisdom of any naval service and sees it as his duty to educate not only enlisted men but junior officers in the ways of the service by taking them in hand and teaching them and kicking them in the butt when needed. You haven't seen anything until you've seen a senior NCO kick a junior officer's butt in the most respectful way possible .

[Michael Barratt]

Originally posted by SIR SIG
Well in TNG, we saw Data pulling alot of night duty command shifts.

So being the 2nd officer seems to have netted him 3rd watch? Or because he didn't need the sleep?

This could mean that 'officially' Riker commands 2nd watch then. And obviously Picard does first watch. Still the crew are still active outside their duty hours so mabye the command crew do pull a few extra shifts?

I think "Yes" to the Data question: He probably did the night watch often because he didn't need to sleep. That said, when "Disaster" occurred, Lt. Munroe was on the bridge, a Command Lieutenant, and in charge at that moment.

That's why I have an entire "night shift" crew when I can: a night shift Ops, Conn, Command, and Tac at least, as well as the graveyard engineering shift. And given that those people would be living almost opposite to the rest of the ship's crew schedule, the night shift people could be their own little story/game.

For sure, however, I have a "Night Bridge Officer" - in my games this is usually a full-grade lieutenant, or a lieutenant commander, depending on the size of the ship (usually one rank level below the XO).

Again, your mileage may vary.

The Doc

[Capt.Hunter]

Trek gets a little confusing on this topic. According to O'Brien in the ep where Jadzia is commanding the Defiant, it is proper form to address whichever officer is in command as "Captain". However, this would seem to apply only if there are no available officers higher in the chain of command - on Voyager, Chakotay jokingly asks Harry if he really makes the night watch crew call him "Captain Kim". The implication is that he's got the bridge, but isn't referred to as Captain because more senior officers are only a tap of the combadge away. This ties in with the discussion between O'Brien and Nog:

"Wow. So if I had to assume command, everyone would have to call me Captain?"

"Cadet, by the time you took command, everyone else would have to be dead."

[Robbert Raets]

Originally posted by Perrryyy
....as well as the ship run by Red Squad members.

I somehow don't think that's a valid example..... The Valiant showed us how you should not run a ship.

[Dan Gurden]

Originally posted by Robbert Raets


I somehow don't think that's a valid example..... The Valiant showed us how you should not run a ship.

Besides as many, many people have pointed out in the past...

Cadet Walters, as Acting Captain... gets to make Ensign Nog into a Lt. Commander...

huh??? Cadets ordering Ensigns... Cats and Dogs, living together... It'll be anarchy!

Its one of those episodes that seems to throw all that we know and think we know out of the window...

On the downside the sensible version of the episode where the cadets all turn to Nog as the commissioned officer, who in turn would be guided ably by his friend Jake would have made a far shorter and less exciting episode.

Speaking of Red Squad... They're supposed to be the best of the best. But keep making mistakes... Easily mislead and badly trained from the onscreen accounts... hmm. Time for another thread...

[Perrryyy]

You guys both made good points about red squad. Horribly trained, & shouldn't be allowed to have a ship (at least not without adult supervision!)

[ghosty]

Originally posted by Perrryyy
You guys both made good points about red squad. Horribly trained, & shouldn't be allowed to have a ship (at least not without adult supervision!)

I was quite surprised that they put a ship with that much firepower in the hands of a bunch of cadets. I mean the Valiant was one of the first production run models of Starfleet's most powerful warships so it should not even have been used for a training mission...it was IMHO a very poorly thought out episode...

Okay rant over...