Too Many Commanders?
- Thread starter Farscape One
- Start date
...Why are we saying the ship has 150 crew?
Saru's single reference to 135-something folks aboard was ages ago, under rather specific wartime circumstances. Starships apparently aren't built to be operated by a fixed number of crew, but to host random numbers of mission specialists in addition to a handful of operating crew. Pike's other ship has been known to operate with both 210 and 430 crew; the Discovery in S2 may likewise be hosting about 300 folks. Or 600, for that matter. The corridors have about thrice as many people in S2 than in S1, at the barest minimum...
Timo Saloniemi
Saru's single reference to 135-something folks aboard was ages ago, under rather specific wartime circumstances. Starships apparently aren't built to be operated by a fixed number of crew, but to host random numbers of mission specialists in addition to a handful of operating crew. Pike's other ship has been known to operate with both 210 and 430 crew; the Discovery in S2 may likewise be hosting about 300 folks. Or 600, for that matter. The corridors have about thrice as many people in S2 than in S1, at the barest minimum...
Timo Saloniemi
I do think the officers are top heavy, we have a lot of commanders and lieutenant commanders, but equally, I'm not that bothered by it and I don't think we can apply modern day naval standards to everything Starfleet does so precisely. On a ship like Discovery which is ostensibly a science vessel, there will be a lot of experts in their fields and this could attract higher rank. Someone like Culber may not be CMO but could have a high rank because of his research expertise in Andorian Flu, or something. We have no real idea of the basis on which Starfleet assigns ranks in the science and medical specialties, and TNG at least alluded to idea that there were officers of high rank who were not in the command chain.
Thinking about Star Trek Online now, where your character is becoming a fleet admiral and all your officers are commanders!
The ship had a number of cadets aboard last year too, though none apart from Tilly were definitively seen a they were always heard being called in the PA.
And it looks like from the preview of next week’s episode, the whole ship’s complement is assembled in the shuttlebay at one point, or close enough to it. I’m sure someone will count how many people are there eventually.
Mark
And it looks like from the preview of next week’s episode, the whole ship’s complement is assembled in the shuttlebay at one point, or close enough to it. I’m sure someone will count how many people are there eventually.
Mark
Great point, and as always, the action and decisions are being made on the bridge by the command section. Unless there's a lower decks type episode that focuses on the ensigns and LTJGs doing inventories of the armory or mess hall. Junior officers just are not usually where the STORY is.
Exactly. I'm on a rewatch of the show JAG and some episodes involve being on ships. Last episode I watched involved three commanders in various capacities as department heads, communications and the like.
Yup--that's the norm!
He did that primarily as the idea that everyone on board would be a professional and fully trained.I seem to remember that Roddenberry's original intent for the show, was that all of the crew would be Officers of some sort with very few NCO's being involved.
I guess that changed when he started running out of Redshirts in the first couple of seasons.
How would a ensign be any more trained than a junior petty officer? And why wouldn't the greenest specialist right out of training not be "professonal?"
Unless you're talking about the real world, in which case that's where the actions is. Then it's junior officers, NCOs and the enlisted folks.
Not old guys in really clean uniforms back at some command post.
Last edited:
Speaking as a NCO.......an ensign would have been through 4 years of training at the Academy and have a university education plus advanced training in his/her field. Enlisted/NCOs go to basic training of between 8-12 weeks then a tech school. Although I have a master's degree NOW I did not when I was serving........so yeah officers DO have more training upfront.
I think we're talking Star Trek. And even in the real world decisions ARE made by the old guys in really clean uniforms that others prepare and lay out for them. And NCOs ARE enlisted FYI.
Carriers typically have a crew compliment of a few thousand. Disco is a crew of 130.
Agree here...apart from the last bit about uniforms "others prepare and lay out for them". One of my childhood memories was how fussy Dad was with his uniform and boots. He would sit for hours lovingly swirling polish over his boots and dipping the cloth in the nugget tin lid filled with water. He would iron all his clothes and whenever I ironed give me pointers on how to do it right. Happy Days
Since we're not privy to the fictional crew rosters of any Starfleet ship it would be impossible to truly say what is too many officers of senior rank. Presuming that every rank in Starfleet is both earned and rewarded depending on one's talent within a field as well as the demonstration of leadership qualities within said field it's safe to say you may end up with a fair amount of senior officers depending on not only the ships mission but also on how specialized your personnel need to be for said mission. Couple that with the fact that the vast majority of the crew are officers and you get a prime opportunity to have a lot of senior personnel on-board at any given time. That not including any guest personnel who may also hold senior rank.
And like four commanders.
Similar threads
