Bones in charge

Discussion in 'Star Trek - The Original & Animated Series' started by Terran_Empire, Feb 11, 2013.

  1. Greg Cox

    Greg Cox Admiral Premium Member

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    Never stopped me before . . . :)
     
  2. Shawnster

    Shawnster Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Uhura initially wore the gold command uniform in "The Corbomite Maneuver" and "Mudd's Women".
     
  3. Greg Cox

    Greg Cox Admiral Premium Member

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    Hah! Good point!
     
  4. Nerys Myk

    Nerys Myk A Spock and a smile Premium Member

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    Not everyone is cut out for command. It's when you realize that early on. ;)
     
  5. J.T.B.

    J.T.B. Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Except red vs. gold doesn't tell us anything about who can take command. Uhura could be in line in either color.
     
  6. Greg Cox

    Greg Cox Admiral Premium Member

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    Heck, Scotty's a redshirt and he takes command all the time.

    To be honest, I'm not sure the uniform colors were all that codified back in that day. Charlene Masters was an engineer in "The Alternative Factor," but she wore blue.

    (I just went back and forth with a copyeditor on that one. The copyeditor changed her uniform to red, to fit her duties on the ship, and I changed it back to blue to match what we saw on TV.)
     
  7. Hartzilla2007

    Hartzilla2007 Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Becuase he let her beam back with the radiation particles, honestly its the Klingons fault because if their dilithium didn't suck Chekov would have never been in that position.
     
  8. Pavonis

    Pavonis Commodore Commodore

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    I wonder if educational background would factor into uniform colors. Perhaps her background was in a scientific field related to dilithium crystals, leading her to be sorted into the blueshirts, but would also naturally lead her to be in engineering.
     
  9. Admiral2

    Admiral2 Admiral Admiral

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    Horseshit. Nothing trumps rank.

    She's a Lieutenant and he's an Ensign. She outranks him. She's also been on the ship longer, so she's more senior, and she's taken the helm a couple of times in dire emergencies so she's at least as - if not more than - qualified as he is to command the ship.

    And before anyone says it, no this does not mean McCoy should get command. Technically he outranks Uhura, but his specialty doesn't make him a bridge officer. Chekov and Uhura are bridge officers because the bridge is where they're qualified to be. Anyone officer qualified to be on the bridge can be trusted with the "conn." That's the point of the qualification. McCoy isn't qualified.
     
  10. Nerys Myk

    Nerys Myk A Spock and a smile Premium Member

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    Do we really know that, though? I was just joking with Greg, but does a spot on the bridge, be it at helm, science, engineering or communications really mean you're qualified to take command of the ship?

    While Uhura (for example only) may have rank and time served over Chekov, does she have the training or even the experience to command the ship in an emergency situation? IIRC, and guys who have served can correct me, if Chekov is placed in command by Kirk, he's pretty much in command even if Uhura out ranks him. To be in command you have to be in the chain of command. If, as a comm officer, Uhura is outside that chain her rank as irrelevant as McCoy's.
     
  11. J.T.B.

    J.T.B. Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Maybe, but you also have to account for astro-biologist Dr. Mulhall in the red division. ;)

    Agreed, we don't know. The qualifying distinction seems to be whether one is a line officer, which apparently Scotty is, and McCoy isn't. Whether communications officers would fall under that or not, we don't know, but I would lean toward them being in the line. In the US Navy, at least, officers in a ship's communications department are line officers.

    As far as the r/w navy chain of command goes, the assigned CO is first and the assigned XO is next, regardless of rank. After that, the chain descends through the unrestricted line officers in order of rank. Of course in the midst of battle the next-ranking officer may not be immediately available, so the ranking officer who's in position to give immediate orders would be in charge until the more senior officer can be notified and take over. An example would be the USS San Francisco in the 1942 Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, where communications officer LCdr Bruce McCandless took command after the admiral, captain, XO and other senior officers were killed. Even though there was a more senior officer aboard in the engine room, he had his hands full and didn't know till later that command had fallen to him. McCandless was awarded the Medal of Honor.