First officers pulling double duty - exception or the rule?

[JonnyQuest037]

A thread on the film forum sparked this thought: Do you think it was/is typical for for Starfleet first officers to have another position on ship as well, the way that Spock was both first officer and science officer on the Enterprise?

On the "for" argument, we have Number One acting as both first officer and helmsman in "The Cage" and Gary Mitchell (possibly first officer in WNMHGB) acting as helmsman. And of course Spock. Chekov could possibly be acting as first/science officer on the Reliant in TWOK.

By the 24th century era, this seems to have fallen by the wayside, as Riker, Kira, and Chakotay all seem to be first officers only. Also, the first officers have designated seats on the bridge, which doesn't seem to be the case in the 23rd century.

So what do you think? Was it common in the 23rd century for first officers to perform other duties, or did it only happen in a few special cases because officers like Spock were so exceptional?

Thoughts?

 

[MacLeod]

Well evidence does seem to indicate that at least up until the end of the Enterprise 5 year mission the First Officer pulled double duty.

In TMP Decker was initally only First Officer with Xon supposed to be Scicene Officer, when Xon got mangled in the Transporter Decker had to do double duty until Spock arrived.

TWOK is a bit harder to say since the Enterprise was on a training cruise with only a few fully trained officers so it would make sense for Spock to perfom First Officer and Science Officer duties. Same in TFF the Enterprise was barely space worthy with likely a skelaton crew and in TUC it was on special assignment

 

[T'Girl]

On the "for" argument, we have Number One acting as both first officer and helmsman in "The Cage" and Gary Mitchell (possibly first officer in WNMHGB) acting as helmsman.

The argument could be made (and I have) that Number One wasn't the "helmsman" but rather was at the mid 23rd century's version of operations, Data's station a century later. Tyler was both helm and navigation.

Based on shirt colors, I think Spock was the first officer in WNMHGB.

In TMP Decker was initally only First Officer with Xon supposed to be Scicene Officer, when Xon got mangled in the Transporter Decker had to do double duty until Spock arrived

But who was Decker's original first officer?

Given the size of the Enterprise Dee it would made sense that Riker was a full time first officer.

Kira in addition to being second in command would also seem to have been running operations on the station, while Sisko command the overall station. So she did have a second job.

It's impossible to know if Janeway's original first officer had a second job, it's possible that Chakotay was solely a first officer because he simply didn't know how to do anything else, he possess no second specialty.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Based on shirt colors, I think Spock was the first officer in WNMHGB.

Actually I believe Gary Mitchell was the XO in that episode. (IIRC, he and Spock both wore identical uniform colors.)

 

[JonnyQuest037]

Based on shirt colors, I think Spock was the first officer in WNMHGB.

Actually I believe Gary Mitchell was the XO in that episode. (IIRC, he and Spock both wore identical uniform colors.)

I'd rather not get sidetracked into the whole question of whether or not Gary Mitchell was XO, as that's a whole other topic. I just cited it as potential evidence.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

In TMP Decker was initally only First Officer with Xon supposed to be Scicene Officer, when Xon got mangled in the Transporter Decker had to do double duty until Spock arrived.

It was Sonak who died in the transporter accident. Xon never became an onscreen character.

But I'd say that TMP certainly provides evidence that first officers doubling up on duties was the exception rather than the rule.

 

[trekshark]

Kira was also the Bajoran government's liaison officer to Starfleet. I'm sure that resulted in extra work

I think starfleet went through a paradigm shift sometime after the TOS movie era. Pre-Voyager I might have said it was based on crew size since the Ent-D had a bitover twice the crew Kirk had, but then we got Voyager with 1/3 the crew Kirk had and a dedicated first officer like Picard had

 

[Captain Clark Terrell]

An interesting topic; kudos to JonnyQuest for starting it. It does seem like officers pulling double-duty was more common during TOS than TNG, though I also suspect things varied from ship to ship.

On a somewhat related note, I always thought it was interesting that Dax was the Defiant's helm officer in addition to being its science officer--though the multi-purpose consoles of the 24th century probably aided her in doing two jobs at once.

--Captain Terrell

 

[The Wormhole]

As far as the novels are concerned, even in the 22nd and 23rd centuries being the XO was its own dedicated job and Spock was the exception.

However, on screen it does seem the XOs held down a second job in the 22nd and 23rd centuries. On the Enterprise NX-01 T'Pol is both XO and science officer, and its implied in Broken Bow had she not been assigned to the ship Trip would have been the XO despite already being the chief engineer. In The Cage, Number One as already mentioned is also helmsman. On the Reliant Chekov does seem to also be science officer. On the Excelsior, Rand was also the communications officer, though it wasn't until Voyager's Flashback that she was established as the XO. In the 24th century it becomes its own dedicated job. Although, curiously, even though when Sisko is aboard the Defiant Worf is both the ship's XO and tactical officer.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

In Soldiers of the Empire, Kira, Dax, Bashir and O'Brien discuss redistributing all of Worf's duties while he served on the Rotarran: being the "strategic operations officer" meant also "fleet liasson," "intelligence," and something to do with hand held weapons.

 

[The Wormhole]

In Soldiers of the Empire, Kira, Dax, Bashir and O'Brien discuss redistributing all of Worf's duties while he served on the Rotarran: being the "strategic operations officer" meant also "fleet liasson," "intelligence," and something to do with hand held weapons.

Worf's duties also place him as the commanding officer of the Defiant (Apocalypse Rising) unless Sisko is aboard, then he steps down to Executive Officer (To the Death). In this situation, Worf sits at the tactical station on the Defiant bridge.

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

On the "for" argument, we have Number One acting as both first officer and helmsman in "The Cage" and Gary Mitchell (possibly first officer in WNMHGB) acting as helmsman.

Based on shirt colors, I think Spock was the first officer in WNMHGB.

Spock is clearly the first officer in "Where No Man Has Gone Before." He wears command gold, sharing the same emblem as Kirk on his uniform. He advises Kirk on the situation, giving him alternatives — strand Mitchell on Delta Vega or "kill him, while you still have time."

In the final draft of the script (July 8, 1965), Mitchell is listed as the "ship's senior helmsman" not first officer. Spock is listed as the "science officer."

However, in the first draft (May 27, 1965), Spock is still listed as science officer and Clark (not Gary) Mitchell is said to be:

He is superior to Kelso, and junior to Spock.

Regardless of popular fandom theory, Mitchell at no time is referred to as Kirk's executive officer, whereas Spock is shown to act in that role throughout the episode.

Hence, Spock is the first officer in the second pilot.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

Spock is clearly the first officer in "Where No Man Has Gone Before." He wears command gold, sharing the same emblem as Kirk on his uniform. He advises Kirk on the situation, giving him alternatives — strand Mitchell on Delta Vega or "kill him, while you still have time."

In the final draft of the script (July 8, 1965), Mitchell is listed as the "ship's senior helmsman" not first officer. Spock is listed as the "science officer."

Regardless of popular fandom theory, Mitchell at no time is referred to as Kirk's executive officer, whereas Spock is shown to act in that role throughout the episode.

Hence, Spock is the first officer in the second pilot.

Repeated for emphasis:

I'd rather not get sidetracked into the whole question of whether or not Gary Mitchell was XO, as that's a whole other topic. I just cited it as potential evidence.

If you want to talk about who was first officer in WNMHGB, start your own thread, please.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

I always thought it was interesting that Dax was the Defiant's helm officer in addition to being its science officer--though the multi-purpose consoles of the 24th century probably aided her in doing two jobs at once.

Similarly, by the time of TNG, at least some of the duties of communications officer have been folded into the security chief's duties ("Hailing frequencies open, sir.").

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

I could understand on smaller ships having the XO pull double duty, but on one the size of the Enterprise it just seems odd to me--especially when you think of how busy the First and Chief Science Officer's would get at times. There is also the point of having the same officer pull both duties, having them on a mission led by the Captain leaves the ship without it's command team (again, something that seems really weird looking back at it).

I like in the Early Voyages comic where Number One is just the ship's exec, so in "The Cage" she is covering the helm for an injured officer (in this case Lieutenant Mohindas).

 

[JonnyQuest037]

I like in the Early Voyages comic where Number One is just the ship's exec, so in "The Cage" she is covering the helm for an injured officer (in this case Lieutenant Mohindas).

Of course, that raises the question of where Number One normally sat...

 

[Grendelsbayne]

It's definitely an interesting question. I do wonder how conclusive we can really even consider the evidence from 24th century to be, though, since Riker's status can easily be explained by the massive size of the Ent-D's crew, and Kira and Chakotay are clearly in very unusual positions to begin with. Officially neither of them are even Starfleet officers, at least to start with, and their appointments are clearly political (Bajoran Liaison/Maquis integration) as well as meritorial.

How many first officers did we ever see in the 24th century outside of the hero ships? And were any of them on screen long enough to really get an idea of what their normal responsibilities were?

 

[Timo]

It should be noted that almost all of our evidence refers to special cases.

Archer's ship launched ahead of schedule, on a mission intended to last for a week or so at most; she ended up sailing into the unknown for two years straight, with no chance of crew rotation. Lots of key personnel might have been left ashore, along with key equipment - forcing others to pull double, triple or quadruple duty.

Kirk's five-year mission appears to have begun with (or directly after) an adventure at the extreme frontier where his apparently second-highest-positioned officer and most trusted friend died. It would not be until half a dozen episodes later that he would get a chance to replenish his crew. That his XO pulled double duty during those episodes even though he originally had not (yes, there's dialogue about Kirk's science officers there, but that's ambiguous and could just as well refer to Dehner) would again suggest exception rather than rule. That the exception remained the rule for the rest of the five years might just be a case of not fixing that which ain't broke.

In ST:TMP, double duty again is initially absent from the evidence - but the launch again is premature, and lots of reshuffling takes place.

In ST2, it isn't even a "crew" - it is a birthday party of old friends coming together.

In ST3/4, it's a mutiny.

In ST5, we don't get evidence of double duty. But again we have reason to suspect crew shortage.

In ST6, Spock's double duty seems to entail being the Chief Science Officer and Diplomat-In-Residence; whether he's also the XO, we don't really know, as everything following the assassination amounts to another mutiny anyway.

How many first officers did we ever see in the 24th century outside of the hero ships? And were any of them on screen long enough to really get an idea of what their normal responsibilities were?

I believe we only ever saw one: the nameless sidekick of Captain Keogh in "Jem'Hadar" (often called Jace after the actor). He wore red, stood there barking orders and doing nothing else, and thus did his best to establish a Rikeresque character and career...

Most other visiting starships interacted minimally with the heroes: either only their CO did, or then one or more of their passengers. The most interaction came from DS9 "Second Sight", where we never learned who did what aboard the Prometheus: one scenario would have the civilian-clad Gideon Seyetlik as the eccentric CO, the low-ranking redshirt at the center chair as a random underling, and all the top officers as so disgusted with Seyetlik that they refused to make an appearance at all...

So basically we still rely almost exclusively on evidence from hero ships, most of that from exceptional circumstances.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[T'Girl]

We saw the first officer of the Enterprise Cee.

 

[Timo]

Oh? The only speaking role was Castillo's, and he was credited as the last surviving senior officer but also as the helmsman. We heard no dialogue mention of an XO.

We might speculate from the dialogue that until the Klingon attack, there were surviving officers higher in rank and position than Castillo. But this isn't proof that there were any, apart from Garrett herself, that is.

Timo Saloniemi