Yeah but I would assume that the captain is given priority over a crewman if they both have an equal chance of survival
Sucks to use bad writing (Gambit) to make a point. From the point of view from the episodes "Gambit" it gives the impression the Chief of a particular position can not moonlight to other responsibilities and the personnel under them couldn't handle the day to day operations without them around. Data appointing Worf as first officer over Geordi or Crusher is crazy; Worf was never designed to lead that way. All a new CO will get is Worf talking over him or her and continuously being out of line when the numb skull disagrees on command decision. This had to be some inside joke within the writers' room conjuring up that stupid idea. If it was me, and I couldn't choose either Crusher or Geordi, I'd give it to Deanna, as bad of choice that would be, but at least she would be presidential.
when meeting new potential bed partners, it's better to be james t kirk captain of the starship enterprise, than to be stanley h tweedle security guard class four. RHIP
Ex Astris scientia states that the original (intended) crew complement of Voyager is supposed to be 141. We know that in the DQ, her crew complement is somewhat over 150 so she is, in fact, (allbeit very slightly) overcrowded. Why don't we see any evidence of this? Well, could be the same reason as the photon torpedo count, the shuttle count or the supposed privations in the DQ: it was a premise but was quietly forgotten about, and rarely translated into anything worse than replicator rations or Neelix' cooking. However, we don't know if a larger ship (or more room on a ship) would translate to a more generous crew quarter allocation. Perhaps there are regulations forbidding that. How is this done in the current navy? Does it matter which ship class one serves on?
Remember the bunk beds on the Enterprise and the Excelsior? Yeah, that's pretty bad when you don't even have a room of your own. What kind of rinky-dink organization is this anyway?
That episode irritates me. Just because Troi passes the command test, she now outranks Data? Laughable.
It depends. Enlisted quarters, particularly for "undesignated" E1-E3s are pretty much horrible regardless of type, petty officers and chiefs may get slightly accommodations were fleasible but AFAIK that's mainly a case of having to share the space with less people and no hotbunking. Junior officers (O1s and some O2 & 3s) generally have to share a "state room" with 1-3 other officers Senior officers (O4 and above) and Department Heads would typically AFAIK get solo state rooms for the most part in the USN, sharing with 1 other officer isn't unheard of on Offshore Patrol Boats and corvettes in other navies (RAN Freemantle and Armidale class PBs for instance). The CO always has (at least) one stateroom to themselves, and will sometimes have a second office/state room at bridge level on larger vessels (similar to the Ready Room in Starfleet).
AFAIK, there was never really any indication that Deanna 'leapfrogged' him in the chain-of-command, so it's more of a 'respect the rank' thing and/or a weak attempt at humour rather than a serious change in the status quo (rather all Crusher was a full "three-pip" from day one and Data never had to "follow her orders" except on medical matters IIRC.
It's laughable that a counselor with no real command experience is suddenly qualified to sit in the captain's chair just because she passed a test. I like that. "a weak attempt at humor" explains it so much better. However, I do think that Data would be required to follow her orders and in a command situation, that would be silly. Troi, despite having her seat on the bridge and that one episode with the quantum philament, had no real command experience and passing one test does not make her qualified. She's a counselor, not a bridge officer. That's what I find laughable
Is it ever clarified how that works? I mean, she went to Starfleet Academy like everyone else, right? She took the same command tests that everyone else did. And she passed them (eventually).
Girls can be Starfleet commanders too, they have to meet the qualifications, pass the tests, do the work, and then they get the promotion. Just because elements of the process are not shown doesn't mean they didn't happen.
I can understand in the case of Beverly becoming a commander. She was a department head with numerous staff members, giving her previous leadership experience. She then passed the bridge officer’s course which according to Riker consisted of at least diplomatic law, first contact procedures, bridge operations and an engineering qualification. She was then given the opportunity to command the night watch on the bridge to get experience. It wasn’t like she was assigned as a commanding officer of her own vessel right off the bat. She got that later in an alternate timeline. The promotion process to become a commander for staff officers seems appropriate in that light. However, Deanna was a lieutenant commander with no staff, at least none that I can recall. Therefore, she had limited leadership experience. She even states in Thine Own Self: “Do you remember when the Enterprise hit that quantum filament and I was in command on the Bridge? Well, when that happened, I was overwhelmed. But when it was over I realised that a part of me missed it. Not the actual disaster, but the experience of being in command. I felt like I was exploring a whole new side of myself. Not that I want to give up counselling by any means, but I really would like to stretch myself a little.” Starfleet regulations should have a requirement to have substantial leadership experience before being eligible to take the bridge officer’s course or allowed Riker the discretion to refuse to allow Troi to take it on the basis that she did not have the necessary experience.