I know there's leave that crewmembers accrue, but do they otherwise work on ship 7 days a week for 5 year missions? Surely you'd need days of just chillin' inbetween the dangerous away missions, crazy space phenomena and space battle repairs.
Unlikely, as that is a quick way to see crew burnout, increase stress levels, and lead to fatigue. They might not work to the same pattern as most people do now, but I could see regular rest days forming part of their work schedule.
No, they work 24/7 , 5 years long. After all, they're 'evolved'. In mother Starfleet, off days get you! Seriously though, why wouldn't they get days off? I mean, they're still humans that would require such resting days.
Of course you get days off, that's why Holo decks are nearly booked solid. Everybody wants to use them on their "Day Off".
O'Brien calls in workers on their day off: Jadzia uses unexplained favors to give Atoa a three-day weekend: The Delaney Sisters use Harry's day off as justification to get away from him: The Doctor knows that double shifts are bad, and days off necessary: The Doctor even gets a day off, for some reason: After a harrowing adventure, Archer even sends half of his bridge crew on a day off:
Real navy ships underway have high personnel requirements to function effectively, so basically everyone works every day, with a more relaxed schedule on Sundays and holidays. Real days off come when the ship is in port. Starfleet could probably have a relaxed routine more easily or frequently because of automation, though. In TOS "Shore Leave," "The Immunity Syndrome" and "A Wolf in the Fold" and TNG "We'll Always Have Paris" they are en route to ports or bases specifically for R&R. The ship would still have to be minimally crewed of course, but it sounds like the majority of personnel would be getting time off.
Depends what's the mission is and what they are doing. And I agree while deployed you're pretty much working 7 days a week but a five-year mission is probably have a crew for each shift days off like any regular job they already have the three shifts a day so are more than likely they have a regular 8-hour schedule. One will get burned out
I just don't know how useful any comparison the present day navy ships is, especially once we reach the 24th century. The Enterprise D has very little in common with a present day navy ship, after all. And with crew that have families it would be cruel to not give them time off to be with their families. And I don't know much about the Navy, but I just googled it and the first result says that, usually, ships spend 6-9 months at sea at a time with long breaks in-between those "deployments" Having to work regular shifts each day for 9 months with considerable more off time before and after that is afar cry from spending 5-7 years doing that (or longer considering how much personnel of the Enterprise D seems to have been carried over in the movies)
Yes, it was just an example. That's why I wrote the last sentence quoted. As I wrote, it is clear that Enterprise went into port specifically for rest and recreation, even during the 5YM.
Thank you! Somehow all those references slipped past. Have we ever followed a crewmember on an off day? Holodeck episodes yes, but what about someone just wandering around in civvies?
They probably don’t get a regular rotation of days off but get shore leave and get mental health days when they need them and it isn’t a crisis.
I always figured that department heads write the weekly schedules for all the personnel in their divisions and that includes dealing with requested (or assigned) days off.
I do know about the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz. At sea there are two 12 hour shifts for regular work shifts. In addition there may be a watch schedule. Sometimes the watch will coincide with the 12 hour work day in whole or in part. When deployed on a long cruise you might have a three to six day port call, then 20 to 30 days at sea. In port overseas there was three section duty. The carrier I was on never docked in port when deployed, instead we anchored just outside the port, ready to get underway. With 3-section duty, 1/3 of the crew stays aboard their duty day (24 hrs) to perform watch station duties. Those not on duty can go for Liberty when liberty call is announced on the 1MC. Enlisted ranks E-6 and below had to be back to Fleet Landing by midnight, E-7 through E-9 01:00, Officers and Warrant Officers 02:00. My first six month scheduled Med Cruise had port calls. Then Iranian students took American Embassy staff hostage. We had been in the med for 6 months when that happened. The ship was sent from its final port call in Naples, Italy; five days and nights at 30 kts around Africa, to the Gulf of Oman Naval Zone of Operation (GONZO station). We were told we would be there for a month, but that was extended each month until we had been there for just over 5 months. There was a west coast carrier with us at GONZO, they would be relieved once a month by another west coast carrier. The Nimitz got holiday routine (flight operations secured for the day) every other Sunday, with a steel beach picnic. We came back in late May to Norfolk VA and had to have a quick turn around in the Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, VA and then went on a two month deployment to the North Atlantic. Some navy ships never or hardly every leave port, we barely stayed in port. If we weren't in the ship yard we would deploy at least every other month for two weeks or more for some type of training and flight operations. We never got long breaks in between deployments. Nuclear aircraft carriers will get a couple of years straight in the shipyard for mid life refueling at 25 years. When I was aboard it was 22 years left before refueling. I had a cousin in the Navy the same time that I was, stationed on a Gator freighter, that never left port in San Diego. He told me they tried to go on a Westpac cruise but had engine room troubles and had to be towed back to port.
On DS9 they probably did get weekends off, being as they were essentially a "ground assignment". Though it's fifty-fifty if those were Earth weekends or Bajor weekends. As for the shows set on ships ships, it was probably like it is on navy ships deployed today, essentially working every day with any days off being entirely at the CO's discretion.
Why do you need a day off when there’s no money, it’s not a military, and humanity is working only to better itself ? Every day is a day off.
Shore leave. Even if you get a day or two off a week, you're still "trapped" aboard the ship. Need to disembark occasional. Some crew likely never go on landing parties.