Question about Starfleet duty shifts

[Cobalt Frost]

I ask here because it relates to my fic, but how does Starfleet organize its duty shifts? As far as I know, they operate on a 24 hour schedule, and I sort of assumes that they have three eight hour shifts or watches, in contrast to how modern navies arrange duty watches.

Also, how do you, fellow fan-fic authors, approach this question in your own stories?

 

[C.E. Evans]

When I used to write fanfics more regularly, I had it where duty shifts vary considerably depending on the ship and were at the discretion of the captain. A person could leave one ship that had three eight-hour shifts and join another ship that had four six-hour shifts or whatever. Some ships may even have a specially designated shift (like a swing shift or a graveyard shift) in which different personnel rotate in and out each week.

 

[Robert Bruce Scott]

You might recall Captain Edward Jellico ordering Will Riker to take the Enterprise from a 3-shift rotation to a 4-shift rotation (more appropriate for a war footing as the crew is generally well rested and ready to respond to General Quarters.) The 3-shift rotation is more appropriate for a science vessel, allowing each department to be more fully staffed and giving crew members more contiguous time to work on projects.

A 2-shift rotation might be used for a short period in the case of a skeleton crew or extreme duress. There is also the potential for overlapping 6- or 8-shift rotations (in which each crew member effectively works a 3- or 4-shift rotation.) This might be used for training purposes or if there is a very large crew

 

[Cobalt Frost]

I didn't recall, but that's very helpful!

 

[Gibraltar]

From what we've seen canonically, shift rotations appear to be at the captain's discretion. I suppose it depends on the ship's mission profile, crew capacity, and a host of other logistical factors. A smaller ship might not have sufficient crew to staff a 4-shift rotation, or an older vessel with less computer-automation might require more bodies per shift to keep the ship running.

 

[dupersuper]

You might recall Captain Edward Jellico ordering Will Riker to take the Enterprise from a 3-shift rotation to a 4-shift rotation (more appropriate for a war footing as the crew is generally well rested and ready to respond to General Quarters.) The 3-shift rotation is more appropriate for a science vessel, allowing each department to be more fully staffed and giving crew members more contiguous time to work on projects.

Kira similarly convinced Sisko to switch from a 3 shift rotation to a 4 shift to give people more flexible schedules, though those shifts are based around the 26 hour Bajoran day.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

I have an entire thread about this in the main forum:

What do you think is the optimum WatchKeeping/WatchStanding schedule for StarFleet?

 

[Cobalt Frost]

I don't venture outside of the Fanfic forum a lot, lol.

 

[admiralelm11]

There's life outside the Fan Fiction Forum? For real?

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

I typically go for a three shift rotation. On larger ships, with more crew, then each shift has its own department supervisors (allowing the senior staff/main characters to always be working together), though on smaller ones then I spread them out. It really depends on what you're needing from the story, for all we know some Captain's might want to operate six shifts a day (though the only time I could see this being useful would be on a training vessel, to give a larger number of cadets a chance at different duty stations, as well as working in time for classes and study).

 

[Shamrock Holmes]

for all we know some Captain's might want to operate six shifts a day

I've always though that six watches a day would be a good option, as that would mean that each person wouldn't be "stuck" at a particular post for more than four hours and would give a reasonable 28-hr watch schedule per week, and easily allows for 10-15 hours of other work a week before getting anywhere never comfortable endurance limits.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Day shift, swing shift, night shift.

A star ship knows where the next planet is, so they can go a little faster or a little slower, so that they alway arrive at a new planet an hour after the Captain has had her third coffee during the day shift. This is why Voyagers night shift can always have only 2 people on the bridge, and Kim is in charge.

Ds9 would have been set to Cardassian standard time, all of Bajor would have been, its a question of whether anyone rembered how pre occupation Bajorans kept time, or did they just keep the Cardassian clock after the Federation turned up?

Jellico wasn't getting extra crewmen. Hell, he lost one. 700 crew divided by 3 shifts, is 233 crewmen to run the ship. 700 crew divided by 4 shifts is 175 crewmen. Unless Jellico was wanting to figure out how to run a shift with 58 less crewmen, most of the crew was pulling 2 x 6 hour shifts to cover the shortfall in man power. Of course some of the crew were already taking 2 x 8 hours shifts, maybe Aliens who need less sleep, so those were the few who got more holodeck time under Jellico.

Jellico was going to work them harder by imposing 4 shifts unless he picked up another 200 crew from a star base.

There was room.

If you dump the #ucking families.

 

[Shamrock Holmes]

Unless Jellico was wanting to figure out how to run a shift with 58 less crewmen, most of the crew was pulling 2 x 6 hour shifts to cover the shortfall in man power.

In fact, some departments were even worse off than the above suggests.

Engineering was given a big task by Jellico that would require the entire Department to pull off within two days, then loses a third of it's team to Armory on top being given extra tasks as well. So the "effective compliment" per shift is about half what it should be and some of those haven't slept in potentially three days.

That's not a recipe for peak performance in a mission critical department IMO?

 

[Robert Bruce Scott]

Jellico also closed several departments that weren't needed for his mission. He significantly changed the assignment structure within each department and collapsed some departments entirely. He put the Enterprise on a wartime footing and he had very little time to accomplish it. Interestingly, Data found Jellico's decisions to be accomplishable and reasonable and as first officer, did a good job helping the crew adjust. Which is the job that Riker didn't do. Data totally rocked the red uniform.

And I'm a Jellico fan for another reason - he made Troi put on the uniform. An order that Marina Sirtis was eternally grateful for. Here's her take on it:

"I was thrilled when I got my regulation Star Fleet uniform, or the regulation space suit, as we call it. First of all, it covered up my cleavage and, consequently, I got all my brains back, because when you have a cleavage you can't have brains in Hollywood. So I got all my brains back and I was allowed to do things that I hadn't been allowed to do for five or six years. I went on away teams, I was in charge of staff, I had my pips back, I had phasers, I had all the equipment again, and it was fabulous. I was absolutely thrilled."

It was a much better look for her. Thanks!! rbs

 

[Guy Gardener]

In fact, some departments were even worse off than the above suggests.

Engineering was given a big task by Jellico that would require the entire Department to pull off within two days, then loses a third of it's team to Armory on top being given extra tasks as well. So the "effective compliment" per shift is about half what it should be and some of those haven't slept in potentially three days.

That's not a recipe for peak performance in a mission critical department IMO?

If the USS Cairo wasn't doing anything vital, why didn't Eddie bring half the crew with him?

Hells bells swap crews.

Captain Riker of the USS Cairo.

Meanwhile Edward could make one shift with its shit together, and then park the ship someplace quiet for 12 hours.

 

[Cobalt Frost]

There's life outside the Fan Fiction Forum? For real?

Who knew?

 

[Sgt_G]

If the ship / crew is large enough, I'd go with three shifts per day with four or even five teams on a rotational schedule.

Most of my USAF career, I worked a 4-&-2 schedule, 4x day shift, 2-off, 4x swing shift, 2-off, 4x night shift, 2-off, and back to days, etc.

 

[Robert Bruce Scott]

For the Star Trek Hunter series, the U.S.S. Hunter has four duty stations that must be staffed at all times - Command and Ops on the bridge, Ops in engineering and Transporter Room 1. With a crew of 35 (+3 holographic warrant officers), the Hunter is on a 3-shift rotation, but only the A shift is fully staffed.

Ground Operations is responsible for staffing Ops, but any qualified crew member can staff that position. Similarly, the Engineering Department is responsible for staffing Ops in engineering and TR1, but any qualified crew member can stand watch. Any qualified officer can staff Command, but that's typically Executive Staff and the Flight Operations officers. All crew members cross train to maintain qualifications and typically trade off 4-hour half shifts at required stations for peak training and readiness. All officers from ensign up maintain Command qualification. The COO (2nd officer) is responsible for scheduling. The XO (1st officer) is responsible for training and qualifications, but this flows through the command structure for each department.

Typically, at least one Flight Ops crew member is on watch in the shuttle/intercepter bays, at least one of the Medical staff is on watch in Medical and at least 2 members of the Engineering staff are in engineering. Ground Operations is staffed as needed. Other than the 4 critical stations, staff rotate in and out as needed and when not needed (which is most of the time), their schedules are heavily geared toward training. The Hunter's mission profile requires all crew, particularly flight and ground operations, to be in peak physical and mental condition, highly prepared for complex tactical situations and ready to respond at a moment's notice.

 

[Sgt_G]

In my world, I have ten duty stations that are manned 24/7 during peacetime routine patrol: BRIDGE = Command/Watch Office, Helm, Nav, Sensors, Comm. ENGINEERING = Watch Office, 2x Warp Drive Tech, 2x Techs for other systems. Additionally, the captain might keep a two-man crew in Phaser control to keep one emitter at the ready.

 

[Admiral2]

Jellico wasn't getting extra crewmen. Hell, he lost one. 700 crew divided by 3 shifts, is 233 crewmen to run the ship. 700 crew divided by 4 shifts is 175 crewmen. Unless Jellico was wanting to figure out how to run a shift with 58 less crewmen, most of the crew was pulling 2 x 6 hour shifts to cover the shortfall in man power. Of course some of the crew were already taking 2 x 8 hours shifts, maybe Aliens who need less sleep, so those were the few who got more holodeck time under Jellico.

First, ENT-D had a sophisticated enough computer system to run most of the non-critical ship's systems automatically, freeing up crew members to concentrate on manning the more important ones. Second, Riker could have instituted a true naval watch and have crew members multitask - which is something we've seen the crew do throughout the entire series - obviating the need to search the universe for 58 extra crewmen for each shift. Jellico didn't ask for anything that couldn't be accomplished with a little imagination and some hard work. He certainly had enough crew to work with.