The point is when it comes to Star Trek there are certain things that should just be expected. That Starfleet has piss-poor security to the point of not even realizing an entire starship has gone missing is one of them.
Spoilers The Ships of Lower Decks
- Thread starter Tuskin38
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The LDS USS Cerritos Crew Handbook mentions "the bleeding edge technology of the Dauntless" - presumably this is the same Dauntless from ST: Prodigy? There is also a funny story (although it must have been terrifying at the time) about a first contact conducted by USS Midthunder, NCC 52162.
Oh, and Captain Nog is mentioned!
Oh, and Captain Nog is mentioned!
He's a Captain already? He only made Lieutenant JG at the end of 2375, and has made Captain six to seven years later?
Somewhere, Harry Kim just shed another tear.
Don’t get me wrong. I have very little expectations when it comes to LDS. I would have just liked a little more info about the ship other than ‘random Starfleet vessel just sitting around waiting for Mariner to use it to escape.’ Also, I would have liked to know more about the Raven-type ship that was used for the same purpose. Heck, even a damn class name for it would have been nice. But we didn’t even get that.
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War makes them fast.
Truth. Wartime field commissions, particularly in the infantry, were historically a dime a dozen, due largely to attrition.
Okay, I’m tempted to get the book. But: is it serious with plenty of humor, or just whacky/each-line-a-joke/comedy with laugh track?
~ It's very much an in-universe handbook, so it's about as serious/humorous as the show. All the main characters introduce/write a section or two, and they come across just like their animated selves who we all know and love - even Badgey (although one of his bits is really creepy - in a funny way, unless you're just about to drop off to sleep and are susceptible to nightmares...)!
Personally, I find it totally in keeping with the show, and there's loads of content including more ships (than you listed previously) named Cerritos, which was a nice surprise (but no images). You can read some of the pages at Forbidden Planet's website here for a taster (although the notes from the crew are barely legible). As a big fan of Lower Decks, I thoroughly recommend it!
I recall him being Captain of a Cali-class ship in 2387 in the Coda novel trilogy.
Probably only due to Starfleet's (peace time) policy of "Every Starship Commander is Captain".
After all, Will Riker turned down the post of "Captain" of the USS Drake, but turned it down because the post as a "mere" Executive Officer on the Enterprise as a Commander was a better promotion.
Well, Acting Captain anyway.
And I'd question whether the CO of a Cali would necessarily be a full Captain in a more realistic setting.
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I thought he was the XO but ended up taking command after the Captain was killed in the novel?
Although it should be noted his friend Paul Rice who did take command of the Drake did hold the full rank of Captain.
Correct, which is consistent with his previous rank of Lieutenant Commander as "Assistant Chief Engineer" on the second Deep Space Nine.
Well, that he would hold the title of Captain as CO is inarguable, however I would question whether it makes sense that he holds the substantive rank of Captain.
Exhibit A: Mike "CO" Flynn, Captain of the fictional HMAS Hammersley on the series Sea Patrol. In the first three seasons Flynn -- as with IRL Australian Navy patrol boat* COs is a substantive Lieutenant Commander (pictured) but is referred to as Captain if any formal rank is used.
* Both the old Freemantle and currentish Armidales have crews in the 20-30 range, though the latter was intended to have significant passenger capacity in addition.
Paul Rice did have four pips on his collar, making it clear Captain was his actual rank.
Yes, I'm aware of that.
My point is that given the other information available, this is plausibly only because of Starfleet's "Everyone who commands a starship is a Captain by title and rank" thing, and that in a more realistic setting (such as Sea Patrol, or The Last Ship if you want an American example) he might have been referred to as Captain Rice, and certainly "Captain" would be an option in place of sir/ma'am, but unlike senior commanding officers like Picard, Jellico and Keogh he wouldn't hold the rank substantively and would revert to (Lieutenant) Commander if assigned to a senior staff position on his next assignment.
NB: I would be less insistent on the above point if the Fleet Captain or similar rank "Senior Captain" rank had persisted into the TNG+ era and senior commanding officers were shown as holding this rank rather than a Captain rank that requires no more seniority than a Department Head's billet that can be attained in as little as a decade after becoming a cadet (IRL, a Captain/CO's billet as a Lieutenant Commander might plausibly be acquired at that point, particularly if favours were traded, but at least double that is required for promotion to the rank of Captain).
I'm aware of the tradition, though the only time it was ever acknowledged in Trek was during the Dominion War when Dax was placed in command of the Defiant. And if anything that seems to have caused confusion amongst others in fandom or the franchise, to the point where we had the silly bit in the Abrams movies where the watch officer left in command of the bridge during the Captain's absence were themselves as Captain. Granted, the worst example of this was a deleted scene in Beyond where Kirk himself referred to the bridge watch officer as "Captain" which makes no sense under any circumstance.
Of course, I suspect the reason here is writers using the whole "Starfleet isn't a military" line as an excuse to be sloppy.
Which doesn't even make sense if we accept that principle, as the title of Captain is habitually used by most civilian ship and airplane commanders.
I do like they snuck some new Series concepts into the old novel'verse before it went poof.
Given that the Drake was a freighter with a top speed of warp 3 it hardly seems to merit an actual real Starfleet captain, rather than a commander/lieutenant commander with an honorary rank who is on the command career path.
So did Riker in "The Best of Both Worlds, Part II" after Admiral Hanson gives him a field commission. He's back in commander's pips by the following episode so clearly he was never actually a captain. It would seem that four pips can also be worn by any officer who is officially in charge of and responsible for a ship on a permanent, or at least an indefinite, basis – as opposed to for a specific mission etc.
Maybe they should have a way of visually distinguishing this – perhaps the fourth pip could be hollow – but it seems we have on occasion seen four-pip captains who are not in fact captains by rank, merely by position.
Which is basically my point, though you perhaps phrased it better.
That was mainly due to https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ViewersAreMorons combined with Riker being relatively young for the substantive rank of Captain. He would certainly have been confirmed as a Captain if he'd remained as CO of the Enterprise.
Yup. For any ship, regardless of size. Which is the main thing that I'm pushing back against.
IDK that "Acting Captain" should have a different collar rank than the permanent captain of the same vessel would have, but I agree that having at least two grades of Captain would be better.
Rice, Janeway, Ransom and maybe even Sisko prior to the Dominion War should all have been "Junior Captains" wearing a lower rank (either the existing LCDR and CMDR ranks or the intermediary rank that has mostly been unseen on screen.
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