I think Uhura was in command in a TAS episode. But that was after all male crewmembers were... incapacitated.
Third in Command
- Thread starter Fish1941
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I think Uhura was in command in a TAS episode. But that was after all male crewmembers were... incapacitated.
Navy Vet here.
All Submarine commanders (in fact, all submarine officers with few exceptions) must have completed Naval Nuclear Power School and the associated training pipeline. They do NOT hold any sort of equivalent to a "doctorate", but they are definitely "engineering officer" material.
Anyone who commands a nuclear powered aircraft carrier must also be nuclear engineering trained.
All engineering officers in the entire Navy (not warrant officers) are "line officers" and therefore in the command pipeline and aspire to one day command their own ship.
When I was on USS Nimitz, my Reactor Officer (equivalent to Chief Engineer on non-nuke ships) was a full bird Captain and had previously commanded his own smaller ship.
The idea that Scotty ought not be a command-type guy just because he hasn't got a gold shirt is entirely silly, if we base Starfleet on the US Navy's ways of doing business (which the writers of TOS clearly did).
Particularly when everyone can see clean up your miniskirt when you sit down in that big bucket seat.
CPT. UHURA: Put the commander of the Klingon vessel on-screen.
ENS. GOODBODY: Hailing frequencies open, ma'am.
KLINGON BADDIE #1: Prepare to be boarded or...(glances down)...or...ummm...hmm.
CPT. UHURA: "Boarded or"... what? Speak up, man!
KLINGON BADDIE #1: Umm...er, that is, I mean...(beckons to Klingon Baddie #2, whispering *c'mere, check this out*).
KLINGON BADDIE #2: Cool. Why don't our female officers get miniskirts?
KILINGON BADDIE #1: Well, we do give them push-up bras and ample cleavage.
KLINGON BADDIE #2: I know, but really!
CPT. UHURA: (annoyed) Gentlemen, you were saying something about being boarded...
KLINGON BADDIES: (glancing down again) Hmmm? What? You said something?
CPT: UHURA: (pointing to her face) Hey, I'm up here!
This is an interesting picture, because Lt. Leslie in the red shirt is outranked by the guy at Navigation; a Lt. Commander...in a command-track uniform, yet!
^^^ Look up the term "Officer of the Deck".
On an operating Navy ship, there's almost ALWAYS someone on the bridge with authority over the whole ship while someone of higher rank is hanging around.
On an operating Navy ship, there's almost ALWAYS someone on the bridge with authority over the whole ship while someone of higher rank is hanging around.
Yup, that was my point.
I'm an Army vet, and as NCOIC of my group I frequently had senior NCOs and even officers under my command.
Excellent!
Thanks!
In the days of Nelson and Trafalgar (remember Star Trek was supposed to be Horatio Hornblower in Space), the term was also "officer of the watch" who could be a snotty-nosed 14-year-old midshipman. Yet, he was "in charge of the ship" during the watch and was usually only ranked by the captain or the first lieutenant during the assigned watch. Some of the smaller brigs and sloops didn't rate having a clear set of lieutenants (first through sixth) like on the larger frigates and ships-of-the-line. It wasn't uncommon for midshipmen to be "in charge" of the ship until relieved by the captain.
Or even in the original six TOS movies. Even Chekov got to be in command and even posed as the actual captain of the Enterprise! If only they gave that role to Uhura -- that would've meant no fan dance in TFF. -- RR
Then we would've gotten a naked Chekov doing some kind of Russian inwention folk dance. Yikes!
Well, would've been a happy event for gay ST fans! A Russian fan dance, perhaps?
-- RR
That's how O'Brien, as a senior non-com, had officers under his charge on DSN, yes? -- RR
Sulu had one last shot at the command chair in Spock's Brain.
I believe that Scotty also turned command over to Sulu in The Enterprise Incident (after McCoy called him to Sickbay) and in The Tholian Web (when Scotty left the bridge to assist with the transporter.)
I believe that Scotty also turned command over to Sulu in The Enterprise Incident (after McCoy called him to Sickbay) and in The Tholian Web (when Scotty left the bridge to assist with the transporter.)
"What are you going to do, arrest me for opening hailing frequencies?" Creak, creak. 'Gasp'
I think they're right - any woman in that chair really has to be wearing pants or there will be a lot of reciprocators caught in optical refractors.
^I'd say that any woman who was captain would need to wear pants, like Number One in The Cage. Uhura of course looks better in that miniskirt, but with those big thighs and ass, she'd fill out those black pants nicely! 
-- RR
-- RRTo echo some earlier comments, it would have been nice to have seen Uhura take command in one of the live action TOS productions. Why didn't they have Chekov co-pilot the shuttle with Sulu in Trek V and leave Uhura in command during the raid on Nimbus City? (Yah, I know, then we would have had a Sulu or Chekov fan dance --- YIKES!)
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