A postulated Starfleet Command structure

[Penta]

That's a good question. I've only read the first two anthologies of the SCE stories - can't say I know too much about it.

I would argue it depends on the job - for the planned work like building spaceports, building bases, etc, I'd imagine they consult with outsiders. The rapid-response vessels may well have the odd scientist about.

 

[captcalhoun]

the novels feature a varied team of specialists:

first officer/team leader - Sonya Gomez one time E-D engineer

second officer/propulsion specialist - Kieron Duffy (also one time E-D engineer) later replaced by Tev, a Tellarite propulsion specialist

weapons expert - Fabian Stevens (formerly of Defiant)

structural specialist - P8 Blue (a Nasat, an insect like species seen in TAS)

Linguist/Cryptographer - Bartholomew Faulwell (formerly with a Starfleet crypto team during the Dominion War)

Cultural specialist - Carol Abramowitz

computers specialist - Soloman a single Bynar who chose to remain unbonded after his bondmate was killed in the first story.

the team's typically rounded out by the ship's CMO Elizabeth Lense and security chief Domenica Corsi.

the extent to which each plays a role varies from story to story.

 

[J.T.B.]

The most popular alternative I've heard is that "Chief of Starfleet Operations" is meant to be similar to the USN''s "Chief of Naval Operations". That name being generally confusing, however, I went with "Chief of Staff" in this writeup; Chief of Staff is more generally understood in organizational terminology to mean the representative of the Commander (in this case the Commander-in-Chief), and while it still speaks to a Terran influence, it's not so uniquely American.

Probably a good choice. "Chief of staff" can indicate a commander's top assistant, but it can also mean chief of the general staff that plans for and organizes the forces. In ST2 the Starfleet General Staff is mentioned, and a "Starfleet Chief of Staff" was mentioned in DS9 and can be seen in on-screen material in ENT. The US Navy "Chief of Naval Operations" would probably be more accurately titled "Chief of Navy Staff," but the title has traditional roots in the Aide for Operations (to the Secretary of the Navy) back before WW1.

A Starfleet "C-in-C" was seen in ST6; I tend to think of that as a top fleet or regional commander rather than the head of Starfleet.

As for "Chief of Starfleet Operations" in TMP, it can't be the same as the US Navy CNO since Nogura is pretty clearly the man in charge, and Kirk's insignia point toward the lower end of the admiral spectrum. Chief of Starfleet Operations might be one of the Chief of Staff's top assistants for overseeing fleet deployment, rather than in the direct chain of command for the operating fleet.

A couple of other observations on the organization laid out in the OP, which is very thorough and comprehensive: It seems to follow a very centralized model, like the USN in WW2, where the Chief of Staff (or CNO) controls both the operating forces and the "nuts and bolts" of planning, materiel and administration. Of course, the trend in organization since WW2 has been for the CNO (CSA, CSAF, CMC) to handle the planning/technical/administrative side and leave the operational side to combatant commanders (formerly commanders-in-chief) who answer to the President through the SecDef. This division seems to have worked pretty well, and I would postulate something similar for Starfleet, but YMMV.

I didn't see much about supply, logistics or transportation in the organization above. Those are pretty important parts of modern fighting forces, for instance rating one of the ten four-star UCC posts in the US armed forces. We know Starfleet uses transport ships, and I'd imagine that they are controlled at a pretty high level.

I have no objection to the O-11 rank for the SF CoS, but I would point out that, except for a few years during and after WW2, having the joint chiefs as "first among equals" four-stars has worked fine without rank or seniority disputes. And the term "fleet admiral" was used in TNG in such a way that it seems like it might not be the title for the top grade.

Anyway, a nice, well-thought out structure; well done, Penta.

--Justin

 

[Penta]

Thanks for the compliments and comments, Justin. My comments in reply:

I would argue that the lack of conflict re the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs not outranking the individual chiefs was a quirk of history - first you had the Chairman being folks with 5-star ranks anyway. Then, by the time it firmly transitioned to being a 4-star post, Ike was President.

I had thought about a sort of UCP (Unified Command Plan) for Starfleet, appointing UCCs - the top-level commanders of Fleets (those designated by Greek letters) might best be termed that.

However, I didn't make it explicit for a few reasons:
1. There's a lot of controversy within the military and without it, IRL, about the UCCs - Dana Priest (of the Washington Post) had a book on them a few years back that, not for nothing, referred to them as "pro-consuls" (I believe that may have been the title of the book, but could be wrong), in the Roman sense. The structure set up by Goldwater-Nichols, because of that, might only be a temporary fad.
2. It was difficult enough dividing up the Federation (which is roughly, sort of, kind of spherical/circular) into Fleet areas - a lot of the neighboring states have the nasty problem of having very expansive borders that don't lend themselves to a UCP-like division of the galaxy.

Your points re supply, logistics, and transport are well-taken. I mentioned that the organization of the bureaus was pretty well subject to change - you could easily make a good argument for Logistics and Transportation bureaus being added.

The system is meant to be centralized, to a point - Starfleet itself bounces between being incredibly decentralized and very centralized depending on where you look in Trek. Part of it is that a centralized system is easier to write - I could see SF just as easily being very decentralized, but how it would be decentralized is virtually limitless.

I will admit that trying to "sync up" the bureaus and the operating forces was hard, very hard. Figuring out how the Operating Forces might be divided was maddening, because Star Trek has basically no consistency on that. It's a situation where there's a fair amount of evidence, but it's all pretty self-contradictory.

I tried to keep the number of components to the bureau system limited - there could in fact be dozens, depending upon your preferences, but I wanted to keep things fairly broad. I also wanted to keep things fairly simple - hence why there aren't listed any organizations outside of the bureaus or the operating forces that report to the CoS (or the Secretary of Starfleet) directly, like might develop in a real bureaucracy.

Finally, I always figure Kirk's "Chief of Starfleet Operations" position as being something like the J3 on the RL Joint Staff - the Operations and Planning head, yes. But he's not in the chain of command, not directly. On the other hand, he's Kirk, and he forgets such niceties.
---
Some other stylistic notes, after a few days sitting back:

1. I can see why one might see reason (or evidence) for Starfleet as a fourth branch of government, as posited by T'Girl, but I reject that idea. For a lot of reasons, military, socio-politically, constitutionally, and otherwise, that just strikes me as a bad idea.

I envision there being any number of non-Starfleet Federation agencies we haven't heard of to handle things like law enforcement, etc, etc. I almost viscerally dislike the idea that Starfleet does everything - that Starfleet is the military, the coast guard, the colonization service/ministry/department, the FBI-analog, the local cops, and so much more. It certainly does a lot more than warfighting, but I don't think the framers of the Federation's structure would let them do quite as much as people posit. That, evolved humanity or not, is a recipe for disaster, possibly a coup.

2. I don't see the Federation Council approving every Admiral - at least, not going through the whole confirmation hearing process. That probably gets left for the O-9 through O-11 ranks, or possibly just O-10 and O-11. Otherwise, the Council just confirms the President's nominations as a matter of course, like the Senate does with US military officers today. (That said, I see promotions above Lieutenant (O-3) being a centralized thing, like in the RL US military, with promotion boards and everything - the same with assignments to positions like command of a starship. May not have been in Kirk's day, but I certainly see it that way in the TNG/DS9/VOY era. I'm conflicted on whether Starfleet would have an "up or out" system like the RL US military.)

3. I am very conflicted as to whether Starfleet Academy makes up the main or even the predominant accession source for Starfleet officers. Canon suggests that even as it suggests that SFA is not particularly bigger than Annapolis or West Point, about 4,000 students. Yet we have no evidence to suggest any sort of ROTC setup at civilian universities...Even an officer candidate school, commissioning enlisted folks as officers, is a supposition. So either Starfleet is very very small, smaller than is suggested even in TOS, or they get the bulk of their officers quite mysteriously. My working answer right now is that Starfleet Academy cannot possibly commission all or even most Starfleet officers, to say nothing of Starfleet personnel generally (which throws GR's "All starfleet personnel are college-degreed officers, like astronauts" idea out the airlock). It's just the most prestigious commissioning source, like the service academies are today - and produces most of those likely to go on to flag rank. Is it a required qualification to see your pip in a box? I wouldn't go that far, but it probably helps significantly.

4. I'm wondering: Does anybody else see Starfleet as having a significant reserve force? On the one hand, most SF jobs seem too technical for anything less than full-time active service. Also, there's precisely one mention of a reservist being activated - McCoy in TMP, and that seems more like the recall of a retired officer to active duty, legally. On the other hand - why have all the numerous storage spots for starships if you don't have people somewhere to crew them (since presumably you can't draw crew from the active component if you're activating them)? If there is a reserve system, then add a Starfleet Reserve bureau to the list I posited - someone would have to be responsible for training and recruiting and maintaining the force during non-mobilization periods.

5. It can be argued for days whether Starfleet has a draft, either in force or as a possibility - there's a fair amount of evidence to suggest "No", but on the other hand...It's certainly worth debate.

 

[T'Girl]

3. I am very conflicted as to whether Starfleet Academy makes up ...

Part of the problem is we don't know how big Starfleet is. Or what percentage of the personnel are officers. The battles shown and mentioned during the Dominion War would suggest that it is much large organization than I at least ever thought. Consider this, in Star Trek Eleven after Kirk "cheats" on the Kobayashi Maru test he is brought before the academy officers, behind him are approximately a thousand cadets Let's say that those are just the members of his one class of cadets. The Starfleet academy must graduate enough new ensigns (and lieutenants) to replace officers who leave the service, die and also account for Starfleet's on going expansion. Starfleet would seem to be much much larger that the US Navy, so the academy is larger than Annapolis.

Instead of graduating one class a year, what if Starfleet academy gradutes one class a month? A four year academy with forty-eight separate classes of cadets, a average cadet population of fifty thousand. This would allow for a total officers corp of several hundred thousand, with a total Starfleet strength of ten to fifteen million. (The American military had 16.1 million through WWII) The Federation is spread over eight thousand light-years, thousands of worlds and not all of Starfleet personnel work on ships.

4. I'm wondering: Does anybody else see Starfleet as having a significant reserve force?

If member planets maintain their own seperate fleets, this could constitute a available reserve force. Both in personnel and possibly ships. And it would be easy to imagine a retiree reserve and some kind of "national guard" too. Weekend warriors.

5. It can be argued for days whether Starfleet has a draft, either in force or as a possibility - there's a fair amount of evidence to suggest "No", but on the other hand...It's certainly worth debate.

Among the many diverse cultures of the Federation, not all universally would have a difficulty with a draft. If a overwhelming number of qualified Federation citizens wanted to enter Starfleet, some form of lottery might be necessary to to keep people out.

 

[CTM]

Instead of graduating one class a year, what if Starfleet academy gradutes one class a month? A four year academy with forty-eight separate classes of cadets, a average cadet population of fifty thousand. This would allow for a total officers corp of several hundred thousand, with a total Starfleet strength of ten to fifteen million. (The American military had 16.1 million through WWII) The Federation is spread over eight thousand light-years, thousands of worlds and not all of Starfleet personnel work on ships.

In most American Military Training Schools (the Academies and ROTC programs not included) they do something similar to what you describe. In some instances (Basic Training, for example) they may graduate one cycle a week. The training may take months, but is staggered such that there is always a class entering, and always a class exiting. This allows very specialized training facilities to run all the time - not just for a few days/weeks each year; by extension the trainers in those facilities are there to train that specific item - they are the subject matter experts.
I think back to my time running the Night Infiltration course - a real world training range where I had to navigate in the dark through a forest and then into a live-fire range where we had to crawl (low and high crawls) under barbed wire with real bullets getting fired over our heads. Extreme efforts are done to keep this training safe, nevertheless lives have been lost over the years doing it. The personnel assigned to run that range do that. They run the range, they ensure all the safety settings are as they should be, and they practice dealing with the unfortunate possibility of a serious training injury or fatality. This allows the trainee classes to process through the range without having to change range operators on a daily basis. It's one night out of a multi-month training cycle, but that range runs virtually every night all year round. Millions of US Army Trainees have no doubt gone through that very course over the years. When the West Point classes reach that point, they probably don't have one of their own, they go use one of the existing specialized training ranges (probably the one at Ft. Benning, GA). It just isn't cost effective for West Point to have their own highly specialized training range to use for a few weeks a year.

Regarding the Kobayashi Maru - I am of the opinion that it is NOT a standard Academy class, but rather something akin to Command School, or just for those in the Command Track. It might be at the Academy campus, but it is not part of the standard Academy curriculum. The training facility (bridge etc.) may be used for other classes at other levels by the Academy; or it may be exclusively the domain of the Command School. Similar specialized training facilities no doubt exist for Engineering School, Tactical, Security, Medicine etc, etc, etc. While all cadets no doubt have some basic instruction on all areas, only specific branches or tracks are going to go in depth in certain areas.

Everybody in the Army needs to know how to use a rifle, not everyone needs to know how to drive a tank. Everyone needs to know how to do First Aid, not everyone needs to know (or can afford the training time to learn) how to do Surgery. The Academy and initial Training is about ensuring everyone has the minimum essentials, and then details about their specific specializations - not everything about everything.

 

[neozeks]

Fascinating analisys, Penta! I was actually thinking about the same things and our conclusions are remarkably similar. I guess that means our basic principles are sound. A few notes, though:

First, a cosmetic thing. I'd try as much as possible to avoid duplicating specific real-life US Navy terminology, and stick to what we see on screen or try to think up something new or more universal. Starfleet should be recognizable as an organization to us but we shouldn't forget it's supposed to be a military of a hundred different species.
So I'd drop the Bureau thing and simply use Starfleet Medical, Starfleet Security etc. If we really need to use something, I'd choose 'command'. It sounds more universal and modern to me, we have precedent with Starfleet Command and SF Materiel Supply Command (from the DS9 Technical Manual) and it shortens more logically (Starfleet Medical (Command)). In fact, today's Navy has transformed most of it's bureaus to commands.
Fleets should also be 'First', 'Second' etc. as seen on DS9. 'Sectors' are also often mentioned so they should probably used as well, maybe instead of Districts or SFOAs.

As for the bureaus/commands:
I mostly agree with you. Maybe Construction could be split to Ships and Installations. SCE could be a separate 'operational' command doing (among other things) the field work for Installations, which would handle planning and managing. Kind of like how in the US Army you have both a CoE and a separate Installation Managment Command.
I'd add the above-mentioned Materiel Supply Command. Maybe an Equipment Command (though MSC could do that as well) which could also deal with weapons (though the reasoning for a separate bureau is also sound). I don't think Reactors is needed, Ships could handle that. I'm not sure where to put SF Communications...

One more thing. I do believe there are ground forces (though limited) and I think they would deserve a separate command - Starfleet Ground Forces Command - or better Planetary Forces, since it should include (atmospheric) Air Forces supporting the ground units as well. I'm not clear whether this would constitute part of the OF or the Shore Est.

3. I am very conflicted as to whether Starfleet Academy makes up the main or even the predominant accession source for Starfleet officers...

I see it this way: San Francisco is only the main campus, with other campuses all over the UFP. After all, the Federation is huge, it wouldn't really be practical to ship ALL the cadets to a single location.
OCS, direct comissions training (Troi got her education at the University of Betased, I think) and maybe even some enlisted training ('Chief Petty Oficer academy') could also be handled by SFA, explaining why almost all officers talk about 'the Academy', as well as O'Brien's temporal mechanics classes.

4. I'm wondering: Does anybody else see Starfleet as having a significant reserve force?

Yeah, it's only sensible that there's a Reserve. But, as has been already mentioned, we shouldn't forget member state forces - it seems logical that they are the ones mostly dealing with on-the-surface and in-system matters. So you'd need a 'National Guard bureau' as well, to oversee their training and organization so as to ensure their interoperability with Starfleet, especially if they get federalized.
Again, I would try to think up a new name (they're not exactly national, are they?). Maybe Home Forces? I can't think of anything better now. Of course, that would just be the common designator, I'm sure they would be allowed to keep their old names - we would still have the Andorian Imperial Guard or the Bajoran Militia, for example.

I have a few thoughts about the Operating Forces as well, but I'll post them once I make them a bit more coherent.

 

[WisTrekFan]

I was wondering what your thoughts are on the rank of Fleet Captain and where you would place it in the chain of command. It is a canon rank, i.e. Fleet Captain Pike and Fleet Captain Garth. Also, how you would explain Matt Decker serving as captain of the Constellation, but holding the rank of commodore.

 

[Data Holmes]

I always have wanted to approach it like this. It's from the time frame of the trek movies.

It is a dual system. There is the Federation, the overall political entity, which is an economic and political union very similar to the articles of confederation USA. Each member state retained it's own pre-federation military/space forces, but also wanted to present a "common defense" against the more agressive empires. The problem was that the nations didn't want to give up their own forces to the control of this new, and unproven, governmental body. Also, some nations, specifically Vulcan, were totally opposed to giving the federation a standing military. So they formed the Starfleet. Starfleet was a separate military/defense alliance, similar to NATO, established to defend the federation and all of it's members, as well as to explore and police the established federation treaty zone. Membership in the UFP and Starfleet are not the same, and some nations only join one or the other, and enlistment is open to all regardless of their nation's membership status.

Starfleet has a civilian and military side, and is organized like so.

The department of the Star Fleet was created to provide administrative and technical support for, and civilian leadership to, the United Federation of Planets Armed Forces.

The Department of the Star Fleet consists of Executive offices, mostly located within the Star Fleet Headquarters annex in San Francisco, Earth, and is responsible for the
recruiting of military and civilian personnel, organizing, supplying, equipping, training, and the mobilization and demobilization of the Star Fleet and its personnel and assets. The Department also oversees the construction, outfitting and repair of Star Fleet ships, shuttlecraft, equipment and facilities.

The Department is lead by the Federation Commissioner of the Star Fleet (FedCommFleet). He is appointed by the president of the federation council with the advice and consent of the federation general assembly.

He is assisted by three Deputy Commissioners: The Deputy Commissioner for Adminstration (DepCommAdmin), The Deputy Commissioner for Plans and Policies (DepCommP&P), and The Deputy Commissioner for Operations (DepCommOps).

The highest ranking military officer in the Department is the Star Fleet Chief of Staff (CinC). He serves as the FedCommFleet's principal military advisor, and along with the Military Staff Committee, as a primary military advisor of the Federation Council. The CinC is assisted by the Admirality and General Staff.

The military staff Committee is comprised of the heads of the planetary defense force, or an appointed substitute, of the current members of the federation council. This body is sometimes referred to as the federation's security council, and there is significant political momentum to fold the body's responsibilities into the federation council's.

There is also the General Assemblies Ministry for space and defense appropriations which controls the funding allotted to the department of the starfleet.

I. Star Fleet Civilian Authority
________A. The Star Fleet Civilian Authority shall be the ultimate authority of the department
___________of the star fleet. It will be composed of the Federation Council, acting through the
___________Office of the Federation Commissioner of the Star Fleet and the offices of the
___________civilian executive assistants.
________B. The Star Fleet Civilian Authority shall include the top Civilian Executives of Star
___________Fleet. These are:
________________1. The Federation Commissioner of Star Fleet.
________________2. The Federation Deputy Commissioner of Star Fleet for Adminstration
________________3. The Federation Deputy Commissioner of Star Fleet for Plans and Policies
________________4. The Federation Deputy Commissioner of Star Fleet for Operations.
________________5. The Assistant Commissioners, who will vary according to law and the duties delegated to them.
________c. The Star Fleet Civilian Authority Shall be Headquartered in the Star Fleet Annex, in the city of
___________San Francisco on the planet Earth, Sol system.


II. OFFICE OF THE FEDERATION COMMISSIONER OF THE STAR FLEET
________A. FEDERATION COMMISSIONER OF THE STAR FLEET
________B. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER FOR ADMINSTRATION
________________1. OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS AND INFORMATION
________________2. OFFICE OF LEGISLATIVE AFFAIRS
________________3. OFFICE OF THE JUDGE ADVOCATE GENERAL
________________4. OFFICE OF THE AUDITOR GENERAL
________________5. OFFICE OF FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT
________________6. OFFICE OF LOGISTICS
________C. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER FOR PLANS AND POLICIES
________________1. OFFICE OF STAR FLEET REASERCH AND EXPLORATION
________________2. OFFICE OF SHIPPING AND TRANSPORTATION
________________3. OFFICE OF COLONIZATION
________________4. OFFICE OF THE STAR FLEET RESERVE
________D. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER FOR OPERATIONS
________________1. STAR FLEET ARMED FORCES


The starfleet command is the military headquarters for the Star Fleet Armed Forces.

The military head of the star fleet armed forces is the Chief of Star Fleet, also known as the Chief of Star Fleet Command, the Commander, Star Fleet, the CinC
(sea-in-sea or Sink), and by the rank "Admiral of the Star Fleet".

From there the command is split between the operational commanders, known as "the Admiralty", and the Administrative service heads, or "General Staff".


Chief of Star Fleet Command (Commander, Star Fleet) - Vice admiral to Fleet Admiral

Admiralty

Chief of star fleet Operations - Rear Admiral to Fleet Admiral
Operational Commanders - Rear Admiral to Admiral
-Commander, Galaxy Exploration command
-Commander, TACFleet
-Commander, Colonial Operations
-Commander, Merchant Service
-Commandant Mobile Ground Force
-Commandant Border Service
-Sub Quadrant Commanders (0, 1n, 1s, ect)

General Staff

Chief of the General Staff - Rear Admiral to fleet admiral
Department/Bureau Chiefs - Commodore to Admiral
-Director of Logistics
-Director of Communications
-Director of Intelligence
-Director of Tactical Operations
-Director of Strategic Operations
-Director of Personnel
-Director of Training
-Director of Science and Exploration
-Surgeon General
-Inspector General
-Judge Advocate General
-Director of the Shore Establishment

The Starfleet Merchant Service is Starfleet's primary active reserve component. The planetary defense forces are the "national guard" component, state controlled until "federalized" by the federation council. The Individual Planetary Merchant fleets Serve as an Auxiliary Component under the Starfleet Merchant Service.

 

[T'Girl]

I was wondering what your thoughts are on the rank of Fleet Captain and where you would place it in the chain of command. It is a canon rank, i.e. Fleet Captain Pike and Fleet Captain Garth. Also, how you would explain Matt Decker serving as captain of the Constellation, but holding the rank of commodore.

Easy answer is that Fleet Captains command either fleets or task forces. Most of the time Starfleet vessels do not operate in fleet formations and so the Fleet Captains operate as single ship commanders until such time a the Admiralty chooses to assembles a fleet around them. Fleet Captain might also be another way of saying "Senior Captain."

Commodore is above Fleet captain and commands a group of ships and bases in a designated area like a sector, unlike a Admiral, a Commodore is a "field" command. In the case of Matt Decker and the Constellation, the Constellation may not have been originally under Decker's direct command, she may have had a captain who was killed or ordered by Decker to beam down with the rest of the crew.

 

[Penta]

Data Holmes, you're working off fairly or very different principles than myself and Neozeks - for easier comprehension, I'll address your ideas in another post.

Neozeks: Bureaus, Commands, call them what you will - the general point remains the same. I went with Bureaus for the older feel to them; you have a point on the cosmetic side, but my prime focus was to find an organizational structure that made sense and was immediately graspable in broad strokes. I see Starfleet as "more human-dominated than it ever likes to admit", much like how NATO is "more Americanized than it ever likes to admit"; I wanted an organizational structure that felt right to humans, thus.

So far as Fleet designators - numbered Fleets are excellent in a tactical sense, but work badly for geographic designators. When they were used in DS9, I always got the feeling they were meant to evoke the numbered fleets under CINCPAC of WW2. Hence, they were tactical organizations, not necessarily administrative or strategic. I could not for the life of me figure out useful sounding geographic designators, so I went with Greek letters.

I wanted to use sectors, but was always confused about how BIG they were supposed to be - hence I set them aside completely. Frankly, it gets difficult trying to plot out what would likely be a 3D(ish) geography when you only think in 2D.

Moving on...

I can see some of your changes - the one I don't see is eliminating Reactors. M/A reactors have always, so far as I can see, been depicted as a lot like (or at least not very unlike) nuclear reactors are IRL - very safe, but you have to have rigorous safety and accountability processes to avoid accidents. (There's also the same "If it goes boom" factor, except worse; it's why my mind sometimes boggles at the idea of an antimatter reactor on the surface of inhabited planets, especially densely inhabited planets. NIMBY ain't got nothin' on what the reaction to that idea would be! A nuclear reactor going boom merely makes the local area uninhabitable for a few centuries. A matter-antimatter reactor going kaboom could take out half the planet!)

If you're going to have SF Comms, it could easily be its own bureau/command. Or, just as easily, it could be a command under one of the bureaus.

If there are dedicated ground forces, I am almost certain they'd have their own bureau/command, like you - but the whole issue of would they exist is controversial enough that I set it aside.

SCE is a weird duck in a lot of ways - it could just as easily live under one of the Shore Establishment bureaus/commands as in the Operating Forces - I avoided direct-reporting units to the Chief of Staff for a variety of reasons, but if there ever was one, I think SCE would be a major contender as one.

Moving on to the numbered points.

Re the Academy (#3) and commissioning sources: The more my mind thinks about it and tries to integrate what we do know about SFA (a 4-year institution, grants academic degrees, etc etc), the more I do two things: One, my mind reels at the idea of putting it in San Francisco - there's not enough space on the Presidio or anywhere to fit the place; Two, I presume there is, must be, far more than just the Academy. I've never liked the "One Academy, multiple campuses" idea: The way it's referred to in canon, nothing suggests that.

I see Starfleet Academy producing only a small portion of Starfleet's officers - OCS (where there easily could be campuses at bases across Starfleet) and something like-but-not-named ROTC produce the vast majority to my mind, along with Direct Commissioning sources. However, the reason you hear about SFA so often and not the other sources is because SFA produces the real hot-shots. If you go Starfleet Academy, you probably want to make Starfleet a career - whereas with the other commissioning sources, maybe you get out after a few years. It sounds bizarre to bring it up here, but one of my first thoughts when I think about SFA (and try to explain its positioning in San Francisco, in what would be limited land area and right next door to SFHQ) is in fact the Pontifical Universities in Rome, seminaries like the North American College (look it up on Wikipedia). Produces only a small percentage of the Catholic Church's priests, but a huge percentage of its bishops - giving the leadership a common background in Rome, a common knowledge of its customs, and puts them in contact with the highest levels of the hierarchy, as well as rising stars as professors. In both cases (the North American College and Starfleet Academy), it is generally considered incredibly difficult to get in - but getting in is important if you want to make it to the top ranks.

Similarly, Starfleet Academy may not produce many of the officers in Starfleet. However, it produces a huge number of the future flag officers, because from their first days they'd have been right next door to SFHQ and right under the noses of the highest levels of the chain of command - with, again, up-and-coming officers posted as instructors and in other positions at the Academy. They then would often return to the Academy throughout their careers - as instructors, to undergo advanced training courses (things not unlike the Naval Postgraduate School or the Naval War College IRL, for lack of better analogy), and so forth. The biggest problem in Trek is that, with some exceptions, we've never seen a really "average" crew explored in detail. Makes sense story-wise, but it gives a skewed perspective in-universe.

So far as #4 goes: I definitely see a place for Member State forces - acting, yes, like a National Guard-equivalent. I also see a place for a "federal" reserve that doesn't come under Member State control...for all the good reasons, and all the slightly dark reasons, you can think of.

Hence, I propose what can only be called the Reserve Command, with the Reserve Personnel Directorate handling training and recruitment and so forth for the "Starfleet Reserves", and the Reserve Fleet Directorate handling all those ship depots. Ordinarily, it operates as a skeleton staff - active-duty people looking for a low-pressure job, relatively low-performers, etc. Then, when the balloon goes up, millions of reservists across the Federation make harried comm calls and go digging in their wallets (or similar) and form crews at the nearest Starfleet base out of basically a standing start. They're not the same quality as the active-duty crews, but that's okay. The key point is that they provide (hu)man(oid)power on basically minimal notice.

Similarly, there's the "Member State Forces Command", handling coordination and interoperability between Starfleet and all the member-state forces. The member states can sometimes be just as well-trained and just as well-equipped as Starfleet, but mostly they use gear no longer in use by Starfleet, and their personnel (for whatever reason) don't usually have the motivation or training for prolonged ops away from home. Like you, I fully see them keeping their old names - The United Earth Space Forces, the Andorian Imperial Guard, the Bajoran Militia, etc.

 

[Penta]

I was wondering what your thoughts are on the rank of Fleet Captain and where you would place it in the chain of command. It is a canon rank, i.e. Fleet Captain Pike and Fleet Captain Garth. Also, how you would explain Matt Decker serving as captain of the Constellation, but holding the rank of commodore.

Easy answer is that Fleet Captains command either fleets or task forces. Most of the time Starfleet vessels do not operate in fleet formations and so the Fleet Captains operate as single ship commanders until such time a the Admiralty chooses to assembles a fleet around them. Fleet Captain might also be another way of saying "Senior Captain."

Commodore is above Fleet captain and commands a group of ships and bases in a designated area like a sector, unlike a Admiral, a Commodore is a "field" command. In the case of Matt Decker and the Constellation, the Constellation may not have been originally under Decker's direct command, she may have had a captain who was killed or ordered by Decker to beam down with the rest of the crew.

Mostly how I see it. Fleet Captain may be a cumbersome way of designating the senior captain in a task force - they still command one ship, though, with Commodores commanding the whole thing. The thing is that if the Commodore gets put out of action for some reason, the Fleet Captain then steps up and does the job of the Commodore.

(In truth, if I wasn't pressed on it, I'd suppress the rank of Fleet Captain. It sounds too Fannish, with not enough thought put into its place in the structure.)

 

[WisTrekFan]

I don't mean to nitpick the issue, but if I remember correctly Kirk referred to the Constellation as Decker's ship. I think he said something to the effect that he couldn't imagine a captain like Decker abandoning ship when life support was still functioning.

 

[J.T.B.]

I was wondering what your thoughts are on the rank of Fleet Captain and where you would place it in the chain of command. It is a canon rank, i.e. Fleet Captain Pike and Fleet Captain Garth.

I'd say it's a rank between captain and commodore, but why you'd need another grade there is anybody's guess. If pressed I'd say it's more for staff billets, while captain and commodore are more for unit command.

Also, how you would explain Matt Decker serving as captain of the Constellation, but holding the rank of commodore.

My pet theory on that: Every four (or whatever number you prefer) starships (Consitutions) has a commodore as CO, who is also concurrently division commander (or squadron if you prefer). Starships are normally deployed independently, so being division commander is usually just administrative, but when they get together for some reason, the commodore is in charge.

--Justin

 

[Cicero]

I was wondering what your thoughts are on the rank of Fleet Captain and where you would place it in the chain of command. It is a canon rank, i.e. Fleet Captain Pike and Fleet Captain Garth. Also, how you would explain Matt Decker serving as captain of the Constellation, but holding the rank of commodore.

Easy answer is that Fleet Captains command either fleets or task forces. Most of the time Starfleet vessels do not operate in fleet formations and so the Fleet Captains operate as single ship commanders until such time a the Admiralty chooses to assembles a fleet around them. Fleet Captain might also be another way of saying "Senior Captain."

Commodore is above Fleet captain and commands a group of ships and bases in a designated area like a sector, unlike a Admiral, a Commodore is a "field" command. In the case of Matt Decker and the Constellation, the Constellation may not have been originally under Decker's direct command, she may have had a captain who was killed or ordered by Decker to beam down with the rest of the crew.

Mostly how I see it. Fleet Captain may be a cumbersome way of designating the senior captain in a task force - they still command one ship, though, with Commodores commanding the whole thing. The thing is that if the Commodore gets put out of action for some reason, the Fleet Captain then steps up and does the job of the Commodore.

(In truth, if I wasn't pressed on it, I'd suppress the rank of Fleet Captain. It sounds too Fannish, with not enough thought put into its place in the structure.)

The title of Fleet Captain has a history, in the United States Navy, at least. It was used to designate chiefs of staff to flag officers in the 19th Century, and was nearly revived during World War II, first as the rank that later became Commodore, then as the title of the senior captain of a ship which had several aboard (such as a fleet aircraft carrier).

 

[WisTrekFan]

I was wondering what your thoughts are on the rank of Fleet Captain and where you would place it in the chain of command. It is a canon rank, i.e. Fleet Captain Pike and Fleet Captain Garth.

I'd say it's a rank between captain and commodore, but why you'd need another grade there is anybody's guess. If pressed I'd say it's more for staff billets, while captain and commodore are more for unit command.

Also, how you would explain Matt Decker serving as captain of the Constellation, but holding the rank of commodore.

My pet theory on that: Every four (or whatever number you prefer) starships (Consitutions) has a commodore as CO, who is also concurrently division commander (or squadron if you prefer). Starships are normally deployed independently, so being division commander is usually just administrative, but when they get together for some reason, the commodore is in charge.

--Justin

That would seem to answer the question of Decker commanding the Constellation.

 

[Chaos Descending]

And Bob Wesley clearly was in charge of not only his own ship, the Lexington, but the whole task force involved in the M5 test.

 

[Penta]

Data Holmes: I can finally sit down and chew on what you presented.

First: The "separate entities" proviso is interesting...But makes woefully little sense either canonically or politically.

I won't address the canon aspect, except to say that I never got that vibe from either the TOS series or the TOS movies.

Politically: There's words for a military or paramilitary force not subordinate to state power - Mercenaries. Bandits.

When you set that separate entities proviso of yours aside, the rest of your structure tends to crumble.

Points I'd mention especially:

It's too complex (at least IMHO). It looks good on paper, but would be dreadfully top-heavy and confusing in practice.

Additionally, Starfleet as you have it pictured does, at least to me, far too much that could more usefully be done by private entities - and by all accounts in the TOS/TOS-movies timeframe, *was* done by private entities - such as merchant shipping and colonization.

Later on, in TNG, you might have room to argue for "Starfleet merchants", though probably not Starfleet-directed colonization. I personally don't think there's enough to make sense of a Starfleet-directed merchant arm, but you might be able to argue it given the greater state intervention in the economy.

I'll say this: For a first attempt, it's very detailed. I like that.

I just don't see where you're coming from in a lot of ways.