"Disaster" and Chain of Command

[CoveTom]

I've seen lots of discussions about the Enterprise's chain of command before, but I'm interested in the episode "Disaster" specifically and whether anyone with real life military knowledge can help me out here.

On the bridge, Lieutenant Monroe has apparently been left in command by Captain Picard when he leaves the bridge. But shortly thereafter, she is killed. O'Brien says that Counselor Troi, who holds the rank of Lieutenant Commander, is the senior officer on the deck, and so she -- rather reluctantly -- takes command.

Now, granted, Troi is an experienced officer and does hold a relatively high rank. However, she is essentially a medical specialist. She has no experience with ship operations or command at that point in her career. If this were a real life military scenario, would her rank alone let her take command, or would someone with a lower rank but more direct experience, like Ensign Ro, take command? Or what about O'Brien who is, without a doubt, the most experienced person on the bridge at the time, but is not an officer?

 

[Anna Yolei]

In the Navy, only line officers can take command of a vessal. Flag officers (which includes specialty corps like medical/nursing) cannot take command even if every other line officer is dead or incapasitated.

Whether that it the case in Trek, I don't know. For dramatic purposes, I guess they decided to ignore that bit.

 

[CoveTom]

So if a flag officer cannot take command, what would happen if all line officers were dead or incapacitated? Would an enlisted crewman take command?

 

[Timo]

O'Brien says

...And I think this is the most important part of what is going on in "Disaster". The situation is unclear, there are few experienced people present, and Ro Laren is the next in line for command. O'Brien knows Ro Laren is trouble. So O'Brien, trusted by the crew, immediately and vocally steps in and states in no unclear terms that he wants Troi in command.

What actually follows is that O'Brien is in command. Troi does not clumsily issue direct orders - she asks for opinions, and whenever these are in conflict, she always chooses O'Brien's, although she's being all clever and psychological about it. Indeed, for most of the time, Ro refuses to call her "Sir" and probably feels that she herself is in command of the events...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[sonak]

O'Brien says

...And I think this is the most important part of what is going on in "Disaster". The situation is unclear, there are few experienced people present, and Ro Laren is the next in line for command. O'Brien knows Ro Laren is trouble. So O'Brien, trusted by the crew, immediately and vocally steps in and states in no unclear terms that he wants Troi in command.

What actually follows is that O'Brien is in command. Troi does not clumsily issue direct orders - she asks for opinions, and whenever these are in conflict, she always chooses O'Brien's, although she's being all clever and psychological about it. Indeed, for most of the time, Ro refuses to call her "Sir" and probably feels that she herself is in command of the events...

Timo Saloniemi

that's clever, but I think the answer is simpler: the writers either don't understand military chain of command, or wanted Troi in command for plot purposes and didn't care about logic, or Starfleet is run by imbeciles.


Because you don't put staff officers and specialists in command when there are qualified line officers or chief petty officers. Chaplains on a ship can be lieutenants or lieutenant commanders but no one would think of putting them in command over a lower-ranking line officer.

 

[MacLeod]

Well if Troi was an graduate of Starfleet Academy, she would be in the chain of command.

 

[Timo]

...Somewhere near the bottom. I mean, McCoy graduated, too, and he's definitely staff, without any say in command decisions.

It's possible for somebody who looks like staff to actually be a line officer, if he or she has gone for a double competency. It would appear that Bashir did this as part of his studies already, whereas Crusher and Troi both took some extra courses (Crusher before "Disaster", Troi after it in "Thine Own Self") that gave them some extra qualifications but not necessarily yet full line officer status. Although it does look as if Crusher's extra studies have provided her with full line officer auhtority by the time of "Descent".

Timo Saloniemi

 

[sonak]

Well if Troi was an graduate of Starfleet Academy, she would be in the chain of command.

Only if Starfleet works totally differently than any other military or quasi-military organization out there. Again, she's an officer yes, but a staff officer, not a line officer. Doctors, chaplains, etc. are NOT available to "take command." Beverly and Deanna had to take tests later in the series to GET that qualification, which I think implies that Troi had no business being in command in "Disaster."

 

[Tom]

they seem to make it clear that in order to have the full commander rank you need to pass the command courses as we saw with Deanna "Thine Own Self". Also this helps with the times Crusher was in charge, she was a full commander so she obvious had the same command courses and tests. And she was put through here own little dest in Decent part 2.

Not sure if this matters but Troi, was also part of the 'Senior Staff'.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

The events of Disaster don't seem to take place during alpha shift, seeing as how Riker and Data are off duty in Ten Forward, so Munroe was the watch officer for that shift, which would be one explanation for why Picard left her in charge, despite Troi being the ranking officer.

There is also the fact that Troi is a medical specialist, not a command-track officer, though her expertise as a diplomat and first contact specialist does afford her a seat on the Bridge during normal operations.

O'Brien states that she is the ranking officer, as it is only himself and two ensigns left on the Bridge during the disaster.

But anyways, it's one of my favourite TNG episodes

 

[Enterprise1981]

I know that doctors aren't line officers in the real life military, but are engineers also not line officers as well? On a few occasions, the ranking bridge officer was left in charge over the higher ranking chief engineer, and that created a few disagreements, most notably in "The Arsenal of Freedom".

 

[CoveTom]

I know that doctors aren't line officers in the real life military, but are engineers also not line officers as well? On a few occasions, the ranking bridge officer was left in charge over the higher ranking chief engineer, and that created a few disagreements, most notably in "The Arsenal of Freedom".

That's a different situation. What we've been talking about is when the officer who is in command dies or becomes incapacitated and who command automatically passes to as part of the chain of command and the rank structure.

However, in "The Arsenal of Freedom," Captain Picard specifically designated LaForge to command the ship. The captain can choose whomever they want to be in command, just as Kirk would sometimes vary whether he left Scotty or Sulu in command. If the captain picks a specific officer and says "you have command of the ship," then that person is in charge and can overrule even officers who outrank them, which is what happens when LaForge refuses to relinquish command to Logan.

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

In the Navy, only line officers can take command of a vessal. Flag officers (which includes specialty corps like medical/nursing) cannot take command even if every other line officer is dead or incapasitated.

Whether that it the case in Trek, I don't know. For dramatic purposes, I guess they decided to ignore that bit.

Think you mean staff officers, not flag. Staff officers are support. Flag officers are among the admiralty.

 

[Timo]

they seem to make it clear that in order to have the full commander rank you need to pass the command courses

Umm, doesn't look like that at all. We have seen full Commander medical officers who don't have command qualifications (Pulaski, arguably McCoy), and we have seen lower-ranking medical officers who do get to command (Bashir).

It appears instead that when you take that extra course that allows you to stand bridge watches (which isn't a "command qualification" as much as it is a certificate for performing menial work), you get some brownie points that get you closer to your next promotion. If you happen to be an experienced LtCmdr, they may take you to Cmdr rank. If you are a raw Ensign, they might not be enough to give you Lt (jg) yet. And there must be dozens of other ways to get the brownie points: an extra course in disaster relief or space parasitology, say, or a mountaineering/spelunking course for reaching the most demanding patients, or a piloting course...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Vanyel]

they seem to make it clear that in order to have the full commander rank you need to pass the command courses as we saw with Deanna "Thine Own Self". Also this helps with the times Crusher was in charge, she was a full commander so she obvious had the same command courses and tests. And she was put through here own little dest in Decent part 2.

Not sure if this matters but Troi, was also part of the 'Senior Staff'.

The only thing it really clears up is that you don't need to be a full Commander to be CMO of a Starship. The test qualifies you for command, however the Captain decides what the immediate chain of Command is (First Officer, Second Officer and whoever is next in line by order of the Captain). Although once the Captain, First and Second officer are dead you have a lot more problems than the chain of command.

The test Troi took may or may not have been the reason she was promoted. After she passed the test Riker may have recommended her for promotion and Picard granted it. She had been a Lt. Commander for at least 6 years, and being outside the chain of command the test may have easily bumped her up in rank. As Second Officer Data must have taken the test if it bumped him up in rank or not is not known.

 

[CoveTom]

The only thing it really clears up is that you don't need to be a full Commander to be CMO of a Starship. The test qualifies you for command, however the Captain decides what the immediate chain of Command is (First Officer, Second Officer and whoever is next in line by order of the Captain). Although once the Captain, First and Second officer are dead you have a lot more problems than the chain of command.

I'm not sure it's fair to say that the test itself qualifies you for command in more than the technical sense. Yes, someone like Troi who passes the test could be given a bridge watch, which means they are technically in command of the ship at that point, but if anything major happened, she would immediately call the captain or first officer or whichever off-duty member of the senior staff was available. Excepting, of course, a disaster like the one shown in "Disaster" that cuts them off from the rest of the ship.

But Starfleet is clearly not going to take a ship's counselor who just passed the "bridge watch" test and give her command of a starship. Trek has repeatedly made it clear that there are "command track" officers who are being given the knowledge and experience necessary for true command responsibilities, and there are other officers who, regardless of rank, simply are not prepared for command. Troi can technically take the bridge for a night watch or in an emergency, but she's never going to command a starship unless she switches career paths.

 

[R. Star]

Really the concept that Troi can be in command of the starship is just a laughable mistake by the writers and one they repeat a few times.

Historical precident aside, just who in their right mind thinks it's a good idea for a therapist, who isn't even that good at her job, to take command of a starship?

She can't even drive as Generations proved. Honestly the concept of her outranking Data is just absurd except the Hand of God gets played in the form of the script.

 

[Timo]

I don't understand this sort of reasoning at all. We saw in "Disaster" that when Troi took command, this resulted in a resounding success. Why should Starfleet be "run by imbeciles" if it churns out victory after victory?

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Caretaker]

I think that we can pretty much assume that Starfleet is not run exactly like any 20th/21st century Earth military. We saw how things run in Starfleet. It works. Who are we to critique?

 

[sonak]

I don't understand this sort of reasoning at all. We saw in "Disaster" that when Troi took command, this resulted in a resounding success. Why should Starfleet be "run by imbeciles" if it churns out victory after victory?

Timo Saloniemi

One instance of success due to her heavy reliance on O'brien's guidance equals "victory after victory?" Also, it's a TV show. Of course the idea is to show Troi as being successful. In the real world, you don't put people who aren't on the command track and have no experience in command in that position.