Do Starfleet get days off?

[Kraig]

Would I be right in thinking that modern ships wouldn't require staff actually in the engine room full time, with the engineering crew working mainly from elsewhere on the ship? Because Star Trek's depiction of the engineering deck looks quite antiquated, like that of an old steamship, still common when TOS first aired.

Modern Nuclear aircraft carriers are steam ships. The manner of producing steam is nuclear fission and not fossil fuels. There are usually only 3 commissioned officers on watch for Engineering and Reactor spaces (one in each Reactor Aux Room (RAR) Enclosed Operating Station (EOS) and 1 in Damage Control Central), while the ship is steaming. Every one else in the RARs and EOSs are a non-commissioned officers. There is also staff in each of the two engine rooms. Civilian ships have a lot less crew than warships because they usually don't respond as front line ships of war.

Our Chief Engineer and Reactor Officer were department heads and were never on Watch in the Engineering or Reactor spaces. They might show up from time to time to observe drills or inspect the spaces for cleanliness. 85 percent of personnel on a Navy ship are enlisted, 15 percent are officers. Officers did no work, and had no specific knowledge to fix anything. Chiefs and petty officers are the subject matter experts and perform and supervise repairs and maintenance with the junior enlisted.

 

[STEPhon IT]

TOS world is so much fun, I couldn't imagine an officer would be looking for a day off. To have the opportunity to love what you do and doing it at the highest level at work is the greatest thing ever. If there were days off... I'm sure an officer could hardly wait to return on duty aboard a STARSHIP CLASS vessel, especially if it's the starship Enterprise.

 

[at Quark's]

...and Vulcans, Horta, Andorians, Betazoids, Medusans, Phylosians, Bajorans, Tellerites, Deltans, Fabrini, Caitians...

If Starfleet came with an ingredient label, it probably would read " Humans > 95% pure . WARNING: product contains token amounts of Vulcans, Horta, Andorians, Betazoids, Medusans, Phylosians, Bajorans, Tellerites, Deltans, Fabrini, Caitians..."

 

[BK613]

P.S> Anyone who'se been in the Navy will tell you that a 3x8-hour schedule is not normal for ship-at-sea duty. The standard is a seven-shift rotation of five four-hour shifts plus two two-hour "dog watch" shifts.

Two points here:
First, though there is a standard rotation, commands are able to be flexible to match the needs of the particular department or division.
Second, the standard rotation for watches does not usually reflect a rotating work schedule (though it can).

For example, as an Electrician's Mate on a medium-sized ship, even at sea, I worked a work schedule that was essentially breakfast to dinner, Mon-Sat. In addition to that schedule, for a while I was a member of a watch section and stood one or two switchboard watches on the day my section had the duty. We typically had two or three sections at sea in my division, depending on the number of qualified watchstanders. The switchboard watch mostly followed the "seven-shift rotation" that you mentioned (0000-0400, 0400-0800, 0800-1200, 1200-1600, 1600-1800, 1800-2000, and 2000-2400.) The duty day was from 0800 to 0800 so the handoff from one section to the next was at 8am.

Contrast that with the Engineering Dept divisions who worked mainly in the machinery spaces and also stood watches in the machinery spaces. At sea, they often would be on workshifts of 12 on / 12 off, drawing their watchstanders from the snipes that were up. I think one of the reasons that would work for them is that their work was confined to those spaces and not all over the ship like the EMs were.

 

[BK613]

TOS world is so much fun, I couldn't imagine an officer would be looking for a day off. To have the opportunity to love what you do and doing it at the highest level at work is the greatest thing ever. If there were days off... I'm sure an officer could hardly wait to return on duty aboard a STARSHIP CLASS vessel, especially if it's the starship Enterprise.

What's the point of having a bowling alley if you are never off to use it?

 

[STEPhon IT]

What's the point of having a bowling alley if you are never off to use it?

HAHAHAHA!!! Very true

 

[Sgt_G]

{snip}.... For example, as an Electrician's Mate on a medium-sized ship, even at sea, I worked a work schedule that was essentially breakfast to dinner, Mon-Sat ....{snip}

Cool, thanks. My wife was Navy / Navy Reserves (Yeoman) but never served on a ship. LOL. Her reserve unit went out once for a day cruise on a frigate. While the rest got the grand tour of the ship, she spent the entire trip in medical. Yeah, right -- eight years in the Navy (at that point) and first time they put her on a ship, she got seasick.

At any rate, in the crew rosters I created and in the fiction I write, I have two different types of jobs. There are those that have to be manned 24/7, and those that are more day-shift only, such as Yeoman. I suppose something like IT tech or plumber or electrician would usually be day-shift but also on-call in case something breaks in the middle of the night. That would depend on the size of the ship & crew. The one I'm working with has a crew of ~100, with 20 being Tac-Teams / Boarding Parties. A dozen are assigned to bridge duty, three teams of four (helm/nav/comms/sensor), and about the same for the engine room. That doesn't leave any flexibility to have a IT tech / plumber / electrician on each shift. A larger ship with 350-500 personnel will have that luxury.

 

[dupersuper]

If Starfleet came with an ingredient label, it probably would read " Humans > 95% pure . WARNING: product contains token amounts of Vulcans, Horta, Andorians, Betazoids, Medusans, Phylosians, Bajorans, Tellerites, Deltans, Fabrini, Caitians..."

I'm into the comics, novels and video games, where - with no budget/time constraints - Starfleet looks far more diverse. Plus, plenty of the folks in the background of TV scenes could be Fabrini, Iotians, Romans, Aldaneans...

 

[at Quark's]

I'm into the comics, novels and video games, where - with no budget/time constraints - Starfleet looks far more diverse. Plus, plenty of the folks in the background of TV scenes could be Fabrini, Iotians, Romans, Aldaneans...

I'm not -I'm only watching the on-screen material- but I'm pleased to hear that at least there Starfleet comes off as it must have been intended.

 

[BK613]

Yeah, right -- eight years in the Navy (at that point) and first time they put her on a ship, she got seasick.

I feel for her. FWIW, even the most seasoned sailor could spend a few days "getting their sea-legs" back, as it were.

There are those that have to be manned 24/7

That's what the Navy calls watches, those stations that are essential to the safety, security and operation of the command. When set*, they are manned until they are unset. Thing is, a watch is not someone's career. Rather watches are manned from a pool of qualified personnel that are tasked with other responsibilities when not on watch. The Officer of the Deck is also a Department Head or Division Officer. That Deck sailor at the helm spends most of his/her time grinding, priming, and painting the ship. Same with the lookouts, if they also were pulled from Deck Department. On one end of the Engine Order Telegraph there would be an enlisted from Deck and on the other end an enlisted from M-Division (who could go from watch straight to performing some maintenance on a piece of machinery.)
I guess the point I am trying to make is that the two job types you listed are intertwined and not discrete entities at all.

*(Example of setting a watch: the switchboard watch was not manned unless the ship was producing its own electricity {ship's power as opposed to shore power.} So the watch was set just prior to making the switch and maintained 24/7 until the ship again drew power from the pier.).

 

[Orphalesion]

I'm into the comics, novels and video games, where - with no budget/time constraints - Starfleet looks far more diverse. Plus, plenty of the folks in the background of TV scenes could be Fabrini, Iotians, Romans, Aldaneans...

I'm not -I'm only watching the on-screen material- but I'm pleased to hear that at least there Starfleet comes off as it must have been intended.

With Star Trek, I'm also strictly into the on-screen material. The ST expanded universe just doesn't appeal to me. But even if we go strictly by on-screen material there's tons of alien background characters in Lower Decks and even the senior staff has a good amount of aliens on it.

 

[Kraig]

I feel for her. FWIW, even the most seasoned sailor could spend a few days "getting their sea-legs" back, as it were.

That's what the Navy calls watches, those stations that are essential to the safety, security and operation of the command. When set*, they are manned until they are unset. Thing is, a watch is not someone's career. Rather watches are manned from a pool of qualified personnel that are tasked with other responsibilities when not on watch. The Officer of the Deck is also a Department Head or Division Officer. That Deck sailor at the helm spends most of his/her time grinding, priming, and painting the ship. Same with the lookouts, if they also were pulled from Deck Department. On one end of the Engine Order Telegraph there would be an enlisted from Deck and on the other end an enlisted from M-Division (who could go from watch straight to performing some maintenance on a piece of machinery.)
I guess the point I am trying to make is that the two job types you listed are intertwined and not discrete entities at all.

*(Example of setting a watch: the switchboard watch was not manned unless the ship was producing its own electricity {ship's power as opposed to shore power.} So the watch was set just prior to making the switch and maintained 24/7 until the ship again drew power from the pier.).

The best examples of watches vs work was on Voyager. Tom Paris stood watch on the bridge. When not on watch he worked a shift in sickbay assisting the EMH. Harry Kim would work with Seven when not on watch. Sometimes a watch happens at the same time as part of your work day. The watch takes priority over the work day. On Navy ships watches are usually 4 or 5 hours long, the workday when deployed is 12 hours long, every day of the week. When General Quarters is sounded (Star Trek would call it Red Alert) personnel have assigned GQ stations (either a specific watch location or an additional watch location). My GQ station was a Load Center that wasn't normally manned even at sea.

 

[BK613]

Sometimes a watch happens at the same time as part of your work day. The watch takes priority over the work day.

Good points which I should have emphasized beyond the word "essential."

When General Quarters is sounded (Star Trek would call it Red Alert) personnel have assigned GQ stations (either a specific watch location or an additional watch location). My GQ station was a Load Center that wasn't normally manned even at sea.

Since the thread has been about time off, I tried to stay away from confusing things with the different conditions of readiness as set forth by the Watch, Quarter, and Station Bill*.
There was only one E-Division on the ship I've been describing and during GQ, I at various different times manned the switchboard, the emergency diesel generator (EDG) or one of the four damage control lockers. The ship had one DC locker forward in the focsul, one locker aft under the helo hangar, and two lockers amidships. One of those latter ones was responsible for the superstructure and the other for the main machinery spaces. Overall, there were three to four EMs per locker plus several assigned to the Electric Shop as floaters/watch relief. The EDG was not normally manned but an EM was stationed there during UnReps. Also during the sea and anchor detail when entering/leaving port. We also ran a modified sea detail for the 18+ hour transit of the Malacca Strait as we went in and out of the Indian Ocean.

*(I guess it is worth noting that since I served during the 1980s, a lot of my at experiences occurred under Condition IV, Peacetime Cruising. My current understanding is that, now, because of our Perpetual Wars, it is the norm for ships to be at Condition III, Wartime Cruising.)

 

[Kraig]

I agreed with your post BK613, just adding examples from the show for others who watch and haven't been in any Navy. I have found the most accurate modern movie about WWII life on a ship at sea in action to be Greyhound with Tom Hanks. They did add some things that never happened, like U boats taunting the convoy on the radio, but otherwise was on the money.

 

[Sgt_G]

When I drafted the crew roster for the ship I'm writing about (UFP police force cutter with ~100 crew), one of the assumptions I made was the work day would be 12-hours M-F plus 8-hours on the weekend. Yes, that's 76 duty hours out of 168 hours per week, or 45% of the time. The crew would work eight hours at their normal work station, and then spend four hours in training and drills, or taking care of additional duties. Because of the heavy workload, these ships try to make port for a few days every four to six weeks to allow the crew to blow off steam.