duty shift preference

[C.E. Evans]

But there's no reason to have a less than ideal schedule on a spaceship.

A spaceship, just like an oceangoing vessel, runs 24-7. It never shuts down. As such, there will always be a need for some people to work shifts that aren't ideal even if only on occasion.
A case could be made that the times we do see the captain and the exec on the bridge represent special occasions or occasions in which their shifts overlap. It could be that most of time (the unaired time in a show or movie when nothing really exciting/important is going on), the captain and exec actually aren't on the bridge together.

Ship's schedules are completely arbitrary since there's no external daylight cycle.

Which is why it's possible that personnel may alternate between various shifts. But we do know from TNG's "Data Day" that there is a day watch and a night watch on the Enterprise, which was likely created as a result of most of the crew having either a diurnal or nocturnal biology.

Sorry, I wasn't clear enough earlier. It's not working gamma shift that's a problem in space (the lack of natural sunlight / daylight is a non-issue, presumably humans living in space have adapted to it), nor is working gamma shift a problem biologically. The problems I listed occur when you have to change shifts (or rather sleep cycles) frequently. Certainly for enlisted crew this would be a non-issue, since if you worked beta shift, you could work that shift for the foreseeable future. More senior officers might be required to return to duty in the middle of an off-duty shift or a sleeping period for, say, diplomatic missions. I can imagine that everyone would be required to go on duty in an emergency that threatened the safety of the ship.

It need not necessarily be an emergency that may require some personnel to change shifts. Just as it is in the real world, I think there will always be a need for "floaters," people who work different shifts according to necessity (filling in for someone away on a mission, on leave, or due to sickness). I believe such personnel comprise only a minority of a ship's crew, but it's definitely possible for some people not to have a specific set duty shift (but a shift they generally work more than another for a time) and are plugged in whenever needed for a situation. I think generally department managers try not to have them alternating between day and night too often, but it can happen from time to time, IMO.

 

[BK613]

i would like to think that Starfleet uses some appropriate version of a watch, quarter and station bill.

 

[varek]

Thank you for that WQS connection, BK613. That is rather informative about such situations.

 

[BK613]

^^ glad it helped.

 

[Enterprise1701]

Here's something I've always wondered. Do Starfleet vessels on specific journeys to a location purposely travel at a velocity so that it will be alpha shift during arrival? Cause I don't recall watching any Star Trek where beta/gamma shift officers of the watch are in charge upon arrival at a planet/phenomenon/encounter.

 

[J.T.B.]

Here's something I've always wondered. Do Starfleet vessels on specific journeys to a location purposely travel at a velocity so that it will be alpha shift during arrival? Cause I don't recall watching any Star Trek where beta/gamma shift officers of the watch are in charge upon arrival at a planet/phenomenon/encounter.

It's just like cop shows and hospital shows: Interesting stuff only happens when the main characters are on duty.

 

[Alrik]

The reason for it is that the ship is always travelling at the speed of plot.

 

[Timo]

The CO does generally know when the ship arrives at an adventure, so it would make sense to call the trusted officers to the bridge. Other departments may well be at whatever random shift is supposed to be active at that time, but the bridge may be on "alert", at least if the scheduled adventure doesn't involve any known elements of danger that would require an alert without the quotation marks.

Kirk for one may have taken care to have his "dream team" in place whenever the ship entered orbit of a target planet - but also to leave at least one expert department head in "reserve" for the other shifts. This would explain how the rather junior Chekov sees so much bridge action despite clearly not being the most senior officer in the Navigation department: Kirk wants his top helmsman and top science officer, but realizes that when these get exhausted by the action, it's better to have further "tops" in reserve rather than just second-rankers.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Nerys Myk]

Pretty sure we've seem episodes where Kirk wasn't on duty at the start. WNMHGB comes to mind. Kirk is in the rec room and is called to the bridge when they get close the Valiant's buoy. Sounds like Kelso had the conn. Both Kirk and Mitchell decide to head to the bridge because Kelso might be out of his depth.

 

[T'Girl]

The Corbomite Maneuver too, Kirk was in sick bay.

 

[Mario de Monti]

They paid a lot of attention to these little details in the first season to make the show feel more realistic, just as showing the crew in off-duty situations.

 

[MacLeod]

I suspect you wouldn't be able to tell which ship is going to be the most hectic on a starship as you are potentially dealing with unkowns. It's not like the graveyard shift in say a call centre or a shop when it might be virtually dead in the early hours of the day. It's fairly predicatble that you aren't going to get many calls/shoppers at 02:00 in the morning as most people would be asleep. In a starship I somehow suspect that Alien ship that's just appeared on sensors is not going to think I better what until It's 09:00 Earth time before I attack/make contact.

 

[Mario de Monti]

Really? Well personally I´d expect any decently advanced civilisation to halt their attack until the opponent has slept in and had a proper breakfast

But you´re right of course, considerations like these are kind of moot in outer space where there is neither day nor night. BTW, in Conscience of the King we also learn of a simulated day/night rhythm aboard the Enterprise.

 

[Timo]

Yeah, TNG retains the concept, which I guess is more practical than dividing the ship in three compartments that each maintain their own diurnal rhythm. And it seems to be universal, as DS9 also had a night - apparently even when orbiting Bajor under Cardassian control, as our favorite Ferengi were seemingly very accustomed to conducting shady business in darkness and solitude.

It probably follows that the three shifts are "unequally" arranged somehow, so that a "night" shift might not really exist despite the night existing, and two or even all three shifts would feature poor bastards having to stay awake when the lights are dimmed.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[T'Girl]

Really? Well personally I´d expect any decently advanced civilisation to halt their attack until the opponent has slept in and had a proper breakfast.

Reminds me of that scene from The Princess Bride. When the Hero has trouble climbing a cliff, the Swordsmen in the service of the Villian lowers a rope, pulls him up and allows the Hero a brief rest prior to engaging him in combat.

Here's something I've always wondered. Do Starfleet vessels on specific journeys to a location purposely travel at a velocity so that it will be alpha shift during arrival? .

On reflection this isn't a bad idea. Unless they are responding to a emergency, the timing of arrival might be timed so that the "first team" are in position as part of normal shift rotation. If there was a journey of several days, a slight reduction/increase in the warp speed would accomplish this easily.

 

[USS Triumphant]

Really? Well personally I´d expect any decently advanced civilisation to halt their attack until the opponent has slept in and had a proper breakfast

So it isn't just French captains who are British, but also every advanced civilization anywhere?

 

[Mario de Monti]

Really? Well personally I´d expect any decently advanced civilisation to halt their attack until the opponent has slept in and had a proper breakfast.

Reminds me of that scene from The Princess Bride. When the Hero has trouble climbing a cliff, the Swordsmen in the service of the Villian lowers a rope, pulls him up and allows the Hero a brief rest prior to engaging him in combat.

I hadn´t thought of that, but it is a perfect visualization. "Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya."

 

[varek]

The ship's computer should, theoretically, adjust the lighting to either a standard Earth day or a standard local (e.g., Bajoran) day, moving from predawn through dawn, noon and twilight settings, until after "sundown," to give the crew a natural feel to the day.

Of course, work areas would be appropriately lighted, depending upon the needs of the jobs performed there.

 

[J.T.B.]

On reflection this isn't a bad idea. Unless they are responding to a emergency, the timing of arrival might be timed so that the "first team" are in position as part of normal shift rotation.

Is the idea here and above that some watch sections are "better" than others? That would not be a very smart way to organize things, since one can never tell when some emergency or crisis will develop. Having the most experienced officers concentrated on one shift, if that's what's suggested, would be both inefficient and unnecessary. If something does happen that's too serious for those on duty, the officer of the watch will call the captain, and if it's really serious they'll go to red alert and everyone will be on duty within a few minutes. In addition, spreading the most experienced officers around the shifts would allow more officers in training the benefit of that experience.

 

[Timo]

I guess the idea would be that top officers are usually distributed across all the watches, but alerts send all of them rushing to the bridge (and other key locations). At standard approach to an adventure, Kirk would hesitate to sound a full alert, but he would summon the top team, which we then mistake for the Alpha Shift when it's in fact the all-stars.

Timo Saloniemi