duty shift preference

[Uhurock]

I'd prefer the dog-watch. Because it is cur-tailed.


[with a tip of the bicorne to Capt Jack Aubrey]

 

[T'Girl]

Is the idea here and above that some watch sections are "better" than others?

Yes.

Unless you're going to insist that all personnel aboard the ship are completely equal in experience and abilities.

Which is unlikely.

While emergencies can strike at any time, if you know ahead of time that something significant is going to happen, and you have control as to to when the ship is going to be experiencing that event, why wouldn't you arrange to have the "first team" in position when it does happen?

 

[Mario de Monti]

Makes sense to me.

 

[HIjol]

Interesting ideas...especially the pre-shift Briefing...but back to the OP's original question, what shift would we want to work and why, I would want a rotation of all three (or 4) shifts, so that I could get to know both the personnel and the "happenings " on each shift...I am sure that both scheduled and unscheduled events would occur throughout the starship "day"' and I would want to be a part of that...

<sigh>...born just a couple hundred years too early! I think...

 

[USS Triumphant]

Unless you're going to insist that all personnel aboard the ship are completely equal in experience and abilities.

Which is unlikely.

Unless it is a Borg ship.

 

[DonIago]

I would hope that there's flexibility regarding such things. If you always have your "A" team in place when anything serious happens, how are the other teams ever supposed to learn to cope with anything serious themselves?

 

[J.T.B.]

While emergencies can strike at any time, if you know ahead of time that something significant is going to happen, and you have control as to to when the ship is going to be experiencing that event, why wouldn't you arrange to have the "first team" in position when it does happen?

That assumes there is one shift that is a "first team." It would make more sense to try to make all shifts as nearly equal as possible, to deal effectively with the emergencies when they happen, as they are more of a threat to the vessel than routine operations. And personnel of all shifts would have experienced officers involved in their training rather than just one shift, which would not only be detrimental to the training of most personnel, but create morale issues for those not deemed worthy of the "first team."

If certain individual officers are needed for some planned event, that could be dealt with easily by adjusting their watch schedules to allow them to be there. On a ship with a lot of officers, the department heads don't really need to stand watches anyway, and generally keep daytime "office hours."

 

[HIjol]

I would hope that there's flexibility regarding such things. If you always have your "A" team in place when anything serious happens, how are the other teams ever supposed to learn to cope with anything serious themselves?

This

While emergencies can strike at any time, if you know ahead of time that something significant is going to happen, and you have control as to to when the ship is going to be experiencing that event, why wouldn't you arrange to have the "first team" in position when it does happen?

That assumes there is one shift that is a "first team." It would make more sense to try to make all shifts as nearly equal as possible, to deal effectively with the emergencies when they happen, as they are more of a threat to the vessel than routine operations. And personnel of all shifts would have experienced officers involved in their training rather than just one shift, which would not only be detrimental to the training of most personnel, but create morale issues for those not deemed worthy of the "first team."

If certain individual officers are needed for some planned event, that could be dealt with easily by adjusting their watch schedules to allow them to be there. On a ship with a lot of officers, the department heads don't really need to stand watches anyway, and generally keep daytime "office hours."

...and this.

 

[DonIago]

That's one thing I really liked about one of the Cold Equations books. An emergency occurs on a planet the E-E is orbiting and T'ryssa Chen (apologies for typos) has the conn at the time. While she's been shown to have a perhaps larger number of quirks than your average member of the E crew, she handles the situation quite competently. I thought it was very cool seeing a "non-standard" member of the crew be placed in that type of situation and handle it well, doubtless in part because there is some degree of cross-training and it -isn't- always the "hero crew" facing the serious problems.

 

[J.T.B.]

^ Well, that's more like real-life. The officer of the deck, in USN terms, is often a somewhat junior officer, because ship-handling and managing the watch are often fairly routine but are fundamental in an officer's development. A really good book that shows how a young officer builds experience and confidence and gains responsibility aboard his ship is The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk, who was an officer on destroyer-minesweepers during the war. In the book (and the movie), young Ensign Keith happens to be the officer of the deck in the climactic storm when the captain is relieved of duty, and even though the captain had taken the conn and the XO ordered him relieved, Keith is drawn into the court-martial because he had the watch when it happened.

 

[DonIago]

I just picked up that movie a few weeks ago actually. Watched most of it, but had to stop because I started too late at night. Have to get to it again soon.

 

[J.T.B.]

I just picked up that movie a few weeks ago actually. Watched most of it, but had to stop because I started too late at night. Have to get to it again soon.

The book is much better detailed about Willie Keith's experiences and lessons learned as a junior officer, of course, but the movie is still really good.

 

[HIjol]

^ Well, that's more like real-life. The officer of the deck, in USN terms, is often a somewhat junior officer, because ship-handling and managing the watch are often fairly routine but are fundamental in an officer's development. A really good book that shows how a young officer builds experience and confidence and gains responsibility aboard his ship is The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk, who was an officer on destroyer-minesweepers during the war. In the book (and the movie), young Ensign Keith happens to be the officer of the deck in the climactic storm when the captain is relieved of duty, and even though the captain had taken the conn and the XO ordered him relieved, Keith is drawn into the court-martial because he had the watch when it happened.

...agreed, and nice avatar...he was one HELL of a Ballplayer...now he is playing for the REALLY big leagues...

 

[T'Girl]

That assumes there is one shift that is a "first team."

The bridge crew in Descent part two would be an example of the "not first team."