Going a bit off topic here, come to think of it, it's actually weird that Odo was 'accepted' as chief of security as easily by Starfleet as he was. For Kira, at least she is there in her official capacity as (chief) Bajoran liaison officer. But why wouldn't Starfleet just have sent over a Starfleet chief of security immediately? It's a fairly critical position after all, and Starfleet can't have been comfortable having the same guy there that already served under the Cardassians ....
How Capable Was O'Brien
- Thread starter Go-Captain
- Start date
Going a bit off topic here, come to think of it, it's actually weird that Odo was 'accepted' as chief of security as easily by Starfleet as he was. For Kira, at least she is there in her official capacity as (chief) Bajoran liaison officer. But why wouldn't Starfleet just have sent over a Starfleet chief of security immediately? It's a fairly critical position after all, and Starfleet can't have been comfortable having the same guy there that already served under the Cardassians ....
Are Ops and Chief of Operations the same thing though?
Could Data's double duty as Ops and Second Officer be the reason for his higher rank? Disco's Ops is a Lt. j.g.
In Data's case, it was likely due to his double duty as Second Officer.
I think the position of Chief of Opeations is different between starship and starbase. Note that we never hear of a 'Chief Engineer' on a starbase. I think Chief of Operations is the starbase title for Chief Engineer... which is actually more important since that person is responsible for maintenance and repairs on the base AND any starships coming to get fixed.
I think the position of Chief of Opeations is different between starship and starbase. Note that we never hear of a 'Chief Engineer' on a starbase. I think Chief of Operations is the starbase title for Chief Engineer... which is actually more important since that person is responsible for maintenance and repairs on the base AND any starships coming to get fixed.
Well, there was also Lt Costa, but still a pretty elite group.
However, it's probably worth noting that the reprograming involved the control systems for the transporters (which he is the specialist in) and the replicators, which are almost certainly related in some way to the former so it's possible that O'Brien is mainly in the "elite" group on this occassion due to intimate knowledge of those specific systems.
Given that the E-D's night shift Ops officer is a LT-JGs billet (per Lower Decks (TNG)) and Worf wasn't automatically promoted to LCDR when he briefly took over the Ops Manager role (but not confirmed as Second Officer) in The Most Toys, this seems likely.
R
RichT
Guest
They did – George Primmin. Though ultimately he vanished without explanation after a couple of episodes. Eddington was almost a sort of Primmin expy when he first appeared a couple of seasons later, even down to Odo having the same "if Starfleet don't think I can do the job they should just say so" reaction.
Now that you mention it, it does seem strange that in DS9 he turned out to be Mech Whizz, much like Wesley Crusher in early TNG where he had nearly always saved the day.
A possible reason is that O'Brien came into contact with Cardassian technology and systems during the Federation-Cardassian War and that put him in good stead for being selected for DS9.
Isn't "Mech Whizz" an engineer's job? More so than passenger/doctor's son.
O'Brien's title may have been Chief of Operations but he was definitely the stations Chief Engineer, I always assumed the title was different because someone in the HQ Personnel Office was being pedantic since station doesn't have engines or its some old Starfleet tradition to differentiate the roles from station to ship.
Data and Kim with the Chief Operations Officer or sometimes Operations Manager and oversaw sensors, communications and computer functions, as well as lots of minutia of shipboard functions, whilst also having input with scientific analysis and engineering diagnostics, though even without those they'd have plenty to be getting on with. The position doesn't mean they'll necessarily be in a senior position within the command staff, Data was one of the most experienced and fourth ranking officer on the E-D so his being Second Officer made sense, whilst Kim was near the bottom of Voyager's senior staff and Tuvok's experience and rank saw him serve as Second Officer (who knows it he held that role in the AQ, what with so many Commander's and Lieutenant Commander's being listed as KIA, though that would call into question why Cavit was the XO over some of them).
My assumption is that like Deanna Troi, all the CMDRs and LCDRs were "blue-shirt" Science or Medical Officers that aren't in the "chain of command" except in the direst of emergencies.
As far as the Acting Second Officer, I would assume that either the ChEng (tentatively LT Alexander Honigsberg) or LT Veronica Stadi who were killed in the transition stepped in. Ensign Rollins was briefly Watch Officer/CONN during Caretaker and after his promotion to LT appears to have some limited administrative authority over Tom Paris in the first two seasons.
As far as the Acting Second Officer, I would assume that either the ChEng (tentatively LT Alexander Honigsberg) or LT Veronica Stadi who were killed in the transition stepped in. Ensign Rollins was briefly Watch Officer/CONN during Caretaker and after his promotion to LT appears to have some limited administrative authority over Tom Paris in the first two seasons.
Troi underwent the bridge officers test to qualify for the rank of commander and assume greater responsibilities and the casualty list has Commander J. Bartlett so it would be hard to say that they wouldn't be somewhere in command structure, as the ship had no counsellor and as Chief Science Officer they'd definitely be within the chain of command the only post I could surmise they filled was as Head Nurse--they would outrank the CMO, but he was a doctor and thus would be the one in charge.
The two Lieutenant Commanders (L. McGarry and T. Ziegler) would include the CMO, who was unnamed, and possibly a Watch Officer (for beta or gamma shift) or the Chief Engineer, though either of them would technically outrank Tuvok Janeway could have made the decision to appoint him as her Second Officer due to his experience and qualifications (just as in "Gambit" Data appointed Worf as his acting XO over Geordi).
Commander (Dr.) LH "Bones" McCoy and Commander (Dr.) Katherine Pulaski weren't in the "chain of command" on their respective starships. The former was even promoted to flag rank post-starship duty.
True.
Maybe, maybe not. T'Pol, Spock and Dax were, but the E-D's "Chief Science Officer" (probably Neela Daren at least for a time, unknown otherwise) wasn't. Admittedly, this is was partly because Data should have been the ChSciO but RW considerations got in the way.
No to mention repairs to assorted Federation, Klingon, Romulan, and even Tosk vessels.
Technically, O'Brien might have been the Chief of the Operations Room. That is, not the boss of everything that happened there, but the NCO in charge of keeping the facility shipshape or stationshape. Hard to tell why Starfleet would wish to obfuscate, but RW parallels abound. For a close one, in WWII, the title for my native Finland's boss of all military spies was Chief of Headquarters, in the "keeping the room stocked in coffee" sense. (And since the HQ staff spoke both Finnish and Swedish, it got further perverted into Chief of Headquartering which also reads as Chief of Accommodations - perhaps O'Brien's title means something else in Bajoran?)
Timo Saloniemi
I remember a Vorta stating "I bet you have one of those legendary Starfleet engineers who can turn rocks into replicators"
So all Starfleet engineers were held in high regard by the Dominion not just Miles O'Brien
So all Starfleet engineers were held in high regard by the Dominion not just Miles O'Brien
Starfleet School of Engineering curriculum...
1. Warp Field Theory
2. Power Transfer Dos and Don'ts
3. How To Destroy Planet Killers Using Wrecked Starships
4. You Cannot Change the Laws of Physics
5. The Difference Between a Warp Matrix Flux Capacitor and a Self-Sealing Stem Bolt
6. The Real Reason Starfleet Has No Surge Protectors
7. MacGyver: A Starfleet Engineer's Inspiration
1. Warp Field Theory
2. Power Transfer Dos and Don'ts
3. How To Destroy Planet Killers Using Wrecked Starships
4. You Cannot Change the Laws of Physics
5. The Difference Between a Warp Matrix Flux Capacitor and a Self-Sealing Stem Bolt
6. The Real Reason Starfleet Has No Surge Protectors
7. MacGyver: A Starfleet Engineer's Inspiration
8. Reverse the Polarity!
I made an update.
That's how I figure it too. It's clear that O'Brien was more than just a transporter operator on the Enterprise anyhow. There are multiple times when the thing is malfunctioning or whatever, & he's part of the group tooling it with LaForge or Data etc... I like to think of his move to DS9 as a big opportunity that came his way mostly because of his wartime service reputation, & technical expertise in Cardassian tech. Having become a family man by then, he thought it might be a good upward move, instead of stagnating in a job that was largely just a button jockey.
Not only did they, & he refused, I suspect myself that at one time he must've already been one. I can't see Ben Maxwell heralding him as his miraculous wartime tactical officer without that title came with being an actual commissioned officer while serving as it. My theory is that after the war he resigned it, & never wanted to be back in that position again, but eventually decided that the best place for his skill set was still in Starfleet, & thought it might be more fitting to be in a noncommissioned capacity, never suspecting that one day he'd being running nearly every technical aspect of a Cardassian station
Similar threads
