interconnected fleets

[varek]

While the television series and movies were built around each ship's acting independently, a more practical measure would be for each ship to contact its fleet's flagship each day, to report in. That way, if any ship is in trouble, it can receive emergency help of whatever kind is needed as quickly as possible.

(By the way, except for a special, temporary assignment or repair/systems upgrade, shouldn't all the ships in a fleet be in the same region of space? For example, the US Navy's 6th Fleet generally patrols the Mediterranean Sea.)

Standard procedure might also require the department heads on ships in the same fleet to report in, and allow them to confer, daily with each other. That way, if anyone--of whatever rank, on any ship--sees a problem arising, they can pass the word up through the chain of command in a prompt, timely manner and thus perhaps avert a catastrophe and prevent a lot of casualties among the crew(s).

 

[USS KG5]

Trek seems to indicate, at least in the TNG eras, that ships are constantly in contact with Starfleet, getting such things as up-to-date stellar cartography information sent down as well. Supervision seems to be based on Admirals commanding a sector or sectors from a Starbase, with the ship changing command as it moves between areas.

In peacetime I'd assume Starfleet "fleets" are at best informal and more likely non-existent.

 

[J.T.B.]

If you go back to the closest real-world thing to Starfleet, the Royal Navy of the Victorian era, there were battle fleets at home and in the Mediterranean, and the rest of the navy was organized into regional "stations": East Indies Station, Cape Station, China Station and so on. The cruisers, sloops and smaller vessels assigned to these stations were shuffled around as needed depending on the Empire's "hot spots" at any time. Their main duties were to police the sea lanes, support colonies, outposts, business interests and merchant shipping, and keep an eye on potential enemies. This seems similar to the Starbase level of command as seen in TOS.

Of course for much of that period, the fastest method of communication was mail on a ship, so station commanders had very broad authority. In that way, as USS KG5 pointed out, Starfleet is more like navies after wireless communication was established, which allowed the top admirals in London, Washington etc. to keep tabs on and manage operations all over the world.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Deep space ships are often not in one day's subspace communication range, of course.

 

[varek]

Yes, I was just thinking that if you were posted to a new ship--especially in a higher rank than you were used to wearing--you might feel a bit unsure of yourself and seek occasional advice or guidance from your fellow-officers on other ships or starbases.

I think in a few stories some of the characters contacted people (perhaps relatives) at various academies, such as those on Earth or Vulcan.

It would be reasonable, I think, to seek support from reputable sources off the ship, as well as from those onboard.

 

[Finn]

whut?

 

[varek]

Several times on TNG and DS9, I believe, 2 or more Starfleet ships either traveled somewhere together or planned to rendezvous somewhere specific, such as at a certain planet or at DS9.

I was thinking that it might be a good idea for 2 or 3 ships in the same fleet to stay within a few hours' distance from each other, in case of any crisis or emergency.

 

[Finn]

1. It would be impractical when the ships are on an exploration mission, especially in uncharted territory.

2. There aren't enough ships- remember Picard's 8,000 light year spread line?

 

[timmy84]

While it took a few seasons, we do learn that the Enterprise-D is assigned to a fleet, and that in the event of war with Cardassia it would act as the fleets flagship (hence why the Cardassians tortured Picard).

However space is large and being a multipurpose agency its probably impractical to maintain a strict fleet command structure in peacetime, hence the Enterprise-D or even Deep Space 9 reporting to different admirals throughout the series.

 

[Finn]

The D was?????


Temporarily, during certain times sure. But not permanently as it was peacetime during TNG's run and they were often off exploring the unknown at times and it was made clear they weren't part of some kind of fleet.

 

[sojourner]

You can be part of a fleet and not with that fleet. Just as squads are part of platoons but not always with the rest of the platoon. You're on an organization chart somewhere.

 

[J.T.B.]

^ Exactly. The question might be whether the administrative unit is called a "fleet" or not. In the current US system, the numbered fleets are regional commands that don't "own" ships, rather, operating units can be shuffled around the fleet areas as necessary. For instance, the USS Bainbridge as seen in the movie Captain Phillips was operating in the US Fifth Fleet area under Commander Task Force 151 but had been detached from the Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group and administratively was part of Destroyer Squadron 28.