Which is why Crusher would have Lieutenant Barnaby. Or why Picard would have Riker...
Riker, of course, being a full Line Officer (with all the attendant training and experience in the related duties) would be a logical choice in lieu of Picard in any case.
I'm not talking about making an academician do the job of a ship's actual operator, the guy who tells which sails to unfurl or which revolutions and rudder angles to choose.
But the ship's commander has to understand those things and their ramifications before he can lawfully issue orders that impact or affect them.
See
Star Trek: The Motion Picture for an example of what happens when the Commanding Officer doesn't understand the ship's systems well enough to issue effective orders, specifically Kirk ordering phasers against the wormhole asteroid.
You may be tempted to say, "but Kirk had Decker there to correct him", to which my reply would be, "if it becomes a pattern, then why not just keep Decker in charge?"
I'm talking more about the guy or gal who says "Our orders are to take out the Cardassian task force, and now I want those two lead ships targeted, but keep alert for flanking attempts".
What makes you think that a Ship's Doctor would have sufficient training to effectively make that sort of tactical decision?
Remember, the sorts of officers that are likely to
give such an order have already drilled and drilled and drilled and studied and practiced and drilled some more, while the Senior Medical Officer was busy getting ready for casualties.
Our Starfleet COs often tend to sit somewhere in the middle, micromanaging things COs oughtn't dabble in. But they needn't do that when their bridge crews or even their automated ships could handle such details with ease.
Timo Saloniemi
I guess I don't really have anything to say about that. I don't think it helps or hinders either argument we're making.
