Undiscovered Country Anomolies

[Cicero]

We do see Spock brought reports for his signature sometimes, e.g. at the end of "The Enemy Within." He's also referred to as the first officer in about thirty episodes (including "the best first officer in the fleet" twice).

 

[AresB]

Or perhaps Nick Meyer just didn't give a rat's patoot about getting the technical details of the Star Trek universe correct...

Yeah, but that's the boring real world answer and hardly satisfying. As fans we can give a rat's patoot about it and come up with semi-plausible explanations.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Spock is absolutely XO-ing in "The Corbomite Maneuver". "The Doomsday Machine" also. Why not "The Tholian Web", too?

 

[CoveTom]

To take just one of many examples, Spock is introduced to Captain Christopher as first officer in "Tomorrow is Yesterday."

 

[J.T.B.]

I think we're talking about a few different things under “communications.”

1. Tactical comms: The original, as "signals." Obviously of great importance to coordinate vessels operating together. For centuries it was strictly visual, but in the 20th century came to include radio. Of course this development opened up the whole world of encryption.

2. Administrative comms: Correspondence that in the 1800s came by mail to the captain's clerk's office. By WWI it had been figured out that messages could be sent from the top HQ to units around the world very quickly, and so radio divisions began to handle and prioritize this kind of traffic too.

3. Communications security: In the age of electronic communications "security" is as much or more about eavesdropping and reading other people's mail as securing your own.

How this worked aboard ship was originally all enlisted (in the RN signals and later wireless were the elite of ratings). By WW2 it was a smallish division in the USN, usually under the navigator. The communications officer managed the division, with one assistant for signals and another for radio. C division was not an unusual assignment for a junior line officer. Actually running the equipment and receiving messages? Most likely junior enlisted.

In the RN before WW1 wireless coding/decoding was originally handled by the paymaster (supply officer) but officers specializing in communications came along after the war (lieutenants [ S], or [C] after 1944). They were a pretty small group, but it could also be a quick route to an admiral's staff as flag lieutenant.

That would make sense, but in TOS we don't really see an executive officer. Spock is 2IC, yes - but do we ever see him doing actual XO duties? He's described as the science officer more than the executive officer. And whilst there is certainly a tradition of the 2IC and the XO being the same person that dates back to the late 17th Century Royal Navy, where the First Lieutenant's duties included what we'd now call the Executive Officer's duties, which is to say managing the crew in the same way the Chief Engineer manages the engineering department and the Surgeon manages sickbay.

I'm not sure what we're talking about as "XO duties". In the USN sense it's managing the day-to-day functioning and routine of the whole ship, which means coordinating across all departments, which means the XO has to be above all department heads. Riker was shown doing "crew evaluations" and such a few times, but his everyday duties are almost as unknown as Spock's. Because no show is going to spend time showing an individual going about their daily work, it's too un-dramatic.

 

[Vagabond Elf]

I'm not sure what we're talking about as "XO duties". In the USN sense it's managing the day-to-day functioning and routine of the whole ship, which means coordinating across all departments, which means the XO has to be above all department heads. Riker was shown doing "crew evaluations" and such a few times, but his everyday duties are almost as unknown as Spock's. Because no show is going to spend time showing an individual going about their daily work, it's too un-dramatic.

Very true that the admin tasks of an XO are boring television. Also, other people have provided plenty of examples of Spock doing just as much as Riker did, so clearly this is a memory failure on my part.

But my understanding of an Executive Officer, which is based on WW2 RN/RCN tasking, is that this is the officer whose department is the crew proper. The Gunnery Officer is responsible for making sure the guns are ready to do their job. The Torpedo Officer is responsible for making sure the torpedoes are ready. And the Executive Officer is responsible for making sure the Crew is ready.

And yes, this is easier to do if the XO has authority over all the other departments and thus is a natural thing to combine with the 2IC, which is probably a big part of why it evolved that way as the organised chaos that was the Royal Navy in the 17th Century turned into the professional, structured, educated force that was the the Royal Navy in the 19th Century. But they are two different jobs - and as someone who likes to see daylight between Star Fleet and a 20th Century navy, as someone who prefers to think of Star Fleet as more para-military than pure military, the notion that the 2IC of a TOS-era cruiser might not be the XO really appeals to me.

However, based on the example other posters just provided, I'm forced to conclude that this is not really supported by the media, and that Spock is wearing three hats - XO, 2IC, and Science Officer.

 

[J.T.B.]

But they are two different jobs - and as someone who likes to see daylight between Star Fleet and a 20th Century navy, as someone who prefers to think of Star Fleet as more para-military than pure military, the notion that the 2IC of a TOS-era cruiser might not be the XO really appeals to me.

I'm still not sure what you mean by "two different jobs." "Executive officer" has long been synonymous with second in command. It's what the U.S.N. re-named the first lieutenant in the 1840s, as commanders began to be assigned to ships of the line. The RN adopted similar terminology in the late 1800's: “The officer next in command to the captain carrying on the executive duties of the ship.” But that was more on paper, the RN 2iC was in practice called "The Commander" if he was one, and "The First Lieutenant" if he was not.

If the 2iC is not doing the "executive officer" work, what are they doing all day?