Speculation on Roles aboard a 400 Type T cruiser

[hal]

The following Craft is a 400 dton type T patrol cruiser from GURPS TRAVELLER STARSHIPS (page 86), a TL 10 craft in the service of the Lunion Subsector Navy.

Crew: 20

Captain
Pilot
Sensor/Comm Operator
Navigator
Engineer
Medic
Lead Gunner
Gunner
Gunner
Gunner
Senior Small Craft Crewmember
Junior Small Craft crewmember
Head Security Detail officer
Security
Security
Security
Security
Security
Security
Security

The Patrol Cruiser hull #49201 (two oh Won as it is affectionately known to its crew) has 9 months left before its mandated yearly maintenance must be performed. As a Jump-2 craft, its usual operational radius is no more than 4 parsecs away from a naval base in Lunion subsector. With precisely 11 staterooms, many of the officers must share their stateroom with one other, while the enlisted are also required to share their rooms with another (2 per room). Only the Captain and the executive Officer have their own staterooms to themselves.

Watchbill requirements:
Department heads are required to draft watchbills that detail who is required to be where and when.

Types of Watchbills required:

Standard Watchbill: for when the ship is powered down moored at a base, or when it is in jump space where minimal supervision of the bridge is required, etc.

System Watchbill: for when the craft is in normal space.

Orbiting and Docking Watchbill: for when the craft attains final orbit, or when docking.

Jump transition Watchbill: for when the ship enters or exits jump space

Action Stations Watchbill: for when the ship enters battlestations.

Then of course, there is the fun part of determining who has the watches at what time. Are we talking about 8 hour watches, or four hour watches with dog watches etc?

With only 4 bridge crew proper, manning it 24/7 may be something of a problem, especially if the ship has undergone any recent action stations call up, or if the Captain has been woken repeatedly from his sleep cycle for circumstances that require his attention.

With only one engineer on the ship, what happens when he has to sleep? Who watches over his duty station?

So, lets pretend for the moment, you're the captain, and you need to devise a watchbill for normal space during "routine manuevers". What is the watchbill, and who is expected to be doing what when?

Example: If the captain wishes to maintain at least one turret on active station at all times (so as to forestall any surprise attack with the pants caught down), he might set up a watchbill where at any given time, someone must man the turret. If using 4 hour shifts, any one given gunner would have to maintain at least 2 4 hour shifts, with perhaps one gunner handling dog watches. The problem is one where the Captain has to set it up so that each person gets 8 hours sleep.

Note: old wet navy watches being what they were, sailors had to get sleep in 4 hour increments rather than one full 8 hours. Makes for an interesting scenario if this tradition transits into a space navy.

[hal]

Now for the really FUN part. Each of those individuals who are serving in their capacity with the ship in question - will have a termination date, as well as accrued time off. How many ships are ever really at 100% staffing levels at any given time? Which crew members will likely be working not only in their rated position within the crew outright, but will be cross training or have cross training that permit them to function in other departments?

Food for thought to be sure :)

[Hans Rancke-Madsen]

Here's my crew list for a Dyaus-Class Patrol Cruiser (The GTL12 version). I've done my own deck plans for this version (I was dissatisfied with the TL10 plans), so I'm afraid the stateroom/duty station/battle station info will be of little use to you, but I hope you'll be able to get something out of it anyway.

CREW LIST

#  Position (function)       Rank                Department    S     D     B

01 Captain (astrogator)      Lieutenant (O3)     Bridge       15    26    26
02 XO (astrogator)           Sublieutenant (O2)  Bridge       19    26     5
03 Chief Helmsman (pilot)    CPO                 Bridge       21    26     5
04 Gig astrogator)           CPO                 Bridge       19    26   Gig
05 2nd Helmsman (gig pilot)  PO                  Bridge        8    26   Gig
06 sensor operator           Rating              Bridge        9    26     5
07 communication operator    Rating              Bridge        9    26    26
08 Chief Engineer            Sublieutenant (O2)  Engineering  23     2     2
09 Engine hand               Rating              Engineering  10     2     2
10 Bosun                     CPO                 Maintenance  21     -     -
11 Chief Medic               Sublieutenant (O2)  Medical      14    16    16
12 Nurse                     Rating              Medical      14    16    16
13 First Gunner              PO                  Gunnery       8     -     7
14 Gunner                    Rating              Gunnery      10     -     7
15 Deckhand                  Rating              Maintenance  12     -     -
16 Deckhand                  Rating              Maintenance  12     -     -
17 Marine Officer            2nd Lieutenant (O2) Marines      23    30    30
18 Marine Sergeant           Sergeant            Marines      11    30    30
19 Marine                    Private             Marines      11    30    30
20 Marine                    Private             Marines      13    30    31
21 Marine                    Private             Marines      13    30    31

S = Stateroom; D = Duty Station; B = Battle Station

A dash indicates that the crewmember is employed in general maintenance ATSR
(As The Service Requires) with varying duty station according to need.

The know-it-all posting software strips out "excess" blank spaces unless I put it in 'code' tags. Hey! know-it-all posting software! If I put in a blank space, it's because I WANT a blank space there! <Mumble grumble>.


Hans

[Shrale]

Don't be afraid to toss a few robots to supplement the crew.
Either dedicated (a 24x7 engineering monitor) or another who's
"reconfigurable" (his comp can run multiple programs by downloading
and rebooting :)

Depends on whether you want that sort of flavor.

>

[Shrale]

Originally Posted by Hans Rancke-Madsen

The know-it-all posting software strips out "excess" blank spaces unless I put it in 'code' tags. Hey! know-it-all posting software! If I put in a blank space, it's because I WANT a blank space there! <Mumble grumble>.


Hans

That's what HTML does, parses out everything so it can display it the way
it needs to (or the browser does anyway). Markup is a formal matter,
everything in its place, etc, etc.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by hal

With only one engineer on the ship, what happens when he has to sleep? Who watches over his duty station?

The engineer's job is mostly maintenance regulary with station-manning only during preparations for Jump and action stations. He might be leaving his station for damage control responsibilities during combat as well.

When the ship is under way (i.e. M-drive active) there needs to be somebody at the helm all the time. also, when anytime not docked (even just orbiting) the sensors need to be manned.

At any time the ship isn't in the hands of the yard dogs (i.e. during overhauls) even in Jump or when docked there needs to be somebody manning the Bridge watching the various alarms and monitoring the communications systems.

I do not believe a constant watch on one or more of the turrets is necessary. Except maybe when you come out of Jump you just can't get surprised that badly. That's what the guy on the sensors is for anyway. Until somebody invents the cloaking device you'll see your enemies coming.

Action stations (combat or other emergencies) is when all stations need to be manned. Until it gets to a boarding situation all those Security guys and small craft crew won't have anything particular to do. Assign them watches as is convenient for training.

So if you talk _Skills_ instead of job titles you need 3 people with Pilot and 3 with Electronic Systems Operations (Sensors) and 3 with Elec Ops (Comms) with a fair bit of overlap possible. You probably don't need even one person who's primary Skill choice is comms.

Your crew of Engineers and techs is determined by how much maintenance your ship needs more than any watchstanding.

You'll get by with just one set of Gunners. They'll need to keep up their skills with regular training but their actual time manning live guns will be brief (though of course probably rather intense).

The boarding party needs to train too but also will be actually doing stuff only as one team/watch.

Even on a ship this small there will need to be watches of course but it's a simple practical matter and I wouldn't invest a lot of roleplaying prep time on it.

[hal]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

Even on a ship this small there will need to be watches of course but it's a simple practical matter and I wouldn't invest a lot of roleplaying prep time on it.

Hi Fred,
I was working on responding to Han's and Shrale's comments when yours popped in - so I thought I'd save my response to Hans and Shrale and respond quickly to yours <g>.

I agree with most of your points made except for the one above. The "role playing prep time" isn't an issue as far as I'm concerned here only as far as I'm trying to recreate what HAS to be going on in order to make the ship's functions work as stated. I won't get into an argument about whether or not those "military craft" are minimally staffed and need a larger crew or not - that's up to the reader to determine based on this discussion to some extent. If we can find a way to list the watchbills for the various tasks at hand, we can determine whether or not the crew is sufficient for the task, and whether or not any given craft can be overwhelmed with a simple "assault" at any given time.

Surprise attacks and sensor operators - gotta love'em <g>. Any captain who loses his ship is automatically going to be court marshalled for the loss of the ship. It may very well be determined at the Court Marshal, that the loss was unavoidable and that the captain had done all that was required of him to avoid losing his ship. On the other hand, it would look bad if a ship could for any reason, engage in combat with a moment's notice and the ship doesn't display some rudimentary security precautions. I suppose that if the ship has an automated gunner system in place, and such activation of those software packages (one per turret) requires a release from the Bridge officer - that the ship might have minimally manned turrets at all times. Something to consider to be sure.

[hal]

Nicely Done Hans. Giving those who serve an actual rank helps greatly, as far as trying to visualize who is what within the ship itself.

As for Shrale's suggestion regarding robots and the like, I think it is safe to assume, that in instances where you have but one listed "type" of individual working within a position aboard a ship, that extensive use of Remote Vehicle Operation software and somewhat limited robotics (as the Imperium seems to be on a limited robotic footing) overall. In fact? The section in GURPS TRAVELLER STARSHIPS mentions that RVO software coupled with databases can function as expert systems. I'm willing to bet that there will be RKO and databases supplied for the ship in the event of say, a bridge hit. More on this later (such as why is there a secondary bridge available without a secondary bridge crew in the event there is a loss of bridge during battle?).

[hal]

Now, lets start with the actual watchbills I mentioned in post #1. Each person aboard the ship has a duty station that they are required to man at any given time.

Ok, lets start with the situation of the ship being in port and docked. As captain of the ship, I see the following possibilities involved. Either I have my engineroom supplying energy at minimal levels for shipboard activity, or I have the engineroom shut down entirely so as to avoid the need for having someone at hand to monitor the power generator (fusion power plant). A lot would depend I suppose, upon the readiness state I'd like the ship to be in prior to launch should there be an emergency lauch situation required. Looking at the deck plans on page 85 of GURPS TRAVELLER STARSHIPS, I see that the Vayu class ship has two airlock entry points, plus a tertiary entry point in the event that the Gig is outside of its docking bay. Presumably, one could manually lock an airlock so that it can't be entered but for a manual undogging of the locking mechanism (which should be accessible only from the inside, not the outside!). This in turn would make it such that one need only have a single guard stationed at the only other unlocked airlock available.
If the gig is in its docking bay, we really only need 1 security guard to watch the entrance into the ship proper, plus one guard to watch the bridge itself. Then, we'd need an officer on deck to watch the bridge and monitor functions from the bridge. If the engineroom is running at minimal power levels, one could presume that there is a RVO program connected to a database, functioning as a monitoring system of the engineroom 24/7 for "routine" operations of monitoring the powerplant itself.

So - watchbill for docking/mooring would in my opinion, require only 3 individuals. With 2 security guards neccessary at any given time, we can assume that with 4 security personnel at hand to maintain ship security, that we'd need only two more officers to handle the bridge watch.

Suggested Watchbill for docking/mooring:
Portside Air lock is manually dogged (Locked) at all times until the ship is fully crewed. Starboard Air lock has a security guard positioned such that he is relieved every 4 hours. Bridge Guard is positioned outside the bridge proper, and the Officer on Deck has the con for 8 hour shifts minimum. He is relieved after 8 hours by a second officer or chief petty officer, and allowed to stand down. Total crew required for docked security is:

2 officers
4 security personnel

[Shrale]

Originally Posted by hal

As for Shrale's suggestion regarding robots and the like, I think it is safe to assume, that in instances where you have but one listed "type" of individual working within a position aboard a ship, that extensive use of Remote Vehicle Operation software and somewhat limited robotics (as the Imperium seems to be on a limited robotic footing) overall. In fact? The section in GURPS TRAVELLER STARSHIPS mentions that RVO software coupled with databases can function as expert systems. I'm willing to bet that there will be RKO and databases supplied for the ship in the event of say, a bridge hit. More on this later (such as why is there a secondary bridge available without a secondary bridge crew in the event there is a loss of bridge during battle?).

If not 'bots then it's pretty safe to assume the Engineer can start a
monitor program, program it to keep track of certain data, run diagnostics
and wake him when things reach various thresholds.

No doubt his (the engineer's) 2nd would be someone he trusts and is
familiar with his needs and orders.

Robot's role would be for a group with limited monetary resources who don't want to pay a crewman,
(or feed him, etc) and don't mind the up-front cost of the bot and have a decent chance of keeping
him/it running for the next few years. So it might depend on the abilities of the Engineer and his
outlook on things.

>