12-22-2010, 12:09 PM | #1 |
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Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Kyïv, Ukraine
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Rank in non-military (space) fleets/(space) navies?
Greetings, all!
I'm planning a space campaign, with an expedition going to places unknown blah blah blah. What I want to talk about now is Ranks. First and foremost, the fleet is (mostly) not a military group. While most ships in the fleet are armed, only a minority are commanded by military officers. I'm trying to structure the command of the fleet (which can be described as a nano-confederation) with the top leader being best seen as 'first among equals' (s/he/it gets a Veto and a Tiebreaker Vote, but otherwise has very little authority that other ship captains don't). The other detail is that I want to make sure that for the majority of the ships, leaders come from the administrative/diplomatic and scientific/technical branches of society. But . . . I've been exposed to fleet structures that are military in nature. What ways are there to properly set up the ranks for such a situation? The case might be slightly complicated by the fact that the leaders of some of the ships come from the scientific/technical branch and some come from the administrative/political, one is a non-military warrior and one (maybe two) from the military in the mostly classical sense. There's been mention that Star Trek's Starfleet is not exactly a military organization. How exactly should something like that be implemented? Thanks in advance! |
12-22-2010, 01:35 PM | #2 | ||
Join Date: Jun 2006
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Re: Rank in non-military (space) fleets/(space) navies?
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If you are looking for non-military models, corporations or government bureaucracies tend to have less rigid hierarchies. Those are probably good models. Looser organizations like academic environments are probably not, since critical jobs may not get done if there's *no* chain of responsibility. Quote:
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12-22-2010, 01:48 PM | #3 |
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Stuttgart, Germany
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Re: Rank in non-military (space) fleets/(space) navies?
You can just have the ship captains be only in charge of the ship and the personnel which run it, while the ship-owners/CEOs tell the captains what to do and command the other passengers, security officers, scientists, and other such employees.
Mutual ship-owners/CEOs can't command each others' ships, personnel or anything like that, just like the CEO of Apple can't walk into Microsoft HQ and tell the Microsoft employees what to do. The CEOs have Administrative Rank, but only for their own organization, not for each others. |
12-22-2010, 01:49 PM | #4 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: traveller
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Re: Rank in non-military (space) fleets/(space) navies?
Start with: what purpose do the ranks serve? Is this an ops-normal, "peacetime" hierarchy, a way of identifying who has what authority in a crisis, or a hybrid? Is there a uniform standard, with the same titles having equivalent responsibility across the fleet, or is every ship different?
Some examples you could use, that aren't military: * Merchant marine vessels have rank titles that are pretty comparable world-wide, based on a set of international agreements on qualifications by position. * The US has a National Incident Management System, which standardizes job titles and responsibilities across a wide range of federal, state, and local agencies -- but only for the duration of a crisis. * A corporate structure, with a Board of Directors, President/CEO, VPs, etc., is another option. * If this is primarily an exploratory fleet, an academic or scientific research hierarchy might be appropriate, with ship operations and maintenance functions in a strictly supporting role. * Finally, you might look at the structure of Mission Control for the Apollo missions: very hierarchical, but organized along functional lines. "Captain" is pretty standard for the person in overall command of a ship. "Fleet Captain" or "First Captain" works for your "first among equals," especially if that position is chosen from among all the ships' captains. |
12-22-2010, 02:20 PM | #5 |
GURPS FAQ Keeper
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Kyïv, Ukraine
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Re: Rank in non-military (space) fleets/(space) navies?
For those who want details:
The expedition is primarily scientific (as in, research stuff and fix the negative space wedgie that is affecting the whole galaxy), but also potentially diplomatic. The ships are:
As you can see, there's place for Military Rank, Administrative Rank (politicians/diplomats/administrators), and whatever scientists and/or technicians should get. Then there's the question what kind of Rank should the First Captain get. |
12-24-2010, 07:58 AM | #6 |
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: On the road again...
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Re: Rank in non-military (space) fleets/(space) navies?
I tend to use "Merchant Marine Rank" for situations like this. Rank 5, normally the highest possible, is the ship captain, and otherwise mimicking the Navy Military Rank titles.
Rank 6 - Flotilla Commander (Commodore) Rank 5 - Ship Captain (Captain) Rank 4 - Senior Officer (Commander; First or Second Officer, Chief Engineer, etc) Rank 3 - Mid-Level Officer (Lieutenant, Lt. Commander) Rank 2 - Junior Officer (Ensign, Junior Grade Lieutenant) Rank 1 - Midshipman or Petty Officer Rank 0 - Sailor The Captain and Commodore still answer to a desk-jockey with Administrative or Merchant Rank; in game terms, you could treat Merchant Marine Rank 3 as giving a free +1 to Administrative/Merchant Rank and rank 5 or higher giving a free +2 to Admin/Merchant Rank, but only inside the parent company (much as how Rank gives free Status).
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12-24-2010, 09:48 AM | #7 | |||
Join Date: Dec 2007
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Re: Rank in non-military (space) fleets/(space) navies?
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It ain't necessarily so In fact it ain't so. Starfleet is a military organization that likes to say that it is non-military because in their culture "military" is a dirty word, not because it's true. |
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12-24-2010, 01:35 PM | #8 | |
GURPS FAQ Keeper
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Kyïv, Ukraine
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Re: Rank in non-military (space) fleets/(space) navies?
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They're certainly behaving more like an armed organization of diplomats and scientists than as a military with a couple of scientifically educated officers. |
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12-24-2010, 03:09 PM | #9 | |
Join Date: Dec 2007
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Re: Rank in non-military (space) fleets/(space) navies?
Scientists and bureaucrats are very unlikely to have the background to give emergency maneuvering instructions.
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None of those traits are characteristic of either diplomats or (non-military) scientists. Well OK diplomats do threaten the use of force. But not personally. |
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12-24-2010, 03:21 PM | #10 | |
Join Date: May 2007
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Re: Rank in non-military (space) fleets/(space) navies?
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So, any diplomatic efforts engaged in during the television run of Star Trek would have been a reflection of this "military officer as diplomat" model, and not negated the basically military orientation of the Federation service. [For that matter, RN officers also collected scientific data for Sir Joseph Banks and others. IIRC Darwin's voyage of the Beagle was an RN expedition with civilian scientists aboard.] |
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Tags |
administrative rank, rank, space, spaceships |
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