Crew calculations, accomodation for High Guard design program

[Thunderbolt]

OK, so I've done weapons batteries. Now I'm turning my attention to crew and their accommodation.

At the moment, I've got my program rounding up, so 286 tons of drive equals three engineers, rather than two. Is this what people generally do ?

When calculating crew on BIG ships, do people still only allocate one full stateroom for the head of each section with everyone else sharing staterooms? I'm thinking that the Exec of some huge battlewagon (say Tigress), is going to be a bit miffed when she has to share a room with one of the command support staff or the head of the meson screen team.

And finally... one for those with some knowledge of naval ranks and so forth. I assume the crew rules mirror those of the US Navy, so is it correct that the command section is comprised of rating measuring 50% of the officers present.

On a big ship, say 500,000 tons, we would expect a command section of 250 people, quite a crowd, which would be 166 officers and 84 'ratings'.

Do the officers also include 'petty' officers, if so, what proportion would make sense, and returning to an earlier point, wouldn't at least some of them enjoy their own stateroom ?

And finally, finally, how much detail is appropriate when calculating these accomodations. Do you just want plain totals of staterooms, officers and ratings or would you want the full details, a break down by section, so you can do deck plans, crew rosters etc...

 

[Theo D Lite]

There are many on these boards with more practical knowledge of Navies in general and the US Navy in particular who will be able to correct any mistakes I make so please accept my apologies for any errors or mis-interpretations contained herein.

As regards rounding, I have always rounded partial requirements up rather than down, others may do it differently.

Allocating accommodations is a difficult issue and usually I end up tempering what I would like to do with what is possible within the hull. However as a general rule, all commissioned Officers within the Command section should be allocated a single stateroom. When deck planning I will often illustrate the CO XO and MO having larger staterooms than the normal 3m x 3m due to the requirements for these people to have functions requiring privacy and as an illustration of rank or seniority.

Concerning the large command section when tonnages exceed 20,000dTons I'm not too sure how to rationalise this since I rarely design in this region. However as you say a 500,000 dTon Tigress should by rights have a 250 person command section, difficult to rationalise I agree, but it explains why crew complement is 4054 personnel (540 Officers and 3514 ratings). There is also a further 300 pilots for the fighter squadrons.

Engineering Section. 1 per 100dTon of drive (total of Jump Drive, Man Drive, Power Plant and Purification Plant) rounded up. 10% Officers (O1+), 20% Petty Officers (E4 - E9), the remainder as ratings (E1 - E3). Chief Engineer and Second Engineer to have individual staterooms, remainder to share but note that Officers and Petty Officers should only be allocated shares with persons of equal or similar rank.

Gunnery Section. As a minimum there is a Chief Gunnery Officer (O1+) which I consider to be something akin to a Chief Tactical Officer responsible for general direction of the offensive and defensive strategy of the vessel rather than any one specific weapon. Then, again as a minimum, there should be one Petty Officer (E4 - E9) for each weapon type. Finally total numbers are based on size of weapons and number of batteries. Spinal Mounts require 1 person per 100dTons. Bay weapons (either 100dTon or 50dTon) should have a crew of at least 2. Turret weapons should have a crew of at least 1 per battery. Each screen device (force field, damper, meson screen) should have a crew of at least 4. Overall the makeup should be 10% Officers (O1+), 30% Petty Officers (E4 - E9) and the remainder as ratings (E1 - E3) subject to the minimum requirements stated above. Usually only the Chief Gunnery Officer gets allocated a single stateroom, but note that other Officers and Petty Officers should only be required to share with those of similar or equal rank.

Flight Section. Flight Control Officer (O1+). Crew for each craft (all pilots O1+?) plus at least 1 maintenance person per craft, usually organised as a managed team comprised of possibly 10% Officers (O1+) and 20% Petty Officers (E4 - E9). A minimum of 10 crew per launch tube (1/3 Petty Officers (E4 - E9)). FCO gets own stateroom, all others share but subject to other Officers and Petty Officers only required to share with those of similar or equal rank.

Ships troops I usually treat as a special case so I don't have any hard and fast rules, you might want to look at the Rapier designs we knocked around recently to see what was there.

Service Crew. The crew chief gets his/her own stateroom, all others share but again subject to other Officers and Petty Officers only being required to share with those of similar or equal rank.

Any help or has this just confused the issue further?

 

[flykiller]

well, in the U.S. navy, on a carrier the only personnel that get their own staterooms are commander and above, at best. other officers are paired up, chiefs are in their own group berthing, and everyone else is in mass berthing.

most divisions have one petty officer for every ten to twelve seamen, and one chief for every three to five petty officers. other divisions have nothing but petty officers and one or two chiefs. my division for several years had thirty petty officers and one lieutenant.

vilani and future terran practice may be different.