Originally posted by Jeff M. Hopper:
I'm not a historian, but isn't that how most Wet Navy personnel were trained back in the 1800s?
Jeff,
They weren't trained at all. Or, more accurately, they weren't trained in any manner that we would think of as training.
First, wet navies tried to 'recruit' personnel that were already sailors; merchantmen, fishermen, dock workers, etc. That could be done via better pay, bounties, promises of prize money, and the like or it could be done via the 'press'; the officially sanctioned kidnapping of personnel from shoreside or ships.
Once aboard, it was 'makee learnee'. You learned by doing. Some never got past knowing to pull on a rope when told to, while others showed some promise and were apprenticed to various skilled ratings like carpenters and gunners where they learned more by doing more.
Officers and mates were different. Most came aboard as boys, sent to sea with captains who were either owed a favor or were granting a favor. Depending on the captain, their training ranged from excellent to awful. There might be a schoolmaster to give them the three 'Rs'. They would also (hopefully) learn navigation. once again by 'makee learnee'. Not all would become officers. Some would specialize. A good portion would remain masters mates, sort of akin to a super NCO or a current day warrant officer.
As for watchstanding, a lot will depend on what is going on. In jump, there will be light watches because there will be nothing that can really be done to most ship systems (except maintenance).
Exactly. That is also why I feel we need to differentiate
civilian manning requirements from
military manning requirements in
Traveller.
In most systems, the trip from port to jump limit will be under 8 hours. Thus, a merchant ship spends less than 10% of its trip between worlds in normal space. The number of watchstanders required in jump space is very little. All you need do is monitor the jump drive, tend the power plant, and make sure life support keeps working. On small ships, one man may be able to do all that.
It's when you're in normal space that you need more watchstanders.
In normal space, a watch should not last more than about 12 hours or else you run into problems with degraded performance over long periods of time.
As someone who has actually stood watch, let me say that standing watch for 12 hours in a row on a regular basis is utter nonsense. It is a man killer.
It's been discussed before in this thread, but a recap seems to be needed:
- Watches are not your work day, watches are in addition to your work day.
- You do not stand watch by sitting down waiting for something to happen. Watches are nothing like manning some IT help desk with a crate of Cheetos, a case of Mountain Dew, and a stack of magazines.
- Standing watch is also not like being on call. Riggers and miners may put in a 16 shift, but they do not actually work during even half of that. Firefighters are on call, policemen stand watch. Tell me, do you want to deal with a cop who is on the 11th hour of his twelve hour watch?
- Poorly designed watchstanding can be a man killer. The 'Southern Swing' shift rotation some industries still use has been proven to take years off workers' lives.
- Watchstanding is definitely life altering. After standing 'six and sixes' for most of a WestPac, I returned home on leave. My second night home, I awoke in a girlfriend's bedroom at 11:45PM and found myself dressing. When I asked what was going on, she informed me I had told her that "I was late for watch relief and couldn't find my dosimetry."
I hope all that finally gets the point of watches across.
General Quarters will last as long as the CO deems it necessary for the ship...
Yes, and an idiot CO can hold his crew at GQ long enough to render them useless. It's happened on more than one occasion. Google 'Savo Island' and 'Scharnhorst' for two examples.
During the initial landings on Guadacanal, the Allied cruiser fleet stayed at GQ so long - even with the food and sleep breaks you mention - that the IJN easily destroyed them. Granted, the IJN was the world's premier night fighting force at the time and also had the 'Long Lance', but the Allied cruisers should have done better if their crews had not been disabled by two days at GQ.
The
Scharnhorst episode is equally telling. During her final sortie off the North Cape,
King George V and
Jamaica literally caught her
napping and sank her. She'd been at GQ for nearly two days and had tangled with a convoy screen several times. Despite her own ELINT warnings of an enemy force approaching from the southwest and despite radioed warnings of the same from her own shore command, the RN caught her on a steady course with her main battery trained fore and aft because her crew was too tired to think properly.
... in the US Navy there are procedures set up to allow for eating and sleeping while at General Quarters.
Yes, there are procedures. However, a dozen or so deviled ham sandwichs and a billycan full of bug juice don't go very far in an engineroom. As for sleeping, a 15 minutes nap behind the switchgear can help, but not for long.
Relaxing to Condition III helps somewhat, half the weapons manned, hatches can be opened for passage, etc.
It should also be noted that General Quarters means that the ship is in a state of combat readiness and not in combat itself.
It also should be noted that there is no appreciable difference between the two except for the fear factor. I've been in both situations. Boghammers, F-4s, and Silkworm targeting emissions aren't the same as the news that the Tokyo Express is coming down the Slot, but they still concetrated my mind wonderfully. They also made me feel like a wrung out rag afterwards.
GQ will wear you down, combat just means you'll get worn down faster.
Have fun,
Bill
