Ship operations

[RainOfSteel]

Originally posted by Jame:
Here's a ship ops question - what exactly is watchstanding?

It means, literally, standing a watch.

Each shift on a naval vessel is a "watch".

"Standing" a watch is working the shift.

 

[rancke]

Originally posted by Aramis:
This whole issue, is, of course, a rehash of a discussion two years ago, the same people assert that, because they enver encountered it, it never existed.

I'm very sure I never said that. What I did say was, in effect, that as I've never encountered it, I'd appreciate it if those who claimed that it ever existed would be so kind as to document it with something more than anecdotes.

Part of the confusion, also, is the pre1900 ranks are not the same for all services. Standardization of ranks begins with the 20th century.

If by standardization of rank you mean formal acknowledgement of equivalencies between different countries and different services, then you are wrong.

I don't know when it began, but by the time of the Napoleonic Wars, rank equivalences were well established. Prisoners of war were put in the care of officers of the same rank, and the number of guns fired in salutes depended on the rank of the person being saluted.

Likewise, there is a tradition from the 19th century of a :"Major of Marines". It could be used to refer to any officer commanding a marine detachment.

No, 'Major of Marines' was the title of marine officers with the rank of major. It was the highest active rank in the British marine corps. Some line-of-battle ships had more than one company of marines aboard, and they were commanded by a major. Smaller ships had company-sized contingents (commanded by marine captains) and smaller still had platoon-sized contingents commanded by marine lieutenants.

The odd marine rank was 'Colonel of Marines'. It was awarded to navy captains that the King wanted to reward, since he couldn't promote them. It was a pure sinecure that was held until the captain was promoted to admiral (which happened automatically when he reached the top of the Captain's List) and carried a hefty salary with no associated duties.


Hans

 

[jasper]

So briefly it was not an actual courtesy but a fictional one like the bar sinister became fact in people's mind.
In heraldry. You can not have a bar sinister.
This is bend \
This is bar -
This is bend sinister /
Now in alot of plays and show i seen the bend sinister called a bar sinister which is suppose to note you parents were not married.
Just like the nonsense which some still believe you need a hoist to get a knight on his horse.

 

[Rossoneill]

This is a question for any or all navy types
Are there areas on a navy ship that Crewmen are forbidden to enter normally (aside from safety reasons)?
I have a member of my Traveller group who insists that just being a member of the crew doesnt give you access to al parts of the ship .
I was arguing that yes it does .
I feel that resticting access is a bad idea and
it is important for future plots .
I need an informed opinion .

I have another question I believe that the military can and does give out medals and or decorations for covert operations .
The same player insists that no the military does not as all the enemy needs to do is watch for pictures of newly decorated military or special ops types and they know who did it .
I feel this is bull but i would appreciate some informed answers or input

 

[BrennanHawkwood]

Originally posted by Rossthree:
This is a question for any or all navy types
Are there areas on a navy ship that Crewmen are forbidden to enter normally (aside from safety reasons)?
I have a member of my Traveller group who insists that just being a member of the crew doesnt give you access to al parts of the ship .
I was arguing that yes it does .
I feel that resticting access is a bad idea and
it is important for future plots .
I need an informed opinion .

Not speaking from personal experience, but I would say that it depends alot on the size and function of the starship, the service and the frame of operations.

I would expect limitations would be more common on bigger starships with larger crews. Small ships may not have the luxury of easily shutting out parts of the ship and may simply need too many of the crew to have easy access for it to be practical. Ships with special functions may have additional requirements as well. A research ship may ban regular crew from the labs unless they have a legitimate reason for being there. Same sort of thing could happen on a big liner (most of the ship crew not being allowed into the passenger spaces unless there is a specific reason for them being there).

I would think military starships are going be more likely to restrict access to certain spaces. Safety issues would be one concern (possibly resulting in limits on who can go into certain types of engineering spaces for example). Security would be another big one. I would expect the bridge and other other sensative control spaces to be at least partially restricted access as would spaces specifically dealing with weapons systems.

Along with the type of ship, the activity it is engaged in and the operating mode (for lack of a better term) would have an impact as well. A warship may be more restrictive during a time of war or when it is actively engaged in military operations as opposed to sitting at dock.

I have another question I believe that the military can and does give out medals and or decorations for covert operations .
The same player insists that no the military does not as all the enemy needs to do is watch for pictures of newly decorated military or special ops types and they know who did it .
I feel this is bull but i would appreciate some informed answers or input

I'd say your player does have a valid point. My ideas would be that individuals engaged in the covert side of things tend to receive decorations and awards much more quietly so as to not attract attention (no announcement or ceremony, they just start wearing the decoration) or they may receive them but under a cover story placing them into another legitimate and more publicly known operation despite their not actually ahving been involved in it. They may also receive the awards at a later date after the risk of exposure has lessened.

 

[Tobias]

Originally posted by Rossthree:
This is a question for any or all navy types
Are there areas on a navy ship that Crewmen are forbidden to enter normally (aside from safety reasons)?

Officers' quarters, weapon storage and the communications room were off-limits for those who had no explicit business there.
Others' quarters areas (crew and low-ranking NCOs did not have cabins as officers did), working areas and mess facilities you could enter, but courtesy demanded you had to announce yourself. Technically, you were asking permission, but in practice you just said "Seaman XY entering".
So, to repeat: Explicitly forbidden were only the Officers' cabins, the weapons storage (as one might expect) and the communications room (because of the secret material). The CIC was not generally forbidden, but without reason, people were not expected to enter either. In a higher state of general alert (i.e. in a crisis/war situation) the CIC would have been off-limits in the same vein as the comm room, I guess.

Regards,

Tobias

 

[The Oz]

Originally posted by Rossthree:
This is a question for any or all navy types
Are there areas on a navy ship that Crewmen are forbidden to enter normally (aside from safety reasons)?
I have a member of my Traveller group who insists that just being a member of the crew doesnt give you access to al parts of the ship .
I was arguing that yes it does .
I feel that resticting access is a bad idea and
it is important for future plots .
I need an informed opinion .

Engine rooms are off-limits to those who don't belong there as it's all too easy to create a safety hazard (or walk into one) in such spaces.

In general on large ships crew are not encouraged to go wandering around in areas they do not normally work or play in. On your typical small TRAVELLER starship things might be much more flexible, largely because everyone in the crew has to lend a hand with almost everthing.

I have another question I believe that the military can and does give out medals and or decorations for covert operations .
The same player insists that no the military does not as all the enemy needs to do is watch for pictures of newly decorated military or special ops types and they know who did it .
I feel this is bull but i would appreciate some informed answers or input

The military can (I believe) give out "classified" decorations. The receipient does not normally wear the ribbon/medal but it appears in the classified part of their personnel file.

 

[Fritz_Brown]

Jame, a "watch" is not necessarily the same as a day-to-day job, though. For the IT guys (on the command ship), most were "on duty" during the normal hours. Because everybody was available, there was seldom an official "watchbill". However, at night and with liberty calls, they had to have a watch stood to ensure the computer systems continued to run. And, sometimes, they even took a turn as "watch" at some other duty - maybe a general duty that rotated among departments, or they were earning their warfare pin and had to be on the bridge, or the engine room, etc.

Rossthree - same as the others here - being crew does not allow access to the entire ship. Unless, of course, the size of the crew demands it. Heck, there're even passageways you can't traverse unless on specific business. Not to mention areas with classified information - and, NO, most sailors have no access to classified at all.

As far as awards for covert ops.... We don't have that many awards (in the US military) and those awards are given for so many different things that the only opsec issue might be a medal for valor during peacetime. So, they would most likely be given a non-valor-related medal, with a note in their classified dossier of the actual award.

 

[Rossoneill]

Thanks Brennant ,Tobias ,Oz ,Fritz.
I was looking for actual navy input .
I appreciate the Input from all .
Fritz i especially like the idea of the cover medal, i will use it in place of the official medal .