Ship's Crew Numbers

[whulorigan]

It sounds like Warrants in the RN are handled differently than Warrants in the USN, where they do pretty much the exact same jobs as O 1-3's. But that all said, American E 8-9 generally also occupy leadership positions, generally where an O 1-2 wouldn't be capable because of breadth of knowledge required, and an O 3 would be probably too high grade for the position.

Warrant Officer-2 and Warrant Officer-1 in the British Forces (RN, RM, RAF, British Army) stand above the Ordinary Ranks and NCOs, but are not commissioned, and are generally referred to by their appointments, e.g. "Regimental Sergeant Major", "Company Sergeant Major", "Regimental Quartermaster Sergeant", "Executive Warrant Officer", "Command Warrant Officer", "Master Aircrew", etc.

For a list of example appointments, see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warrant_officer_(United_Kingdom)

 

[TamsinP]

Just as a note, it's not unusual for experienced SNCOs and WOs (OR7-9; occasionally OR6) in the British armed forces to be commissioned from the ranks. However, their opportunities for promotion in commissioned ranks tend to be limited and they often get appointed to staff rather than command positions.
In the Army, a common appointment is/was* as the Permanent Staff Administrative Officer (PSAO) of an Army Reserve (formerly Territorial Army) unit to take them through to retirement. In the Royal Navy it was quite common in the first half of the C20th for Chief Stokers and Chief Engine Room Artificers to be commissioned as engineering officers.

*It's over 30 years since I was in the TA, so it might have changed since then.

 

[kilemall]

Commisioned or Warrant officers are what it means, Petty Officers are specified separately.

So I did clear up a minor point earlier in the thread, I was overpopulating the 'command' group. But the officers, whether commisioned or warrant, still seem somewhat overrepresented. The fact that Traveller doesn't address Combat Systems, Navigation, or Operations departments, though, inclines me to split up my Command staff among those groups. Most of the Command group enlisted will be Navigation Department or helmsmen, who are part of Deck in RL. Combat Systems and Operations will pull from the Service group, which seems overrepresented as far as the need for cooks, barbers, laundry, and the like, but do services of a sort on the ship. Taken that way, I can work with the given numbers.

I’d have engineering officers in charge of separate mechanical and electronics ratings, officer in charge of computers, another for small craft if more then one, etc.

 

[whulorigan]

I’d have engineering officers in charge of separate mechanical and electronics ratings, officer in charge of computers, another for small craft if more then one, etc.

In some modern services, both Merchant Service and in some Navies, there is the ETO, or Electrical Technical Officer (sometimes a separate Chief Electrical Technical Officer with subordinate ETOs), in charge of the sophisticated Electrical and Electronic Systems. It is sometimes considered its own Branch or Sub-Department of the Engineering Department and sometimes organized merely as a division of the Engineering Department. Warrant Officers and Petty Officers might be "Electronics Technicians" and "Electronics Technicians Mates", or just simply "Technicians" and "Technicians Mates".

More standard Electrical Systems might fall under the ETO in a separate subdivision (or not), or under a separate Engineering Division with an Engineering Officer or Warrant Officer over them as Electrician or Chief Electrician, with Petty Officer Electricians' Mates.

Engineering Officer or Warrant Officer over the mechanical ratings might be the Machinist or Chief Machinist, with Petty Officer Machinist Mates.

 

[TamsinP]

Here's a pic outlining the crew structure of a typical cruise ship (I'm sure somebody can find and post something similar for a large warship):