I was going to send this to Mokoto privatly, but given the general responses 
to the list which describe ranks, but not actual shipboard organization, I'm 
CCing the list in general a copy of it.

In additon, Jamie, you made one big goof.  The Petty officer section is 
slighly wrong.  You accidentally swaped the correct rank abriviations when 
you wrote it up.  it should be:
Petty officer First Class (PO1)
Petty Officer Second Class (PO2)
Petty Officer Third Class (PO3)

In a message dated 4/11/99 10:11:42 AM Pacific Daylight Time, 
motoko_section9@yahoo.com writes:

Jaime-sama can you help me with the organizational
 structure of a standard navy ship? I'm using this for
 my robotech fic and i got no idea what is the
 organizational structure of REF/RDF etc, etc...
 
 Can you help? Your the only one i know in the FFML
 that actually served in the navy.
 
 Motoko Chan
 -It was a JOKE! 

Actually, Motoko-Chan, Jamie isnt the only one who served in the Navy.  I did 
too, and I also know a bit about Robotech, since Ive alwas been facinated 
with it.

Since the RDF Spacy may have changed things around somewhat, I'll give you 
the basic personel layout and let you decide just how the RDF set up the 
Macross.

At the top of the command structure is the Captain, (In this case, Gloval) 
who is in overall command and responsible for everything that happens on or 
to the ship.

Directly under him is the Exectuive officer.  The XO's duties can be boiled 
down to this: "Everthing the captain needs to help fight the ship".  In 
practice, the XO is primarily responsilbe for dealing with the personell 
needs of the ship in addition to acting as an advisor and confidant to the 
captain.

Under the XO come the Department heads.  The rest of the ship is divided into 
departments which cover main areas of ship functions, and then further into 
Divisions, Sections, and Watches.  In the present day Navy, the Departments 
which are always there are: Operations, Navigation, Deck (and or Weapons), 
Engineering, & Supply.  A ship who's primary purpose is to fly and recover 
aircraft also has an Air department, an Air Maintenance department, and a 
Safety department.  

There are also a number of specialy jobs which are grouped into the Executive 
department which reports directly to the XO.  These include people like the 
ships secretary, personnel, the ships legal department, chaplains, and other 
specialty functions that affect ship personell.

The operations department is responsible for mantaining ship operations.  
This includes all sensors like Radar, sonar, and communications & 
cryptography equipment.  The department head is known as the Operations 
Officer (for the SDF-1, this would probobly be Claudia)

The Navigation department is headed up by the Navigator, and is responsible 
for knowing the ships position at all times and plotting a safe course to the 
destination under the captain's orders. (No observed corralary to SDF-1 
personell)

The Deck Department is a wide one that handles ship handling, and all other 
functions related to it.  This includes the actual personell responsible for 
launching and recovering boats and aircraft and the like.  This department is 
headed by the First Leutenant.  (For the SDF-1, this would mean the catapult 
handlers and other launch and recovery personell)

The Weapons (or Combat) department is responsible for the maintenance and 
firing of all SHIPBOARD mounted weapons (again, for the SDF-1 this would 
cover everything from the main gun down to the AA turrets, but NOT the 
destroids)

The Engineering Department is responsible for operations of the ships 
engines, and all repairs that exceed the capabilities of other departments.  
For ships with a Nuclear Reactor, the Reactor personell sometimes form a 
separate department, but in reality, they still are part of the Engineering 
department.  Other divisions in Engineering include R (Repairs or Damage 
control), E (Electrical), and A (auxilary equipment)  On board the SDF-1, 
this would be Dr. Lang.

The Supply department is responsible for ordering and keeping sufficient 
stores and spare parts on hand to maintain ships operations.  In addition, 
this deparment is generaly broken down into three main areas S1; the Stores 
department, responsible for ordering, storing, and issuing spare parts.  S2; 
or the Mess division, responsible for feeding everyone on the ship.  S3, 
responsible for payroll, ships laundry, and other such support functions such 
as the ship store & gedunk (think junk food stand)

Related to the support functions of the supply department, but Separate on a 
ship the size of the SDF-1 would be the Medical and Dental departments, which 
take care of the medical and dental needs of the crew.

the AIR department on the SDF-1 would be responsible for flying the 
Veritechs.  This department is headed up by the CAG, or Commander, Air Group. 
 This department consists of the Planes, their Pilots, and thier maintenance 
personell. (This appeared to be Roy Folkker's job, and then Later Rick 
Hunter's)

the AIMD is the Aircraft Intermediate Maintenance Department, and is 
responsible for major repairs to airframes, such as rebuilding engines and 
the like.  Aboard the SDF-1, I would expect this department to include the 
people who ran the fabrication machines that made the Veritechs.

The Saftey department would be responsible for overall ship and aviation 
operation safety.


Some of the ways I expect the SDF-1 would Diverge from this are:

Considering the large size of the SDF-1, and the amount of battle damage it 
continually takes, I would expect the Repair division to be split off and 
made into its own department.

Research - Dr. Lang keeps coming up with improvments to various ship 
functions throughout the series, which leads me to believe that he spends 
quite a bit of time on research, probobly enough for there to be a seperate 
division possibly even a whole Department devoted to it.

Transportation Department - The SDF-1 was probobly originaly organized 
without this division, but it would have developed one after the misfold and 
the need to cary the inhabitants of Macross city.  The Transportation 
Department is responsible for Loading, Unloading, Housing, Feeding, and the 
general direction of passengers.  By the end of the series, anything having 
to do with Macross City would be the responsiblity of this deparment.

Marine Department - Again, this is not normally a seperate department on most 
NAVY ships.  There is often a Marine detachment, and the Marine CO is 
responsible to the Marine Corps for certain matters, but most Marine 
detachments are assigned as a single division under the Combat or Weapons 
department, and are responsible for things like ship security and the like.  
On the SDF-1, given its large size, and the destroid contingent, it is not 
unreasonable to assume that the Destroids and other civil defense mecha fall 
into this department.  It's most probable head would be Colonel Mastoff.

Each department is further devided into Divisions.  Each divison is 
responsible for one aspect of the departments operations.  Using the Combat 
department for example, each type of gun from the main gun on down to the AA 
turrets would be a separate Division.  Large divisions would be further 
divided into sections, and or Watches.

A Watch is determined primarily by the overall ship condition, and is the 
normal number of people needed to operate that division in that condition.

In the present day Navy, these conditions are as follows:
Condition 1: General quarters; all hands at battle stations.  The ship is 
either in combat, or combat is eminant.  All positions throughout the ship 
are manned.
There are also several modified condition 1's.
1A: the Ship is at battle stations to conduct amphibious operations.
1AA: Battle stations to counter an Air or Surface threat
1AS: Battle stations to counter a Submarine
1M: Battle stations to counter a Mine Threat
1E: a relaxed battle stations in used to allow the crew to relax a little, 
most often used to prepare and distribute food during a lull in battle.

Condition 2: Half the crew man their stations while the other half rests and 
or performs needed maintenance.  Sometimes known as Modified GQ, probobly 
equivalent to Yellow Alert on a Star Trek like Starship.

Condition 3: Wartime crusing.  One third of the crew is on watch, only key 
stations are manned, usually enough to perform a limited defense of the ship 
in case of surprise attack until General quarters can be manned.

Condition 4: Peacetime crusing.  about 1/4 of the crew is on duty, the rest 
are performing maintenance or other work. (It can be assumed that the SDF-1 
never operated in this condition from facts observed)

Condition 5:Peacetime in port.  Very rarely used, except in shipyards.  Just 
enough personell are 'on duty' to handle extreme emergancies such as fire, 
flooding, or to get the ship underway if needed.  Only about 1/5th of the 
crew is "on Duty", the rest are either performing upkeep and maintenance, or 
are on liberty if its after working hours (approx 8am to 5pm)

A ship in port can be at a higher condition than condition 5, in which case 
the sections "on duty" remain aboard 24hours, while the rest can take liberty 
if they so desire (by this I mean a ship on condition 2 in port would only 
allow 1/2 her crew to go ashore at any one time, condition 3 would keep 1/3rd 
of her crew aboard, etc.  In this case, the sections rotate being "on Duty" 
once per day to allow everyone a chance to go ashore if possible)

Being "On Watch" pretty much means just that.  Your at an assigned duty 
station watching soemthing, be it monitoring equipment, sensors, etc.

This information was Paraphrased out of the Blujackets' Manual, 20th edition, 
Copyright 1978

I hope this lengthy discourse helps you somewhat, if not, do feel free to 
write me with your other questions and I'll do my best to answer them.

Mike, STGSN.  (that means I was a Sonar Tech, Surface ships, with a rank of 
Seaman, as compared to Jessie-san, who I believe said he was an HM1, which is 
a Hospital Corpsman, Petty officer First class.)