Motoko Chan wrote:

I do have some ideas for dog fighting in vacuum, hey i
did watched space above and beyond! and Robotech.

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...

Sure. See below. I've sent this to the FFML, because I felt that it
could be used as an organizational tool for others writing Robotech fics
or other sci-fi anime stuff.

Can you help? Your the only one i know in the FFML
that actually served in the navy.

Rob Barba is currently active duty in Pearl Harbor.


Here's a top-down command structure for a naval vessel. First I want to
list naval ranks from the top down to the lowest enlisted rank to get an
idea for who is doing what in the organizational chart. This is largely
U.S. Navy specific, but can be easily adapted to whatever setting you
deem fit.

A. Commissioned Officer ranks and their abbreviations.

Commissioned Officers are called this because they receive their
commission through an Act of Congress, and are promoted only through
Congressional approval. (Officers and enlisted may be breveted to a
higher rank, but it doesn't become permanent unless Congress approves
it.)

1. Admiral (ADM)
2. Vice Admiral (VADM)
3. Rear Admiral Upper Half (RADM) (In some navies, particularly those
with the rank of Commodore, this is simplified to Rear Admiral)
4. Rear Admrial Lower Half (RADM) (Or Commodore, in some navies)
5. Captain (CAPT)
6. Commander (CDR)
7. Lieutenant Commander (LCDR)
8. Lieutenant (LT)
9. Lieutenant Junior Grade (or 'J.G.') (LTJG)
10. Ensign (ENS)

B. Warrant Officer Ranks.

Warrant Officers receive a 'Warrant' from the Navy to perform a specific
duty. They are officers, and accorded all the usual privileges, but they
are not commissioned officers, and so cannot command ships. In the Navy
warrant officers are usually drawn from the ranks of Chief Petty
Officers, and so are usually very knowledgable and experienced in their
fields.

11. Chief Warrant Officer 4 (CWO-4)
12. Chief Warrant Officer 3 (CWO-3)
13. Chief Warrant Officer 2 (CWO-2)
14. There is no Chief Warrant Officer 1 rank in the U.S. Navy.

C. Chief Petty Officers. (Highest of the non-commissioned officers)

Chief Petty Officers receive power and authority that enlisted
Non-Commissioned Officers of comparable pay-grade in other services do
not. They are considered enlisted, but are in effect provide
considerable leadership and experience to the crew. Think of them as
'middle management' in the scheme of organization.

15. Master Chief Petty Officer (MCPO), always addressed as 'Master
Chief.'
16. Senior Chief Petty Officer (SCPO), commonly addressed as 'Senior' or
'Senior Chief.'
17. Chief Petty Officer (CPO), commonly addressed as 'Chief.'

D. Petty Officers. (Non-commissioned officers)

Petty Officers form the backbone of a ship's crew, mostly as second and
third classes. They are enlisted, but have authority over other enlisted
at lower ranks. They form the middle tier of enlisted ranks, and are
generally the most numerous. Petty Officers are usually addressed by
their rating, or military specialty, followed by their rate, or pay
grade. For example, a Petty Officer First Class who was a Machinist's
Mate would be refered to as a 'Machinist's Mate First Class.'

18. Petty Officer First Class (PO3)
19. Petty Officer Second Class (PO2)
20. Petty Officer Third Class (PO1)

E. Non-Rated.

Non-rated enlisted are the lowest tier. They have less than two years of
service for the most part, and some may not have any kind of military
specialty chosen. These are known as 'strikers,' and they spend their
enlistments looking for the kind of job they want to do. Once they find
what they want, they may 'strike' for the job, and begin a process of
On-The-Job Training with their division. They may also be sent to
service school for this rating, though it may require a reenlistment.
Non-rates are organized along very broad technical branches such as deck
seamanship, engineering, aviation, combat construction, and
medical/dental. They have no authority, even over those of lesser rank.

21. Seaman/Fireman/Airman/Constructionman/Hospitalman  (SN/FN/AN/CN/HN)
22. Apprentice (SA/FA/AA/CA/HA)
23. Recruit (SR/FR/AR/CR/HR)

ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE

COMMANDING OFFICER

Usually a Commander or Captain rank, although can be a Lieutenant
Commander or Lieutenant if the craft is small. Regardless of rank, the
Commanding Officer is referred to as 'Captain.' The Commanding Officer,
or C.O.,  is responsible for the entire ship and every single member of
its complement. On carriers, the Commanding Officer must be an aviator.
On nuclear powered ships, the Commanding Officer must also be nuclear
trained. (Yes, on nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, he must be both.
There is a branch of Naval Nuclear Power School that is taught
specifically for these officers, who are usually Commanders and
Captains.)

It is the Commanding Officer's responsibility to carry out his orders
and fight his ship to the best of his ability. He also has significant
disciplinary powers over his enlisted crew, and writes the evaluations
for all of his officers, thereby affecting their careers.

EXECUTIVE OFFICER

The Executive Officer, or X.O., is a C.O. in training. He is usually one
rank below the Captain. He presides over all of the administrative
duties of the ship, freeing up the C.O. to carry out his mission. He is
technically the Department Head for the Executive or Administration
Department. 

COMMAND MASTER CHIEF

The Command Master Chief is an enlisted man, but his power and authority
aboard ship generally rank right below the X.O.. He is the enlisted
liason between the crew and the C.O., and he also performs many of the
administrative duties of the X.O. such as preparing the Watch/Quarter
and Station Bill, which tells the crew where they need to be for various
conditions aboard the ship. On submarines the C.M.C is known as the
'Chief Of the Boat' or COB, and spoken 'cob'!

DEPARTMENT HEADS

The ship's crew are divided up into several Departments such as
Engineering, Deck, Navigation, Aviation ("Air Department"), Medical,
Operations, and Weapons. Department heads are usually the same rank or
one rank below the Executive Officer. They are responsible for all crew
and equipment within their departments, and answer to the C.O. and X.O..

DIVISION OFFICERS

The ship's departments are further divided up into divisions. Divisions
consist of enlisted men of the same rating, or military specialty, and
perform a related task on board the ship. Examples could be Machinery or
'M-Division,' consisting of Machinist's Mates, who are responsible for
operating, maintaining, and repairing all of the ship's Main Propulsion
machinery. Navigation Electronics Technicians, or NAV-ETs, would take
care of the ship's navigation electronics such as radar, LORAN, and GPS.
Sonar Division would be all Sonar Technicians, and handle the ship's
sonar equipment and act as members of the plotting party during combat.

Division Officers are usually Lieutenants and below, though they are all
commissioned officers. They answer to their respective Department Head.

LEADING CHIEF PETTY OFFICER (LCPO)

A Chief Petty Officer whose job is to assist the often times
inexperienced junior officer who is his Division Officer in the fine art
of doing his job. LCPOs train ensigns to be effective, knowledgable,
officers that they may one day become good Department Heads and
eventually Commanding Officers themselves.

LEADING PETTY OFFICER ("LEADING FIRST", or "LPO")

Usually a Petty Officer First Class, the LPO's job is the day to day
running of the Division. This is training for the LPO to one day become
a Chief Petty Officer, and some divisions with several First Class Petty
Officers will rotate them around so that everyone gets their hand in.

THE BLUESHIRTS

Known for their blue dungaree work uniforms, the blueshirts are everyone
from First Class Petty Officers on down to Seaman Recruits. These are
the people who do the work of running the ship, and are obviously the
most numerous. Depending on rank, they may be put in charge of working
parties of other blueshirts, but the only real permanent leadership role
they can aspire to is Leading Petty Officer.

A NOTE ON RANK:

No matter what a person's rank might be, a person is respected on board
ship for his knowledge and experience above all. An incompetent
lieutenant commander might still receive salutes, but his policies will
be carried out grudgingly at best, and if they have the slightest
possibilty of being detrimental, will garner immediate and vocal
protests to higher authority. On the other hand, an officer or chief
with good leadership abilities and technical knowledge will be supported
exuberantly by his crew, who will go out of their way to make him look
good.

-- 
       "Why are they wearing bras?"
          -Rachel Wilde, age 4,
while watching the Dirty *ahem* Lovely Angels...
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