Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!wuarchive!emory!att!cbnews!cbnews!military From: ntaib@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Nur Iskandar Taib) Newsgroups: sci.military Subject: Re: Are Warships Over-Manned? Message-ID: <1990Dec5.031915.7749@cbnews.att.com> Date: 5 Dec 90 03:19:15 GMT References: <1990Nov29.004354.21100@cbnews.att.com> Sender: military@cbnews.att.com (William B. Thacker) Organization: Indiana University, Bloomington IN. Lines: 42 Approved: military@att.att.com From: ntaib@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Nur Iskandar Taib) *>From: crowl@cs.rochester.edu (Lawrence Crowl) *>Many of the descriptions of warships posted to this group read like: *> 2 engines, 4 missle launchers, 1 cannon, 1 radar, 1 sonar, 300 men *>What are all those men doing? The ships seem grossly over-manned for their *>capabilities. This imbalance appears to worsen as the ship size increases. *>I cannot see a need for more than 50 men on a ship, unless it carries *>aircraft (including helicopters). The jobs I can imagine are: *> commander (whoever is in charge for the shift), helm, *> weapons control (2), weapons loading (2), radar/sonar operators (2), *> cook, and janitor Hmmm... damage control, general muscle (lifting and carrying) work? Who mans the light weapons (machine guns etc.) and searchlight? Maybe a few electronics technicians? Computer programmers? Boarding party? What about "engineering" (i.e. Scotty and his bairns).. changing spark plugs, refueling, etc.? And who winds up the anchor? Hehehe Star Trek people have been wondering about this one for years- why ARE there 420 crew aboard the Enterprise? After all, even the "away teams" are made up of the Captain, a couple of bridge officers, and a couple of "security" (ah.. there's another cate- gory for the crew..) personnel.... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Iskandar Taib | The only thing worse than Peach ala Internet: NTAIB@AQUA.UCS.INDIANA.EDU | Frog is Frog ala Peach Bitnet: NTAIB@IUBACS ! Brought to you by Super Global Mega Corp .com