User avatar
Angelman
Topic Author
Posts: 358
Joined: Sun 11 Apr 2021, 12:46

Ship crewmember jobs

Wed 05 May 2021, 20:34

So, my question is what the various responsibilities and jobs various crewmembers on a Nostromo type ship would have?

The Captain (Dallas) is the boss of the ship, the one with the contract and clearances and everything. The other guys on the ship basically work for him (right?).

The Executive Officer (Kane) I assume is simply the second-in-command. (Or is the XOs role more involving/specific?).

The Warrant Officer (Ripley) I haven’t a clue what does… I tried to do some research, but “warrant officer” means different things to every nation and every branch of government/military, so I’m lost. Exactly what was Ripley’s job on Nostromo? Is she like HR or something?

The Navigator (Lambert) is pretty straight forward. They’re the ones that point the ship in the right direction (so to speak).

Chief Engineer (Parker) and Engineering Technician (Brett) is self-explanatory. They keep the ship and machinery going.

The Science Officer (Ash) is also simple enough, but exactly why would a commercial hauler have one onboard? (I know that there’s an entire sub-plot in some novel about why Ash was brought onboard without Dallas being told why by the company, but I assume the Science Officer is a pretty standard position aboard a ship?
Last edited by Angelman on Wed 05 May 2021, 23:48, edited 1 time in total.
"And the rain sets in,
it's the Angelman.
I'm deranged".
--David Bowie, I'm Deranged
 
User avatar
Grimmshade
Posts: 209
Joined: Wed 05 May 2021, 23:15

Re: Ship crewmember jobs

Wed 05 May 2021, 23:23

I'm also interested in what a Warrant Officer does. Went through the same Google search trying to find out with no answers.
 
S.M
Posts: 133
Joined: Sat 14 Dec 2019, 06:58

Re: Ship crewmember jobs

Thu 06 May 2021, 03:37

Ripley was middle management - Parker and Brett's supervisor. She and Kane also co-piloted the ship, with Lambert and Ash in support positions and Dallas overseeing everything.

Science officers are standard on commercial ships, presumably for instances like the Nostromo encountered - though generally the science would be more benign, like observing or logging cosmic phenomena. And they can probably generally double as medical officer, as Ash does.
 
FenGiddel
Posts: 18
Joined: Wed 29 May 2019, 04:31

Re: Ship crewmember jobs

Wed 12 May 2021, 00:22

Right: direct observation of Ripley's duties is the best definition. Ranks will no doubt have evolved from earthbound duties to space-going activities. But it interests me to dig further, and to extrapolate from contemporary definitions of the rank, and contrasting it with officers. According to this site:

WARRANT OFFICERS are highly trained specialists (which fits SM's comments above). Warrant Officers can achieve higher roles within their primary specialty, providing management and leadership opportunities to enlisted members and Commissioned Officers, within their specialty. To become a Warrant Officer, an enlisted service member must have several years of military experience, recommendations from their commander, and approval from a selection board. Warrant Officers outrank all enlisted members, but are not required to have a college degree.

COMMISSIONED OFFICERS: outrank Warrant Officers (Ripley) and enlisted service members (Lambert, Ash, Parker and Brett, though its not military service, so "enlisted" is not accurate terminology for their ranks/positions), and must have a minimum of a four-year bachelor's degree. Unlike the Warrant Officer, promotion through the ten Commissioned Officer grades is tied to the military service members' level of education.

Sure, this is 21st Century military command structure, but it does provide me with a little more context for OP's topic.
 
User avatar
_ArthurDallas_
Posts: 505
Joined: Wed 04 Mar 2020, 03:22

Re: Ship crewmember jobs

Fri 14 May 2021, 19:20

Right ... to quote Brett ... ahahah!
Captain = Chef, corporate liaison (if ship is rented by WY)
executive = second in command, you see Kane is also a pilot.
warrant = third in command, Ripley has a degre in engineering, so engineer specialisation
navigator = main pilot for Lambert
chief engineer = first engineer
engineer technician = assistant
you may have a corporate lisaison on board (like Wilson on the Montero)
you may have a cargo handler (junior engineer technician)
it's good to have 1-2 pilots and 1-3 engineer on board, just in case ....

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 4 guests