# If the USS Enterprise had been an actual military vessel... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 7, 2015, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-uss-enterprise-had-been-an-actual-military-vessel/724479 "2015-07-07T15:02:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![CGav8r](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/34f0e0/32.png) [@CGav8r](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CGav8r)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2015, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-uss-enterprise-had-been-an-actual-military-vessel/724479/81 "2015-07-09T19:23:37Z")
There would be a host of folks who stood watch on the bridge, not the same bunch over and over. They must be exhausted doing 24 hours on, zero hours off watch rotation. > [@terentii](#): > > They were called “landing parties” in _ **TOS** _. One would assume that if the objective is to board another vessel, they would be “boarding parties.” In the Coast Guard we call them Boarding Teams (there is no partying, goldarnit), and they are headed up by Boarding Officers; I was a team member as a young seaman (and later as a petty officer on another ship); the boarding officers were young junior officers or the occasional chief. Thank god our Captain, XO, or Ops Officer never went on boardings with us! > [@msmith537](#): > > I suppose the same reason an aircraft doesn’t have a lot of enlisted personnel. A mostly automated starship doesn’t need a lot of deck monkeys. They would mostly be highly trained technicians and specialists. That’s what is funny about the series…helsman on a ship is less demanding than on a star ship, so it wouldn’t make sense to have a third class quartermaster standing watch up there. Also, on my aircraft (the C-130 Hercules) there are between 5 and 8 enlisted personnel, depending on mission, and only 2 officers (pilot and copilot); they were handy to have on board if we were diverted to some other airport during a mission and we had maintenance issues, as they were going to fix us. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2015, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-uss-enterprise-had-been-an-actual-military-vessel/724479/82 "2015-07-09T19:27:14Z")
> [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > Is there any record as to how often Navy captains in the Age of Discovery were on away missions? Both Ferdinand Magellan and James Cook were killed in clashes with natives. From what I remember about William Bligh’s mission to Tahiti to get breadfruit trees so Great Britain would have a cheap source of food for its Caribbean slaves (ultimately the slaves refused to eat it), he didn’t ask the chieftains for breadfruit. He gave them gifts from King George III and when the Tahitians mentioned several reciprocal gifts, told them breadfruit was a good idea. Seems to me he was directly negotiating a deal. Well, when they were, it sure as hell wasnt on a Ship of the Line, like the Enterprise. At most a Frigate (cruiser) but more likely just a Brig. Cook was only a Lieutenant when he sailed on the Endeavour, later as Commander he had the Sloop HMS Resolution , then promoted to Post Captain. Bligh similarly. Of course, they’d be _called_ “Captain”. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2015, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-uss-enterprise-had-been-an-actual-military-vessel/724479/83 "2015-07-09T20:15:43Z")
To be fair, the Enterprise also had Diplomatic, “Showing the flag” and even, yes, Military missions also. In sail days those would be handled by a Frigate, in oil and coal days by a cruiser. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2015, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-uss-enterprise-had-been-an-actual-military-vessel/724479/84 "2015-07-09T20:42:47Z")
Indeed the _Enterprise_ is considered a “heavy cruiser”, not the equivalent of a ship of the line or a battleship. The Federation built a single prototype Dreadnought but ditched the idea of having a purely war-fighting ship. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2015, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-uss-enterprise-had-been-an-actual-military-vessel/724479/85 "2015-07-09T21:09:13Z")
> [@tonyfop](#): > > There would be enlisted people. > > Petty Officer First Class TonyFop (ret.) > [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > Chief Miles O’Brien is a petty officer. Okay, there would be _more than one_ enlisted man or woman. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-uss-enterprise-had-been-an-actual-military-vessel/724479.md?page=4)