Lt. Sulu (Navigation, Weapons) outranks Ensign Chekov (Helm). OTW, Kirk says where to go, Sulu figures out how to get there, and Chekov drives.
Presumably she carried on being Number One while Pike was captain, and was getting on with her career in another ship by the time Kirk took over. The events in The Cage are a few years “before present”.
Sulu’s helm, Chekov’s navigator, Sulu outranks Chekov not because of that but because he is a Lieutenant to Chekov’s Ensign. See Other officers.
I said “Sulu’s helm”!
Sulu was the chief helmsman. He was clearly a seasoned officer, as Kirk left him unquestionably in command of the ship in “Errand of Mercy,” when the Federation was on the verge of war with the Klingons and it was entirely possible that they’d have to go into battle at any time. He was a lieutenant during the series.
Chekov was the navigator. He was a green officer, only 22 when he first appears (Kirk asks him in age in “Who Mourns for Adonis”). He also seems to have been Spock’s protege, as he generally took over the science station when Spock was away.
Technically the helmsman should be in charge of piloting the ship and the navigator for plotting the course. But though they never swapped seats, they often swapped specific jobs at any given time. Most likely this was due to sloppy writing, but it makes sense to me; their consoles were side by side, and their jobs simply begged for cross-training. I think the primary weapons controls were on Chekov’s side, but it’s pretty clear that there’s nothing you could do from one station that you couldn’t do from the other. And by the movies, they had moved Weapons Control to a separate station, though you could still control eveything from either Helm or Navigation. I expect a more accurate term for them would be Pilot & Co-Pilot.
Sulu outranked Chekov. I always thought the Enterprise’s chain of command was Kirk-Spock-Scott-Sulu.
I recall Uhura being told to take the HELM–that is, the pilot’s chair–once, but never being left in command of the ship. Again, 60s sexism. But I doubt you can get to be a bridge officer unless you’re rated on each station; you have to at least be able to turn the ship around and successfully engage the warp drive.
Sulu outranked Chekov. I always thought the E
Skald the Rhymer said:
I’m not entirely sure how wet navies treat this, but I would think Kirk could arbitrarily and unilaterally relieve McCoy and Spock from duty as well, “for cause”, cause being whatever trumped up terms he could arrange. It just takes him asserting command privilege and security following his orders. Now he might get a review upon return to Starbase, but during a mission the Captain is king. Though with McCoy as Senior Medical Officer, he could try the Medical Officer trump card to turn the tables, and leave Security unsure which was the rational sensible officer and which one the nutbag. Thus they would probably defer to Spock as the tie-breaker. So we’re back to your case. 
That’s kind of what I meant. Technically Kirk could relieve either of them, or anybody else, for whatever reason he pleases (subject to review when they’re back at base, which, might be a while). But since McCoy can relieve Kirk as well, McCoy probably can’t be relieved against his will unless Spock agrees.
Ah yes, the “woman episode”, my daughter can’t get enough of it. For the first time, I think I’m getting sick of seeing an episode of TOS/TAS…
Wasn’t McCoy the only medical officer? I don’t recall any other doctors being mentioned. Nurse Chapel ended up acting CMO in that TAS episode. In Star Trek: TMP McCoy wasn’t exactly pleased when he found out that Nurse Chapel had become Doctor Chapel and was assigned to Enterprise.
There was at least one other physician–Dr. M’Benga, a black gentleman who had, if I recall aright, interned on Vulcan. Other nurses were not seen that I recall, but certainly they were implied as Chapel was the CHIEF nurse.
I expect McCoy was vexed because he didn’t like change; it’s not so much that he objected to working with Chapel, but that this meant he had to get used to a new chief nurse on top of getting used to a refitted shiip. It’s not common knowledge, but McCoy’s great-great-great-great-grandfather was a Vicodin-addicted doctor with a limp.
At one point in season 2, McCoy tells Kirk that he has 6 doctors on staff (for what crisis, I don’t recall). This makes sense, given that Bones is prone to beaming down at any given time–someone has to be minding sick bay!
Then again, are 6 doctors really needed for a crew of 420? Given 24/7 coverage, maybe they are.
Crew of 430*. They weren’t a bunch of stoners.
Ah, Lts Leslie and Desalle! I forgot about them. Especially hard, considering Mr Leslie was in half of the eps.
I love Trekkies!
Okay, in the Wet Navy, how many officers (ensign thru captain) would there be on a ship with a complement of 430?
Actually that’s pretty close to what happened in the final TOS episode Turnabout Intruder. Kirk (at the time possessed by a psycho ex-girlfriend) throws Spock in the brig and orders him tried for mutiny. Scott and McCoy decide not to play along. Psycho Kirk tries to arrest them for mutiny and Sulu and Chekov refuse to follow Kirk’s orders.
Another example is Mirror, Mirror when Kirk, McCoy, Scott and Uhura get transported into an alternate universe and their (evil) counterparts end up on the regular Enterprise. At one point the characters wonder how their counterparts are doing, and the scene shifts to the regular Enterprise where Spock is throwing the alternate universe characters into the brig.
Well, the USN has the Ticonderoga-class cruiser with a complement of 33 officers and 327 enlisted. I guess 360 total is close enough.
So, two doctors, one for the sole Vulcan crewman and another for the rest of the crew who somehow spent most of his time on the bridge. Either there or the lab and even then it was probably a still he was working on. Dude loved his mint juleps.
Thinking of Doctor M’Benga’s moment in the spotlight, has beating hell out of a patient ever seemed like becoming a cliche in SF on TV? I remember a similar scene in Farscape, any others anyone remembers?
Four top-ranked officers on a single mission? It would never happen.
Why, that’d be as silly as having all the topped ranked officers AND the ship’s chief medical officer beam down for every alien contact!
That explains a lot. 
Not a bad fanfic crossover possibility, either…
Fanwank: Several of those doctors were actually staffing the various biology labs. Most of the time they’d have been under Spock’s command (in his Chief Science Officer incarnation, that is), but when their was need for more medical personnel, they’d be assigned to Medicine. I expect that most of the time, Sickbay was staffed by two doctors: McCoy always, and one of those six, who would rotate the junior medical officer position to keep their skills up. Likewise with the nursing staff.
Nobody ever said that M’Benga was JUST for Spock. But he was probably more savvy on Vulcan medicine than McCoy was, and as Spock was somewhat more likely to get injured than the average crewman (because he generally went on [del]away missions[/del] landing parties, which is more dangerous than staying shipside even if you’re in a blue shirt), Kirk or McCoy may have noticed that in his resume and taken that into account in granting him the assignment.