"Naval command question from a landlubber" Topic

This occurred to me as I was watching "The Orville."
I am curious about the captain and first officer being on the bridge at the same time. I know that in TV/movies there are all sorts of reasons for doing this. I also have heard that the "away teams" were based upon 17-18th century practice.

But it got me to thinking how things work in the real world navy, both in the great age of sail and modern times. No clue what kind of shifts they run (2x12 hour? 3x8?).
But wouldn't the captain & 1st officer be working opposing shifts so that there is always a senior officer in command? Assuming these sci-fi ships are based upon frigates, they wouldn't have an unsupervised junior officer working the night shift, would they?

Based upon that aircraft carrier museum in San Diego (I forget the name of the ship) I know the captain's quarters are very close to the bridge – next door if you will.
How about other senior bridge officers – how far are their quarters from the bridge?

The traditional watches in the Royal Navy were
Middle 0000 – 0400
Morning 0400 – 0800
Forenoon 0800 – 1200
Afternoon 1200 – 1600
First Dog 1600 – 1800
Last Dog 1800 – 2000
First 2000 – 0000
The dog watches meant that, with two watches, the seamen were on duty different hours on consecutive days.

The captain would not normally stand watch – that was done by lieutenants and possibly the master. Lieutenants might be junior officers but they would have (at least in theory) at least six years at sea, two as a master's mate or midshipman, and passed an examination which gave them the equivalent of master's certificate. The officer of the watch would call the captain as necessary – Tango's post TMP link gives access to various editions of Regulations and Instructions Relating to His Majesty's Service at Sea which give details – look particularly for the sections on lieutenants (page 172 in the 1808 edition).

As long as the officer is a qualified Officer of the Deck/ qualified watch officer, their rank is unimportant as it relates to their watch duties. If action was thought imminent, or the ship was otherwise in danger, the captain might be on the bridge for 24 hours straight. My dad was an officer on a destroyer escort that got caught in a seriously bad storm off Cape Hateras and they were taking monster waves, and he said the captain never left the bridge until the ship was out of danger.

Certain officers are designated 'watch officers' and will take a watch on the bridge. The most senior of these is the often known as the First Officer or First Lieutenant, and they will usually 'stand watch' with the the most junior officer, so that the latter can learn on the job under the supervision of the most senior watch officer.

The ship's Captain or Master (not to be confused with the Sailing Master, who was a highly qualified and experienced sailor during the days of sail, and whose job was to get the most out of the ship's sail-power) will be on the bridge or quarterdeck when the situation requires it (e.g. change in the weather, manoeuvring in or out of port) but will not take command from the Officer-of-the-Watch unless they think they need to. The fact that they are on the bridge and/or have taken command will be recorded in the ship's log. I have known a ship's Captain to spend several days either on the bridge or in their sea cabin dozing during heavy weather.

Even today, most ship's captains have a cabin near the bridge where they can sleep, work, and be 'on call' when required as well as larger cabin where they can fulfil their official functions (e.g. entertaining, holding meetings). After all, they are the person who is in charge of the ship and therefore responsible for anything that happens, even when they are not on the bridge.

The Captain of a ship is responsible for everything his ship and crew do, or fail to do.
For this reason, The Captain is always on call, should be on the bridge when any thing is evolving, and may go anywhere else on board that he/she determines needs more direct supervision. With this burden of responsibility it is prudent to devolve command (delegate responsibility) whenever possible. A Captain who loses his ship, in any but a hard fought action, has failed his responsibility, but may salvage some of his honor by going down with his ship.

Besides referring to a real four striper (O-6), it is the honorific form of address for any person in command of any powered vessel, regardless of rank. [This means that the poor Coast Guard (God bless 'em) must address as Captain every idiot they pull of a mud bank on a falling tide.]

Mr. Korvessa, you have the con.

In a combat action the Captain is on the bridge and the Executive Officer is at an alternate command post and in charge of damage control. After the advent of Combat Information Centers the Exec is usually posted there.

Thanks everyone