Patroklos wrote:On the matter of Starfleet's rather nebulous rank/seniority structure: I've spoken in other threads about the "Age of Sail" metaphor which was the underlying premise for the Enterprise's voyages in the original series. If you take that concept and apply it to nST's version of Starfleet, it becomes a bit more acceptable to swallow the idea of Kirk's swift rise to command given how Age of Sail navies often had midshipmen as young as 15, junior lieutenants as young as 20 or 21, and full post-Captains as young as 26 or 27. Lack of seniority was not a bar to rapid promotion especially in a time when navies were starved for command personnel and were on war-footings. The future Lord Nelson won promotion to the rank of post-Captain in the Royal Navy at age 21 in 1780, and was 47 when he died at Trafalgar in command of the British fleet.
In the British Navy at the time there was no academy, but every British Officer was required to spend several years as Midshipmen. When you could convince a captain to recommend you to the board you could then be tested as Lieutenant. As a Lieutenant (and sometimes before) you could become a "master and commander" which meant the commanding officer of a sloop or brig or similar small vessel. All major warships were commanded by post capatains, and the number of them and the availability of commands was STRICTLY limited by a seniority system. In fact the seniority system was so strict as to become oppressive, as it became near impossible to remove officers from it. In order command a first rate you would have had to have been a post captain for many years, and would have been master and commander of captain of several vessels previously. Even the Prince of Wales of Nelson's time was required to take the Lieutenants exam (specially administered by the Admiralty in his case) and serve as master and commander of a smaller ship before getting his captaincy of a frigate.
I am well aware of these restrictions, also that there were times and circumstances when those restrictions could be and were bypassed (as was the case with Nelson). In the case of the movie, there appears to be a nebulous distinction between the Academy and field service for juniors, as is evidenced by the presence of a 17-year old Pavel Chekov on the
Enterprise serving as a commissioned ensign when you'd think he'd not even be out of his first year at the Academy.
In Kirks case I could very well see him becoming a commanding officer of a smaller vessel due to his actions. His age at having his own command is not so much the problem, it is the command he gets at his age that is the problem. We have LTs command our patrol boats in the USN, and CDRs command Destroyers/Frigats/Small Deck Amphibs/SSN as well. They are all called "Captain" as a title, but not rank. If you look at Kirks arm bands at the end of the movie he is not just a "Captain" but also a Captain. There is no equivalent of anything like that happening in an modern navy or note.
Then very clearly, Starfleet is not organised in the same manner as a contemporary wet-water navy.
As for Nelson, he got his first real command at the age of 23, but it was a frigate not a first rate as the Enterprise would represent in the movie. You have to remember though that back then naval officers started their careers very early, in Nelson's case he was 13 when he became a midshipmen AT SEA. He had 10 years of at sea experiance before recieving his first real command, Kirk had the equivalent of 0.
Nelson was appointed post-captain of
HMS Hinchinbroke on 11 June, 1779, at age 21.
We also do not know exactly how Starfleet/Starfleet Academy is arranged in this movie's construction of reality with respect to classroom instruction and field training. However, Starfleet mids/juniors would appear at the least to receive a far more accelerated learning programme and possibly combines both instruction and field experience as part of the course. Even in TOS there appeared to be some nebulosity in this regard: Kirk started out as a midshipman cadet and was sent on the Axanar peace mission, served as an ensign one starship, then went back to the Academy as an instructor before going out again as a full-time officer on another starship.
Sorry, that doesn't fly.
