dobro@ulowell.UUCP (Chet Dobro) (02/25/86)
> Well, I think that is not a very good answer for two reasons. First, >Commodore Matt Decker in THE DOOMSDAY MACHINE was in charge of one ship, the >U.S.S. Constellation. There was no task force or anything else. Maybe this >was a mistake by the writer's, BUT it does set a precedent. > Secondly, hopefully the Federation is not in the practice of keeping >four heavy crusiers together all the time! ... The following has no basis in the real-world (Navy): The rank 'commodore' was used for someone in charge of a task-force, fleet, OR sector-command. It was held be someone of 'captain' rank (not Admiral level). That person was responsible for (temporary assignment) the conduct of his/her fleet/task-force, or (long-term assignment) the administration of and issuing of orders to all ships under his/her command. He received those orders from Star Fleet Command directly, then passed them on to individual ships. Some ships were under the direct command of SFC (Enterprise at various times) or other administrations (Space Lab - Reliant in STII:TWoK) Civilian administration in the area in question was handled by a civilian who worked along-side the Commodore. This provided a checks-and-balances (read as 'red tape' :-}) set-up that beuracracies love. Some commodores had been captians (individual ships) that had been promoted (either temporary or long-term) and some had been paper-pushers (The Deadly Years - what's his name?). Those who had been ship captians were occasionally (possibly often, I'm not sure) allowed to retain command of their ship. Hope that clears some of the confusion up. BTW, a Klingon Commodore, being an officer in a military government was responsible for both the civilian (per se) and military matters. Talk about power-abuse... :-} Gryphon