If you're the captain of a warship that is involved in some kind of battle, what are you actually doing doing that time...

If you're the captain of a warship that is involved in some kind of battle, what are you actually doing doing that time? Do you actually steer the ship or does somebody else handle that? Are you supposed to help aim the guns or something? Or is it like some Star Trek shit where you just sit on a chair and bark orders over a radio? For the sake of discussion, let's say that this is happening some time in the early 20th century and/or late 19th century (1870 - 1930). What is the role of the captain on a ship?

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>What is the role of the captain on a ship?
It's the Star Trek thing. and it's not really 'just' sitting on a chair and barking orders, because if you fuck up everyone on the boat dies.

If you think it's stupid, remember that the alternative methods of controlling ships all got killed by people using this method.

Okay, so let's imagine that this is the Franco-Prussian war, and you're the captain of a French battleship. If you see a German ship, what are you supposed to do? Just order your crew to start shooting at it?

Well for example, if you're a bong captain in command of a 20th century battlecruiser, you go into combat and kneel down on the bridge and say your prayers because you're about to be blown up in a massive fireball. Hope this helps.

yes. also alter your heading and speed to bring guns to bear.

You need a guy calling this shit out because the guy steering the damn boat is going to be focused on keeping the boat going as the ship takes fire, the guys on the guns are a bit busy managing the guns, the poor bastards in the engine room have no goddamned clue what's happening topside, and the guys running damage control have their hands full.

The captain is being fed constant status updates from every other station. his job is to take the information he's given and make snap decisions and give orders quickly and efficiently so that every other station knows what the hell they're supposed to be doing.

Do I have access to actual steering wheel?

probably not. The actual helm is located pretty deep in the ship, because the superstructure the captain is standing in makes a really good target and the 2 things a ship needs to always have working are the Engines and the steering.

You might have a little dial you can move or a small tube or radio you can yell into to tell the guy with the actual wheel where he needs to be pointing the ship.


You are probably the only guy in the room with a chair though.

Also, since I picked a time period before radio, how do I communicate with people in other areas of the ship? For example, if I want the guys in the engine room to make the ship go really fast and also make the ship turn to the left, how would I communicate this information to them?

carrier pigeon

What if the Germans shoot down the pigeon?

to talk to the engine room, which is an insanely noisy place because, well, that's where the engine is, you'd use an Engine Telegraph, pic related. it's hooked up to a corresponding dial in the engine room that makes a little bell noise to tell them to check the damn thing and act accordingly.

To tell the poor sap with the wheel where to turn, you probably have a small in-ship telephone (essentially).

So you'd crank the Engine Telegraph to Flank Speed, then pick up the phone and yell at the bugger down there to turn to a specific course to your left somewhere.

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>Do you actually steer the ship or does somebody else handle that?
That's a helmsman.

>Are you supposed to help aim the guns or something?
No, gunners do that.

>Or is it like some Star Trek shit where you just sit on a chair and bark orders over a radio?
Your XO yells into sound tubes.

>What is the role of the captain on a ship?
Making executive decisions and being the ultimate authority and commanding officer on the ship.

Captaining a ship is more complicated than point and click in a RTS game.

The bell is not little.

>Captaining a ship is more complicated than point and click in a RTS game.
I'm sure. That's kind of the point of the thread.

My grandfather was in the coast guard and also a tug boat captain and he has one of those in his house lol.

Speaking tubes.

A hollow tube with a cone at the end for speaking and listening into.

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If someone in the engineering room just decided not to do what the Captain tells him to do, what the fuck can the Captain even do?

Dereliction of duty is punishable by military law.

Send on-board marines, or whatever the ship's internal security down there to ask what the hell is going on, and to throw them in the brig if the answer isn't good enough. Then you bring in someone from a different shift to replace them in a pinch.

Have you ever heard the idiom "all in the same boat"?

They won't, Baron Von Dastardly is not the best tactician

if the bridge gets hit, does everyone else just start doing whatever the fuck they want?

OH SHIT, torpedoes in the water, you have only seconds to swerve and avoid them, what's the procedure?

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jettison people in front of it

Pray.

No. The chain of command gets passed to someone else, probably an officer down in the armored citadel of the ship near the helmsman.

means they do what they're told

You turn towards them, to present a smaller target profile and hopefully expose less watertight compartments to damage.

>there's a setting called 'hook up'

Lewd!

I believe that you have a sea captain and a higher rank navy captain onboard on most warships.

TORPEDOBEAT

Damn the Torpedoes. Full speed ahead!

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To govern the men. Men must be governed

>If you're the captain of a warship that is involved in some kind of battle, what are you actually doing doing that time? Do you actually steer the ship or does somebody else handle that? Are you supposed to help aim the guns or something? Or is it like some Star Trek shit where you just sit on a chair and bark orders over a radio?

The captain of a ship does the same thing that a president or a general manager or a colonel or any other head of an organization or unit does. The ship is not constantly at war, much less in battle. The captain maintains discipline, morale, maintainence, procedures, and leads drills. And he is absolutely educated and experienced in order to lead his ship in battle. And yes, if he f*cks up everybody probably will die

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What kind of scenario are you talking about. There are lots of types of warships. Generally warships are grouped together into a fleet. The Americans call it a carrier group. And there is an admiral who is in charge of the carrier group. This admiral must receive and send to and from the ships of his battle group. The admiral must know what the captains of the other ships know and the admiral's job is to coordinate and position the ships. Etc. Since the other ships generally don't communicate between each other, it is crucial that every ship knows whats happening and they do this via the admiral.

Now a captain receives orders from the admiral and does those orders by sending them down the chain of command..

Is the new "cuck army" terminally autistic shitpost?

"You've come to the wrong shop for anarchy, brother."

Which would you choose?

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during combat the captain is usually at the CIC or Combat Information Center, usually located amidships

Well, if you must press me, the right weevil is substantially longer and has more mass and appears much more lively, so I'd choose this one.